Visitor Approval

Overview

With visitor approval, a visitor who walks in and registers at your NexIO front desk isn’t let in until their host says so. The host is asked straight away, and can let the visitor in, come down to collect them, or turn them away. Approval only applies to walk-ins. Visitors registered by your team, or by their host in the Members Portal, are already expected and never need approving.

Turn on visitor approval

Go to Settings → Apps and integrations → Companion apps → NexIO.

Visitor approval needs NexIO Version set to Version 2. The approval settings don’t appear for Version 1.

Setting	Effect
Require host approval for walk-in visitors	Turns approval on. Walk-in visitors with a host are marked Pending approval, and the host is asked.
Automatically check approved visitors in	Checks the visitor in as soon as their host approves them.
Host can choose to collect visitors at reception	Gives the host the option to come down and collect the visitor.
Host can choose to send visitors to their unit or desk	Gives the host the option to let the visitor make their own way up.

Hosts can always reject a visitor. If you turn off both of the other options, rejecting is the only answer left, so leave at least one on.

How it works

A visitor registers at NexIO and chooses their host. The visitor shows as Pending approval in your visitors list.
The host is asked, on every channel they can use:
- Email, with a button for each answer.
- App notification, which opens the visitors waiting for their approval in the Members Portal.
- WhatsApp, if you use the WhatsApp AI agent and the host has a mobile number. See Visitor approval on WhatsApp.
The host answers on whichever channel suits them. The first answer counts: once a visitor isn’t pending any more, later answers are ignored.
The visitor’s status changes, and admins with Visitor registrations notifications turned on are emailed that the visitor was accepted or rejected.
If Automatically check approved visitors in is on, the visitor is checked in. When the host answers on WhatsApp or through the AI assistant, this only happens if they chose to send the visitor to their unit or desk.

Hosts can also ask the AI assistant who’s waiting and approve visitors in chat, by email or by voice. See Visitor approvals in the Members Portal guide.

Approval statuses

The host’s answer shows in the Status column of the visitors list, and in the Host visitor management preference box on the visitor’s record.

Status in the list	Meaning
Pending approval	Waiting for the host to answer.
Hold for collection	The host approved and will come to reception to collect the visitor.
Grant access	The host approved and the visitor can go to the host’s unit or desk.
Rejected	The host turned the visitor away.
Approved	The visitor didn’t need approval.

Ask hosts to keep their mobile number up to date on their customer record, under Account → Account details → Phone numbers → Cell / Mobile, so they can be reached on WhatsApp.

Turn visitor approval off

Turn off Require host approval for walk-in visitors. Visitors already waiting stay Pending approval until their host answers. You can still check them in yourself.

Visitors