To collect PNRs, flights and ID documents from 400 delegates in 72 hours, replace the emailed spreadsheet with one in-app request that delegates answer on their phones, then verify each answer in a shared operations sheet. Sociana’s hospitality requests mark every item pending, provided or verified, so the desk chases only the gaps.
Who this guide is for
You run the travel desk, the CXO office or the agency back-office for a conclave, dealer meet or incentive trip. The guest list exists, the hotel blocks are held, and you now need arrival details from every delegate before transfers and rooms can be fixed. Delegates are senior, busy and unlikely to read a long email.
Why the manual route stalls at 150 replies
The usual method is a Google Form, a WhatsApp broadcast and a master sheet kept by one coordinator. It works until the replies arrive in four formats: a PNR typed in a message, an image of a ticket, a PDF itinerary forwarded by a personal assistant and a passport photo sent to the wrong number. Someone then retypes each of them into the sheet. By the second day the sheet is out of date, nobody knows which delegates have not replied, and the same question goes out three times.
Two costs follow. Delegates experience the desk as noisy, and the desk loses the one thing it needs on arrival day: a trustworthy list of who lands when. Collecting inside the same app delegates will later use for their room and pickup removes the retyping step and gives every answer a status.
The 72-hour plan at a glance
| Hour | What happens | Who does it | What you can see afterwards |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Delegate list loaded; hospitality request published | Ops lead | Every delegate shows as pending |
| 0–6 | Login invitation and first reminder sent | Comms | Activation, meaning delegates who logged in |
| 6–36 | Delegates submit PNR, flights and ID documents | Delegates | Provided count rising by group |
| 24, 48 | Targeted reminders to pending delegates only | Comms | Pending list shrinking |
| 36–66 | Desk checks documents against the ID type required | Travel desk | Items moving from provided to verified |
| 66–72 | Exceptions chased by phone, PNRs ready to reconcile | Desk and liaison team | Exception log, ready-to-reconcile list |
These hours are a planning frame, not a promise. A 400-person list with a clean list and a clear deadline from the host can finish earlier; one with PAs replying on behalf of principals will use the full window.
Step by step
Step 1: Decide the fields before you build anything
List exactly what the desk will use. For a typical flight-in conclave that is: ID type and document, PNR, inbound flight number and arrival date and time, outbound details, dietary note, companion name and whether the companion travels. Anything the desk will not act on should not be asked. Fewer fields is the single biggest lever on response time. The guest travel details form and the hospitality data field checklist give a starting list.
Do it in Sociana: create the request in the hospitality module. Fields can be text, choices, dates, times or document uploads.
Step 2: Load the delegate list so only invited people get in
Import the delegate list with name, mobile number and group. Login is by OTP against that list, so an unlisted number or address is turned away. At the GCOO Conclave in Jaipur the app accepted mobile numbers only and answered an email with “This email address is not permitted”, which kept one identity per delegate and made later reconciliation cleaner.
Do it in Sociana: OTP login against a member import; assign delegates to groups such as CXO, spouse or support staff so reminders and reports can be cut by group.
Step 3: Publish the request with a visible deadline
Put the request where the delegate lands, not three taps deep. State the deadline and the reason in one line: “Transfers and rooms are fixed from this sheet on Thursday.” A reason beats a threat.
Do it in Sociana: a pinned notice on Home tells delegates where the request is. See the notices, banners and countdown feature.
Step 4: Chase only the pending, and chase by group
Sort the workspace by status and send a reminder to the pending delegates only. A notification that says “Your arrival details are still pending” lands differently from a blanket broadcast to people who have already answered.
Do it in Sociana: scheduled announcements can go to everyone or to selected groups, and each stays in the Updates inbox so a delegate can read it later.
Step 5: Verify in the shared sheet, not in your inbox
Open the operations workspace. Each field shows pending, provided or verified. The desk member checks the uploaded ID against the required type, confirms the name matches the delegate list and moves the item to verified; a hotel desk and a transport lead can open the same sheet with their own permission slice.
Step 6: Set aside the exceptions early
A delegate with two surnames, a PNR that does not match the name, a missing second page of a passport: log each as an exception and assign an owner. Exceptions found on day three are cheap; the same exceptions found at the airport are not.
Step 7: Hand the clean list to reconciliation
Once PNRs are verified, they feed the arrival list. The PNR arrival reconciliation guide covers matching declared flights against what actually lands.
Pitfalls we see
- Asking for everything on day one. A long form from a CXO’s assistant is abandoned. Ask for the PNR first and documents second if the list is senior.
- Accepting documents by WhatsApp “just this once”. It recreates the retyping problem and puts ID images on personal phones. Redirect politely to the app.
- No owner for companions. A plus-one needs their own ID. Model companions as part of the delegate’s request rather than a separate chase.
- Unclear retention. Say how long documents are held and when they are deleted. Decide this before collection starts, not after the event.
India and SAARC notes
Identity documents are personal data. India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act received assent on 11 August 2023, and its provisions are being brought into force in phases: Data Protection Board provisions from 13 November 2025, further provisions on 13 November 2026 and the remainder by 13 May 2027 (Wikipedia summary of the Act, 2025). Treat this as a reason to collect only what you will use and to agree retention with your client’s counsel; it is not legal advice. Sociana’s data protection and DPDP page describes what is stored and how deletion works.
For delegates travelling from Dhaka, Colombo, Kathmandu or Male, publish passport and visa fields as a separate request for those delegates, so domestic delegates are never asked for them. Names must match the travel document, not the visiting card.
How Sociana handles this
Sociana’s hospitality requests and My Stay work as a two-way loop. You ask; the delegate answers; the desk verifies; and the individual arrangement is published back as My Stay, My Flights or My Journey. The operations workspace is the live sheet behind it, with exception handling and companion hospitality. The metric that comes out is hospitality completeness: the share of required items that are provided or verified, by group.
At the GCOO Conclave 2026 in Jaipur, delegates split across hotels got one personal itinerary, and the team used the workspace for PNR and arrival reconciliation. Sociana is a hospitality desk and delegate self-service layer; it does not book flights or hold hotel inventory. Try the flow in the hospitality request to My Stay demo.
FAQ
Can delegates upload ID documents from their phone camera?
Yes. A document request accepts an upload or a photo taken in the app. Occasions have used up to five files per item. Set the accepted ID types in the request wording so delegates upload the right page the first time.
What if a delegate’s assistant fills in the details?
Delegates sign in with their own number, so agree the practice with the client up front: either the assistant works on the delegate’s phone with their consent, or the assistant sends the item to the desk and the desk requests it again in the app. Whichever you choose, note who supplied the item so the verifier looks closely.
How do we know who has not answered?
The workspace lists every delegate with the status of each required item. Filter to pending and message that group only. Completeness by group shows whether delays sit with one delegation or are spread out.
Do we have to collect ID documents at all?
Only if the desk acts on them: airline name matching, venue security, visa support or insurance. If none applies, collect the PNR and flight details alone. See the executive conclaves hub for typical field lists.
Related reading
Glossary: PNR, PNR reconciliation, liaison officer, hospitality status states. Occasion hubs: executive conclaves, incentive travel, dealer and partner meets. Next guides: manage guest flights and hotels and replace hospitality spreadsheets.