How to Assign Tour Guides and Automate Notifications in TicketingHub

Updated: April 2026

Coordinating guides across dozens of tours shouldn't mean sending emails manually or hunting through spreadsheets. TicketingHub's Guide Shifts feature lets you assign a guide to any tour option in seconds — and then automates everything: the assignment notification, a 24-hour reminder, and the guest list manifest before the tour starts.

This guide walks you through activating the feature, creating your guide roster, configuring notifications, and making your first assignment.

📌 Looking for POS Shifts (employee cash float & Z Reports)? Read the POS Shifts article →

In This Article

Step 1 — Activate Guide Shifts

Guide Shifts are off by default. You'll need to enable the feature before it appears in your menu.

1. Click your Supplier Name in the top navigation bar
2. Select Settings
3. Click the Features tab
4. Find Guides and toggle it on

[Screenshot: Settings → Features with the Guides toggle]

Once enabled, a Guides section will appear in the left-hand navigation menu.

Step 2 — Create Your Guides

1. Go to Guides in the left-hand menu
2. Click New Guide
3. Fill in all required fields:

4. Click Save

[Screenshot: New Guide form with all fields]

⚠️ Important: Always double-check the email address. If it contains typos or invalid characters, notifications will fail to deliver silently — no error will appear in the dashboard.

📌 Current Limitation: TicketingHub supports one guide per option. If your operation requires multiple guides for a single tour, please contact our support team — we'd love to hear your use case.

Step 3 — Set Up Guide Notifications

Once your guides are created, configure which automated emails they receive. From the Guides section, open Notification Settings and enable any combination of the following:

Shift Assignment Notification

Sent immediately when a guide is assigned to an option. Also triggered automatically if the assignment is later updated or cancelled — your guide is always kept in the loop.

24-Hour Reminder

A reminder email sent the day before the tour.

📌 Note: This reminder only sends if the guide was assigned more than 24 hours before the tour start time. Same-day assignments won't trigger it.

Guest List (Manifest)

Sent a configurable amount of time before the tour starts, with the complete guest list for that option. This is the email your guide needs to prepare for the day.

[Screenshot: Notification Settings panel showing the three toggles]

💡 Pro Tip: Enable all three notifications for the smoothest guide experience — assignment confirmation, day-before reminder, and the manifest before departure. Guides receive everything they need without you lifting a finger.

Step 4 — Assign a Guide to an Option

1. Go to Availability in the left-hand menu
2. Click on the tour option you want to assign a guide to
3. Open the Advanced tab
4. Select your guide from the Assign Guide dropdown
5. Save your changes

[Screenshot: Availability → Advanced tab with the Assign Guide dropdown]

Your guide will receive an assignment notification email immediately.

📌 If you later change or delete this availability option, the guide shift is automatically updated or removed — and the guide is notified. No manual follow-up needed.

💡 Pro Tip: You can include your guide's name and phone number in customer-facing reminder emails using TicketingHub's Liquid template tags — great for tours where guests need to identify their guide on arrival.

Step 5 — Add Guide Details to Customer Emails

Once a guide is assigned to an option, you can surface their details directly in the automated emails your customers receive — so guests know exactly who to look for on the day.

TicketingHub uses Liquid tags to pull guide information dynamically into your email templates. Here are the two available tags:

How to add them to your emails

1. Go to your Product in the TicketingHub dashboard
2. Navigate to the Emails tab
3. Open the email template you want to update — typically the Booking Confirmation Email or the Booking Reminder Email
4. Click View → Edit
5. Insert the Liquid tag(s) where you want the guide's details to appear

Example:

Your guide for this tour is {{ guide.name }}. 
If you have any questions before the day, you can reach them on {{ guide.phone }}.

6. Click Save Changes, then Send Test Email to preview how it looks

💡 Pro Tip: The reminder email sent 24 hours before the tour is the ideal place for guide contact details — it's when customers are most likely to need them.

📌 Note: These tags will only populate if a guide has been assigned to that option. If no guide is assigned, the tag will render as blank — so make sure assignments are in place before the emails go out.

Troubleshooting

Guide isn't receiving the assignment email

• Check that the Shift Assignment Notification is enabled in Notification Settings
• Verify the guide's email address contains no spaces or special characters
• Ask the guide to check their spam folder

Guide isn't receiving the 24-hour reminder

• Confirm the notification is toggled on
• Check that the guide was assigned more than 24 hours before the tour start — same-day or last-minute assignments won't trigger the reminder

Guide isn't receiving the guest list

• Make sure the Guest List (Manifest) notification is enabled
• Verify the notification timing is configured correctly in your settings
• If the issue persists, contact support

FAQ

Can I assign more than one guide to an option?

Not currently. TicketingHub supports one guide per option. This is a known limitation and something we're actively working to improve.

Do guides have access to the TicketingHub dashboard?

No. Guides only receive email notifications — they don't have dashboard access. If you need guides to check in guests, you can add them as Entry Management users, though they'll have visibility across all tours, not just their own.

What happens if I change the availability option after assigning a guide?

The guide shift updates automatically and the guide is notified. If you delete the option, the guide shift is removed and the guide is informed.

Can I use TicketingHub's guide feature with Google Calendar?

There is a basic Google Calendar integration available, but note that every new booking rewrites the calendar event — so guides would need to be reassigned after each new booking comes in if you rely on this for scheduling.

All Set!

Your guides are now set up, notified, and ready to go. From this point forward, TicketingHub handles all the communication automatically — no manual emails, no spreadsheets.

Need further help? Chat with us or send us an email.

Updated on: 11/04/2026