Pickup List: Set Up Hotel & Location Pickups for Your Tours

Pickup List is a TicketingHub feature that lets tour operators define a set of pre-approved pickup locations. Customers choose their location from a dropdown at checkout — no free-text address required. This reduces booking errors, speeds up checkout, and makes driver coordination far simpler.

Common use cases: hotel pickups, cruise terminal departures, and city-centre meeting points.

How to Set Up a Pickup List

Step 1 — Open Pickup Lists

Go to Customers in the left sidebar → Pickup List → Manage Pickup List.

To create a new list, click New Pickup List.

Step 2 — Name Your Pickup List

Give your list a clear, descriptive name that reflects its scope. Examples:

• All Products
• City Centre Hotels
• Airport & Port Terminals

You can create multiple lists and assign different ones to different products.

Step 3 — Add Pickup Locations

Each list can hold multiple locations. For each entry, complete the following fields:

Location Name

The label customers see in the dropdown. Keep it recognisable — e.g. Grand Hotel, Central Station, or Cruise Terminal Gate 3.

Address

Powered by Google Search. Start typing the hotel or meeting point name and the address auto-populates. GPS coordinates are saved automatically.

⚠️ All predefined pickup addresses must be Google-validated. Free-form text (e.g. "anywhere in the city centre") is not supported.

Minutes Before

Offsets the pickup time from your tour start. Example: tour starts at 08:30, offset = 30 → customer sees pickup at 08:00. Leave blank to match tour start time exactly.

Note

Optional instructions displayed to the customer. Example: "Meet the driver at the main entrance, not the side gate." Surface this in your emails using the {pickup.note} Liquid tag.

Click Add Location to add more entries. Click Save when your list is complete.

Assigning a Pickup List to a Product

1. Open the product's Settings page.
2. Scroll to the bottom.
3. Select your list from the Pickup List dropdown.
4. Optionally enable Custom Pickup Locations — this adds a free-text address field at checkout for customers whose location is not on your list.

⚠️ Custom pickup locations do not auto-assign a pickup time. You must set the pickup time manually from the booking's order page. The customer receives an automated update email once you save.

Pickup Details in Email Templates

Use Liquid tags in your product's Emails settings to surface pickup information in confirmation and reminder emails.

Available Pickup Tags

Basic Template

Your pickup details:
Location: {pickup.location}
Time: {pickup.time}
Note: {pickup.note}
Map: {pickup.map}

Advanced Time Formatting

{{pickup.time | date: '%A, %B %d, %Y'}} at {{pickup.time | date: '%H:%M'}}

Renders as: Wednesday, June 04, 2025 at 08:00

Conditional Block (recommended)

If not all bookings involve a pickup, wrap the block so it only appears when relevant:

{% if pickup %}
Your pickup is scheduled for {{pickup.time | date: '%A, %B %d, %Y'}} at {{pickup.time | date: '%H:%M'}}.
Location: {{pickup.location}}
Note: {{pickup.note}}
Map: {{pickup.map}}
{% endif %}

Viewing and Managing Pickups

Go to Customers → Pickups to see all upcoming pickups. The view defaults to today. Filter by date to plan ahead.

From this view you can:

• Add or edit the pickup time on a custom-location booking
• Delete a pickup
• Override a predefined location with a custom one

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Pickup List in TicketingHub?

A Pickup List is a set of pre-approved pickup locations you configure. Customers select their location from a dropdown at checkout rather than typing a free-form address, ensuring every booking maps to a valid, serviced location.

How do I create a pickup list?

Go to Customers → Pickup List → Manage Pickup List, click New Pickup List, name the list, add your locations with Google-validated addresses, set any time offsets, and click Save. Then assign the list to a product from that product's Settings page.

Why does TicketingHub use Google for pickup addresses?

Google address validation ensures every predefined location has accurate GPS coordinates, which prevents navigation errors for drivers and supports the map link ({pickup.map}) in customer emails.

How does the "minutes before" offset work?

The offset subtracts a set number of minutes from your tour's start time to produce the customer's pickup time. A 30-minute offset on a tour starting at 09:00 shows the customer a pickup time of 08:30 at that specific location.

Can customers enter their own pickup address?

Yes, if you enable Custom Pickup Locations on the product settings page. The customer gets a free-text address field (Google search powered) alongside the predefined dropdown. Note: custom locations require you to manually set the pickup time from the order page.

Can I assign the same pickup list to multiple products?

Yes. A pickup list can be applied to as many products as needed from each product's individual Settings page.

Can different tours have different pickup locations?

Yes. Each product has its own Pickup List assignment. Your city tour can offer downtown hotel pickups while your wine tour covers a wider regional area.

A customer doesn't know their hotel yet — what should I do?

There is no built-in "To Be Confirmed" option. The recommended workaround is to enable Custom Pickup Locations so the customer can type a placeholder, or add a custom booking question ("Where are you staying? Enter TBC if unknown") and update the pickup manually once they confirm.

Why is no pickup time showing for a custom pickup booking?

Custom pickup locations don't carry a pre-set time. Open the booking's order page, enter the pickup time manually, and save — the customer will receive an automated update email.

What pickup Liquid tags can I use in emails?

The available tags are {pickup.location}, {pickup.time}, {pickup.note}, and {pickup.map}. Wrap them in a {% if pickup %} block if not all your bookings include a pickup.

Known Limitations

Need help setting up your Pickup List? Contact our support team via the chat widget.

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Updated on: 10/04/2026