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

Overview

The Pickup List feature enables tour operators to establish pre-approved pickup locations. Rather than accepting free-text addresses, customers select from a dropdown menu during checkout. This approach reduces booking errors, accelerates the checkout process, and simplifies driver coordination. Common applications include hotel pickups, cruise terminal departures, and city-center meeting points.

How to Set Up a Pickup List

Step 1 — Open Pickup Lists

Navigate to Customers in the left sidebar, then select Pickup List and Manage Pickup List. To begin creating, click New Pickup List.

Step 2 — Name Your Pickup List

Assign a clear, descriptive name reflecting the list’s scope. Examples include:

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

Multiple lists can be created and assigned to different products as needed.

Step 3 — Add Pickup Locations

Each list accommodates multiple locations. For every entry, complete these fields:

Location Name The dropdown label customers see. Examples: Grand Hotel, Central Station, or Cruise Terminal Gate 3.

Address Google Search powers this field. Type the location name and the address auto-populates with GPS coordinates automatically saved.

⚠️ All predefined addresses must be Google-validated. Free-form text like “anywhere in the city centre” is not supported.

Minutes Before Offsets the pickup time from tour start. A 30-minute offset on an 08:30 start shows customers 08:00 pickup. Set to 0 to match the tour start exactly.

Note Optional customer-facing instructions, such as “Meet at the main entrance, not the side gate.” Surface this using the {pickup.note} Liquid tag.

Click New Location for additional entries. Click Save when finished.

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 — adds a free-text field for customers without matching locations

⚠️ Custom locations don’t auto-assign pickup times. Manually set the time from the booking’s order page. The customer receives an automated update email upon save.

Pickup Details in Email Templates

Use Liquid tags in your product’s Emails settings to display pickup information in confirmation and reminder messages.

Available Pickup Tags

Tag	What it displays
{pickup.location}	Customer’s selected location name
{pickup.time}	Calculated pickup time (offset applied)
{pickup.note}	Location-specific instructions
{pickup.map}	Google Maps link to the pickup address

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 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

Navigate to Customers → Pickups to view all upcoming pickups, which defaults to today’s date. Filter by date for future planning.

From this view you can:

• Add or edit pickup times for custom-location bookings
• 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 entering free-form addresses, ensuring every booking maps to a valid, serviced location.

How do I create a pickup list?

Access Customers → Pickup List → Manage Pickup List, click New Pickup List, name the list, add locations with Google-validated addresses, set time offsets if needed, and click Save. Then assign it to a product via that product’s Settings page.

Why does TicketingHub use Google for pickup addresses?

Google address validation ensures every predefined location has accurate GPS coordinates, preventing driver navigation errors and supporting the map link feature 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. For example, a 30-minute offset on a 09:00 start shows customers an 08:30 pickup.

Can customers enter their own pickup address?

Yes, enabling Custom Pickup Locations in product settings adds a free-text address field (Google search powered) alongside the predefined dropdown. However, 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 single pickup list can apply to multiple products from each product’s individual Settings page.

Can different tours have different pickup locations?

Yes. Each product has its own Pickup List assignment, allowing your city tour to 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 involves enabling Custom Pickup Locations so customers can enter a placeholder, or add a custom booking question like “Where are you staying? Enter TBC if unknown” and update manually later.

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

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

What pickup Liquid tags can I use in emails?

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

Known Limitations

Limitation	Status
Day-of-week pickup lists (different locations per day on the same product)	Not currently supported
Automatic pickup time assignment for custom locations	Not available — must be set manually
Built-in “To Be Confirmed” pickup option	Not available — use custom booking question as workaround