Document Checks

Quick Setup

Review these settings in about 3 minutes. Start with authenticity and name matching, then choose your fallback flow.

This guide helps you control how AVA validates guest documents and reservation name matches.

Quick Reference

Setting	What It Controls	Guest Impact
Enable Document Authenticity Check	Detects tampered or risky document uploads	Failed checks block upload and route to staff
Document Name Overwrite	Controls whether matched document names replace the reservation guest name	Keeps PMS names or updates the guest record from the document
Save Scanned Document Names in Proper Case	Changes all-caps scanned names to readable capitalization	Saves names such as Joseph McNamara instead of JOSEPH MCNAMARA
Document Name Matching Mode	How strictly reservation names must match document names	Stricter modes block more mismatches
Enable booking name verification for partial matches	Lets guests enter the booking name after a partial match fails	Guests can continue when their answer matches the booking name
Enable OTP Fallback for Name Mismatch	Allows email OTP after booking-name verification runs out	Eligible guests can continue after OTP verification
ACI Staff Override	Lets staff confirm eligible name or document-verification failures during Assisted Check-In	Guests continue without repeating an eligible block
Duplicate Passport Check Scope	Chooses where AVA checks duplicate passport usage	Can check only one room or related rooms in one reservation family
Document Number Warning	Advisory format and check-digit validation	Shows warning only, does not block check-in
Document watermark	Protects new passport and ID images shared outside verification	Staff downloads and PMS attachments use the watermarked copy

Document Authenticity Check

When enabled, AVA verifies authenticity signals from uploaded IDs.

If a document fails, AVA blocks the upload. Guests must rescan or complete check-in with staff.

AVA also rejects phone-screen replays when the upload shows obvious display cues. That includes visible bezel edges, app controls, or other signs the ID is on another screen.

Where to Find It

Settings → Security → General Settings → Enable Document Authenticity Check

Tips

• Ask guests to scan a physical ID, not a phone photo or screen replay.
• Reduce glare and low light when scanning.
• Mild reflections can still scan, but strong glare can block capture.

Officially Partial Birth Dates

Some identity documents officially show only part of a guest's birth date. AVA accepts this only when the document is a supported non-passport type.

What AVA Accepts

Document result	What AVA does
Known non-passport with an officially partial birth date	Continues without inventing the missing month or day
Passport with a partial birth date and trusted MRZ evidence	Continues without a complete birth date
Passport without trusted MRZ evidence	Blocks verification
Unknown document type with a partial birth date	Blocks verification
Unreadable or malformed birth date	Requests a clearer or corrected document

AVA stores the missing birth date as unavailable. It never turns a year-only value into a guessed date.

Officially partial means printed that way

AVA accepts a partial date only when the document visibly uses placeholders or shows only part of the date. Blur, glare, cropping, and unreadable text do not qualify.

Main Guest Document Gate Retired

The former main-guest document gate no longer controls guest creation or document uploads. Guests can upload passports and complete registration in any order.

To control who can complete room check-in first, use Let Additional Guests Register First.

Document Name Overwrite

Use this setting to decide whether AVA replaces the reservation guest name with a matched document name.

Where to Find It

Settings → Security → General Settings → Document Name Overwrite

How It Works

• Enabled: When the document matches, AVA updates the guest name from the document.
• Disabled: AVA keeps the PMS or reservation guest name, even when guest edits sync back to your PMS.
• In both cases, AVA still saves the extracted document details.

When overwrite is enabled, AVA keeps the extracted identity when a reservation uses an unrelated composite booking label. AVA adopts the reservation's first-and-last-name split only when every reservation name token appears in the extracted name.

This protects the guest record from being replaced with other names stored in one booking label.

PMS sync

When Document Name Overwrite is off, AVA keeps the booking name when guest edits sync to your PMS.

Default behavior

This setting defaults to on.

Save Scanned Document Names in Proper Case

Use this setting when you want all-caps document names to appear in readable capitalization.

Where to Find It

Settings → Security → General Settings → Save Scanned Document Names in Proper Case

How It Works

• Enabled: AVA changes all-caps name parts before saving the final guest name.
• Disabled: AVA keeps the extracted capitalization.
• Names containing lowercase letters stay unchanged.
• AVA applies casing after document-name policy and safe name realignment.
• The change can appear on guest records, registration cards, and PMS profiles.
• AVA does not change the raw extracted document event.

For example, JOSEPH MCNAMARA becomes Joseph McNamara.

Protect New Passport and ID Images with a Hotel Watermark

Quick Setup

Enable this optional policy in about 5 minutes. It protects new passport and ID images shared with staff or your PMS.

Go to Settings → Check-in → Guest identity & documents.

The policy is off by default. It affects new passport and ID captures, replacements, and group-import drafts. It does not change existing images or completed PMS submissions.

Choose watermark content

Select one watermark source:

Source	What AVA uses	Important detail
Hotel logo	Your existing hotel branding logo	It does not change guest-facing branding
Separate watermark logo	A PNG or JPEG you upload	A transparent PNG usually looks best
Watermark text	Text repeated diagonally across the image	Use your hotel name or another short label

Then choose Light, Medium, or Strong and select Preview watermark.

✓ The preview shows a synthetic passport with no guest information. ✓ Your selected artwork stays separate from guest-facing branding.

Understand which image AVA uses

AVA keeps a clean original for restricted OCR and facial verification. Staff document viewers, downloads, and PMS attachments use the shareable watermarked copy. Selfies, signatures, and registration cards are not covered by this policy.

Enable only after client upgrades

Watermark-enabled captures require the current document capture flow. Upgrade remaining older capture clients before enabling the policy.

What happens after you save

• New uploads and replacements use the policy saved when each capture starts.
• Changing the policy does not rewrite earlier images.
• A failed watermark preparation blocks sharing and PMS delivery.
• Disabled captures keep the existing single-image behavior.

Watermark troubleshooting

The watermark setting is unavailable

What you see: The setting says, "Document watermark settings are unavailable."

Fix:

1. Reload the Guest identity & documents page.
2. Confirm you have permission to change hotel settings.
3. Try again after the page finishes loading.
4. Contact support if the setting remains unavailable.

The preview cannot be prepared

What you see: Preview watermark shows an error.

Fix:

1. Use watermark text without unusual symbols.
2. Upload a PNG or JPEG smaller than 5 MB.
3. Use a readable logo with a clear background.
4. Select Preview watermark again.

A document cannot be shared after upload

What you see: A new document cannot open, download, or reach the PMS.

Fix:

1. Wait a few seconds, then reopen the document.
2. Retry the PMS attachment when Retry appears.
3. Ask the guest to upload the document again if preparation failed.
4. Contact support if the same guest fails again. Suffixes such as II, III, and IV remain uppercase. Name particles, such as BIN or VAN, start with a capital letter.

Review your PMS before enabling

Some PMS integrations copy document names to the PMS profile. Enabling this setting can therefore create a case-only profile rename. Check eZee guest-ID behavior before enabling it for an eZee property.

Default behavior

This setting defaults to off. Existing names are not changed when you enable it.

Turn It On

1. Go to Settings → Security → General Settings.

2. Turn on Save Scanned Document Names in Proper Case.

3. Click Save General Settings.

   ✓ New supported document extractions use readable capitalization.

The setting applies during document extraction. It does not rewrite names already saved in AVA or your PMS.

Document Name Matching Policy

Use this setting to control name mismatch strictness between reservation and legal document.

Where to Find It

Settings → Security → General Settings → Document Name Matching

Mode Guide

Mode	Best For	What Happens
Strict	High compliance environments	Requires stronger match and blocks more abbreviations
Balanced	Most hotels (recommended)	Allows common abbreviations with safety guards
Lenient	Properties with frequent abbreviated bookings	Allows more abbreviations and variants
Custom	Properties with specific legal policies	Lets you tune threshold and abbreviation rules

Policy choice

If your property sees frequent false mismatches, start with Balanced before using Lenient.

Two-part document names

Balanced, Lenient, and Custom modes route incomplete surname matches to booking-name verification. This prevents shared given names from approving a different surname.

Surname safety

When the document has a surname, AVA requires the booking surname to match strongly. If the passport surname is missing and the booking adds a name not on the passport, AVA asks for booking-name verification. It still supports joined names, initials, aliases with their own surname, and approved patronymic patterns.

Patronymic names

Strict mode accepts omitted patronymic markers like bin, binti, binte, bte, S/O, and D/O. It still blocks unsafe partial matches.

Booking Name Verification for Partial Matches

Use this setting when AVA's normal name match fails, but the names still share enough information for verification.

AVA keeps the selected Document Name Matching Mode first. If that still fails, AVA shows the booking-name prompt when the case qualifies for verification.

Where to Find It

Settings → Security → General Settings → Enable booking name verification for partial matches

How It Works

• Enabled: AVA asks the guest to enter the booking name before blocking the check-in flow.
• Disabled: AVA keeps the normal name mismatch block.
• After a successful confirmation, AVA reuses that verified result on the next retry in the same session.

Default for New Merchants

This setting is enabled by default when a merchant's front office security settings are initialized. The default applies to new merchants and older merchants without an existing configuration record. Saved Enabled, Disabled, and missing values remain unchanged for existing configuration records.

Deployment timing

The default applies after the CCI backend deployment initializes the merchant configuration. No existing-merchant backfill changes saved settings.

The answer must be the booking name, not the passport name. AVA allows differences in order, case, accents, punctuation, titles, and joined neighboring name parts. The challenge response does not include the booking name. Ask the guest to use their booking confirmation or contact reception.

When to use it

Use this for borderline matches, such as reordered names or one strong shared token. It only appears after the selected name match policy fails.

Turn It On

1. Go to Settings → Security → General Settings.

2. Turn on Enable booking name verification for partial matches.

3. Click Save General Settings.

   ✓ Guests can verify the booking name when AVA finds one strong token overlap.

Not a replacement for legal review

This setting does not replace your property policy for mismatched names.

Guest Name Masking for Partial Matches

Quick Check

Use this only when Enable booking name verification for partial matches is on.

When AVA shows the booking verification prompt, it does not send the booking name to the guest device. The guest must enter the booking name from their confirmation. AVA checks the answer using the allowed formatting differences.

Name Mismatch OTP Fallback

Use this setting to let eligible guests continue with email OTP verification after booking-name verification fails.

Where to Find It

Settings → Security → General Settings → Enable OTP Fallback for Name Mismatch

How It Works

AVA still checks the passport or ID name against the reservation name first.

If Enable booking name verification for partial matches is on, AVA checks that flow first.

Stage	What Guests See	What Staff Should Know
Name check fails	Check-in stays blocked or shows booking verification	Confirm whether the reservation name should be corrected
Booking verification exhausted	AVA offers email OTP verification	The latest code goes to the masked booking email shown on screen
After successful OTP	The guest can retry and continue	AVA skips the name mismatch block for that same session

Same guest and same session

The result is tracked per guest and browser session. A different guest or new session starts its own flow.

Why Email OTP Is Accepted

Hotels often allow check-in when a guest can show the booking confirmation email.

This fallback follows the same principle. AVA sends the code only to the email already saved on the reservation. The panel shows a masked version of that recipient for confirmation.

Guests cannot change the email during the OTP step. This means only someone with access to the booking email can continue.

OTA masked emails still work because they usually forward messages to the guest.

When Guests Are Eligible

Guests only see the OTP option when all of these are true:

• Enable OTP Fallback for Name Mismatch is turned on.
• The check-in is running in CCI, not ACI override mode.
• AVA cannot resolve the mismatch with booking-name verification.
• The reservation has a valid booking email.
• The document upload failed because of a name mismatch, not another document issue.

If any condition is missing, AVA keeps the normal name mismatch block.

What the Guest Receives

AVA sends a 4-digit verification code to the booking email. Ask the guest to use the latest code for this booking.

Rule	What Happens
Code validity	The code works for 5 minutes
Resend timing	Guests can request another code after 60 seconds
Wrong code limit	Guests get 3 attempts before they need a new code
Verified session	Successful verification applies to the current check-in session

If the guest reopens the same booking, AVA keeps the active code and countdown. After a resend or expiry, verification stays disabled until a new code exists. If the guest cannot access the email, ask them to contact reception.

Turn It On

1. Go to Settings → Security → General Settings.

2. Turn on Enable OTP Fallback for Name Mismatch.

3. Click Save General Settings.

   ✓ Eligible guests can verify by email OTP when names do not match.

Keep legal checks in place

Use fallback only when your property policy allows OTP-based exception handling.

ACI Staff Override for Name Mismatch

Quick Check

Use this only in Assisted Check-In (ACI) when staff can verify the passport in person.

When your property enables the ACI override, AVA shows a staff confirmation prompt instead of guest OTP. You confirm the mismatch, and AVA retries the check-in. For current ACI uploads, the confirmation applies only to the displayed guest-document pairs. Legacy tablets may still verify the whole reservation session. AVA records the override in the audit trail.

If the scanned guest has one separate booking arriving today, the prompt shows that booking and room. Select Open booking when the passport belongs to that arrival. Select Override anyway only when the passport belongs to the selected reservation. This warning appears only in verified ACI. It does not appear in CCI or Pre-arrival.

When an override changes the booking guest's name, AVA uses the confirmed document name. For a verified single-name passport, the guest keeps that single name in AVA. When the PMS requires a surname, AVA sends the single name in both PMS name fields. AVA keeps the replaced name on the check-in. That name remains searchable in Command Center logs. AVA records the replaced guest details in the AVA check-in log. The log shows masked document numbers and leaves out birth dates, document dates, and addresses. The PMS reservation still receives the before-and-after name note.

On tablets and larger screens, the prompt keeps its actions visible in the footer. The reservation and passport names can appear side by side when space allows. On phones, the prompt may scroll, but Open booking, Override anyway, and Back stay available.

Property setting

Your hotel admin controls this in Front Office SOPs. If you do not see the override, ask them to confirm the setting.

How It Works

Mode	What Happens	Guest Impact
ACI	Staff confirm the override on the kiosk	No OTP goes to the guest
CCI	AVA keeps the normal OTP flow	Guests still verify by email when eligible

When It Appears

• The check-in mode is ACI.
• The override is enabled for your property.
• AVA finds a name mismatch during document commit.

What to Do

1. Confirm the passport or ID matches the guest in front of you.

2. Select the staff override prompt.

3. Continue the check-in flow.

   ✓ AVA saves the session and retries the commit.

Check the booking before overriding

An unrelated passport can belong to another guest arriving today. Open that guest's booking instead of renaming the selected reservation.

Bulk upload review

The prompt lists every mismatch covered by the confirmation. Review each reservation and passport name before confirming. Unlisted mismatches still require a separate review.

Review the replaced guest details

After the override, open the reservation's check-in log to review what changed.

1. Open Command Center → Check-In/Out Logs.

2. Select View Details for the reservation.

3. Open Show Details on the name-mismatch override event.

4. Review the Before and After identity sections.

   ✓ Document numbers show only *** and their last three characters. ✓ Birth dates, document dates, and addresses remain hidden.

The journal preserves the guest fields replaced by the override. It supports future recovery work, but it does not currently undo the override from this screen.

ACI Staff Override for Document Verification Failures

Quick Check

This recovery is available only for eligible hard failures in two-device ACI.

Use this recovery when a guest's document verification fails, but staff can verify the document in person. AVA shows the failure before staff approval, so you can try a fresh upload first.

What Staff Can Do

Stage	What you see	What to do
Failure	The scan failure and Retry upload	Retry the upload when the guest can provide a clearer scan
Approval	The staff approval action for an eligible failure	Check the guest's document and approve only when your policy allows it
After approval	The guest shows Staff approved	Use Re-upload later if you need to replace the saved document

If ACI cannot detect a guest name, AVA surfaces the scan as a document extraction failure. Staff can review that same failed scan before deciding whether to approve it.

CCI and Pre-arrival

This missing-name failure handling applies to ACI staff review. Existing CCI and Pre-arrival document behavior remains unchanged.

Apply the Override

1. Confirm the staff device and guest tablet belong to the same ACI journey.

2. Review the document failure shown on the staff device.

3. Select Retry upload if the guest can scan the document again.

4. If the failure remains, check the guest's document in person.

5. Select the staff approval action and enter the required reason.

6. Confirm the override.

   ✓ The guest shows Staff approved, and the ACI flow can continue.

AVA keeps the verification decision locally for this ACI journey. It does not send the override provenance as a document-verification result to your PMS. The original document and later Re-upload action remain available for review or replacement.

Recover a failed document review

If the original staff browser session is gone, you can recover an eligible failed review from the ACI Room List.

1. Open the failed document review from the affected guest in Room List.
2. Review the failed uploaded document shown beside the error.
3. Select Retry upload when the guest can provide a clearer scan.
4. Otherwise, verify the guest and document in person, then complete the staff approval.

AVA restores the review when the paired guest tablet is idle or demonstrably owned by this journey. It checks the guest, credential, browser journey session, tablet runtime, and active assignment. If the stored kiosk or flow is stale, AVA repairs that context for the current verified staff device. These checks prevent recovery from affecting another active journey.

When recovery is refused

What you see: The failed review stays blocked after you open it from Room List.

Fix:

1. Confirm the staff device is verified for the current hotel.
2. Confirm you are using two-device ACI.
3. Confirm the guest tablet belongs to this staff kiosk and guest journey.
4. Retry from the same browser journey session that opened the ACI check-in.

AVA refuses recovery if another guest or kiosk owns the tablet. It also refuses changed sessions, expired leases, ineligible failures, and one-device ACI.

Another journey owns the tablet

Finish or close the other guest journey before recovering the failed document review. AVA keeps another kiosk's active guest session protected.

Use only for eligible failures

This action does not replace document checks for every failure. Use Retry upload when the document is unclear, incomplete, or unsafe to verify.

No guest name detected

What you see: ACI reports a document extraction failure because it cannot read a guest name.

Fix:

1. Select Retry upload and ask the guest for a clear image of the physical document.
2. If the failure remains, inspect the same document in person.
3. Use staff approval only when the document and guest match your property policy.
4. If you upload a different image, review that new failure before approving it.

AVA keeps the failure tied to the uploaded scan. This prevents staff approval from validating a different document image.

When It Is Not Available

• The check-in uses CCI or one-device ACI.
• The staff device is not verified for the current hotel.
• The guest tablet is not paired to the current reservation.
• The failure is a warning or another block that is not eligible for staff approval.

For a name mismatch, use ACI Staff Override for Name Mismatch.

Duplicate Passport Check Scope

Use this setting to choose where AVA enforces duplicate passport checks.

Where to Find It

Settings → Security → General Settings → Duplicate passport check scope

Scope Options

Option	Best For	What Happens
Same room only	Shared reservations with independent room check-ins	AVA checks duplicate passports only inside the current room
Across related rooms	Hotels that want stricter family-level controls	AVA checks duplicates across room-level check-ins in the same reservation family

Default behavior

If this value is missing, AVA uses Across related rooms.

Change the Scope

1. Go to Settings → Security → General Settings.

2. In Duplicate passport check scope, select your preferred option.

3. Click Save General Settings.

   ✓ New duplicate passport checks follow your selected scope.

Document Number Warnings (Advisory)

Quick Check

Document number warnings never block check-in.

Different from name mismatch

If check-in is blocked by a name mismatch, use Check-In Blocked by Name Mismatch.

Where You See It

1. Go to Check-ins.
2. Open a reservation and select a guest.
3. In Guest Information, click Fill after upload.

Warnings appear under Document Number.

Why You Might See a Warning

• Number format does not match country and document type rules.
• MRZ check-digit validation fails.

What to Do

1. Compare the entered number with the physical ID.
2. Correct typos and save.
3. If it still matches the ID, continue per your local policy.

Supported Countries and Document Types

This list shows where AVA validates document number format.

See the supported countries list

Country (ISO-3)	Identity card	Passport	Driving license
Argentina (ARG)	✅	❌	❌
Australia (AUS)	❌	✅	✅
Austria (AUT)	✅	❌	❌
Belgium (BEL)	✅	❌	❌
Brazil (BRA)	✅	❌	❌
Canada (CAN)	✅	✅	❌
Chile (CHL)	✅	❌	❌
China (CHN)	✅	✅	❌
Colombia (COL)	✅	❌	❌
Denmark (DNK)	✅	❌	❌
Egypt (EGY)	✅	❌	❌
Finland (FIN)	✅	❌	❌
France (FRA)	✅	✅	❌
Germany (DEU)	✅	✅	❌
Greece (GRC)	✅	❌	❌
Hong Kong (HKG)	✅	✅	❌
India (IND)	✅	✅	❌
Indonesia (IDN)	✅	✅	❌
Ireland (IRL)	✅	❌	❌
Israel (ISR)	✅	✅	❌
Italy (ITA)	✅	✅	❌
Japan (JPN)	✅	✅	❌
Jordan (JOR)	✅	❌	❌
Kenya (KEN)	✅	❌	❌
Kuwait (KWT)	✅	❌	❌
Malaysia (MYS)	✅	✅	❌
Mexico (MEX)	✅	❌	❌
Netherlands (NLD)	✅	✅	❌
New Zealand (NZL)	❌	❌	✅
Nigeria (NGA)	✅	❌	❌
Oman (OMN)	✅	❌	❌
Pakistan (PAK)	✅	❌	❌
Philippines (PHL)	✅	✅	❌
Poland (POL)	✅	❌	❌
Portugal (PRT)	✅	❌	❌
Romania (ROU)	✅	❌	❌
Saudi Arabia (SAU)	✅	❌	❌
Singapore (SGP)	✅	✅	❌
South Africa (ZAF)	✅	❌	❌
South Korea (KOR)	✅	✅	❌
Spain (ESP)	✅	✅	❌
Sri Lanka (LKA)	✅	❌	❌
Sweden (SWE)	✅	✅	❌
Switzerland (CHE)	✅	✅	❌
Taiwan (TWN)	✅	✅	❌
Thailand (THA)	✅	✅	❌
Turkey (TUR)	✅	❌	❌
United Arab Emirates (ARE)	✅	✅	❌
United Kingdom (GBR)	✅	✅	❌
United States of America (USA)	✅	✅	❌
Viet Nam (VNM)	✅	✅	❌

Country not listed?

You can still accept the document number. AVA just skips format warnings.

Troubleshooting

Too many guests are blocked by name mismatch

What you see: Legitimate guests are routed to staff.

Fix:

1. Review your Document Name Matching mode.
2. Move from Strict to Balanced if needed.
3. Save settings and test with a known reservation.

Name mismatch is not blocked when expected

What you see: Guests pass with names you expect to fail.

Fix:

1. Switch mode to Strict.
2. Save and run another test check-in.
3. If needed, use Custom and raise thresholds.

Guest name changes when you want PMS data kept

What you see: The reservation guest name changes after a document match or guest edit sync.

Fix:

1. Turn off Document Name Overwrite.

2. Click Save General Settings.

3. Start a new check-in session and test again.

Scanned names still appear in capitals

What you see: A newly scanned document still saves a name such as JOSEPH MCNAMARA.

Fix:

1. Confirm Save Scanned Document Names in Proper Case is enabled.
2. Confirm you saved General Settings for the correct property.
3. Scan the document again.

Names containing lowercase letters are intentionally left unchanged. Existing guest and PMS profiles are not rewritten.

Enabling proper case changes a PMS profile

What you see: The PMS shows a case-only guest-name update after a new document scan.

Fix:

1. Compare the new name with the physical document.
2. Confirm Document Name Overwrite and proper-case behavior match your property policy.
3. For eZee, check whether the guest ID depends on case-sensitive name values.
4. Contact your PMS administrator before changing the name manually.

Guest name does not update from the document

What you see: The reservation guest name stays the same after a successful match.

Fix:

1. Turn on Document Name Overwrite.
2. Click Save General Settings.
3. Retest with a new check-in session.

Booking name verification does not appear

What you see: A borderline name still shows the normal mismatch block.

Fix:

1. Turn on Enable booking name verification for partial matches.
2. Review your Document Name Matching mode.
3. Save settings and retry in a new check-in session.

Booking name answer is rejected

What you see: The guest enters a name, but AVA does not accept the answer.

Fix:

1. Ask the guest to enter the booking name, not the passport name.
2. Check the booking confirmation for the exact guest name.
3. Keep all booking name parts, including titles or suffixes.
4. Retry with the booking's displayed name order.
5. If the answer still fails, update the reservation to the legal document name.

AVA accepts case, accents, punctuation, titles, and joined neighboring parts as formatting differences. It does not accept a different surname or a passport-only name.

OTP option does not appear after mismatch

What you see: Guests are blocked but do not see email OTP.

Fix:

1. Turn on Enable OTP Fallback for Name Mismatch.
2. If Enable booking name verification for partial matches is on, finish that prompt first.
3. Click Save General Settings.
4. Check that the reservation has a valid booking email.
5. Ask the guest to retry the same document upload in the same browser session.
6. Confirm the block is a name mismatch, not a document number or authenticity issue.

OTP email does not arrive

What you see: The OTP screen appears, but the guest cannot find the email.

Fix:

1. Compare the masked recipient with the booking email on the reservation.
2. Ask the guest to check spam or junk folders.
3. Use the latest email received for this booking.
4. Wait for the countdown, then click Resend Code.
5. If the email is wrong, update the reservation email and restart the check-in session.

If the guest cannot access the booking email, ask them to contact reception.

Resend Code is unavailable

What you see: Resend Code is disabled during the countdown, or Verify Code is disabled after expiry.

Fix:

1. Keep the same booking open.
2. Wait until the resend countdown ends.
3. Select Resend Code and use the latest email.
4. If no challenge appears, return to the booking and start verification again.
5. Ask the guest to contact reception if they cannot access the booking email.

OTP code keeps failing

What you see: The guest enters the code, but AVA says it is invalid.

Fix:

1. Check that the guest is using the latest email.
2. Ask the guest to enter the 4-digit code within 5 minutes.
3. If the code fails 3 times, request a new code.

Additional guest upload is blocked too early

What you see: You cannot complete room check-in after an additional guest registers.

Fix:

1. Open Settings → Check-In → Check-In Policy.
2. Check whether Allow additional guests before the main guest is enabled for this mode.
3. If it is off, register the main guest before completing room check-in.

Passports and guest registration are not blocked by document order.

Phone-screen document upload fails

What you see: A document shown on another phone or screen gets rejected.

Fix:

1. Ask the guest to scan the physical ID directly.
2. Remove any case, holder, or stand that covers the document.
3. Retake the upload with clearer lighting and less direct reflection.
4. If the ID is still rejected, continue with staff review.

Passport MRZ rescan keeps appearing

What you see: A valid passport repeatedly shows "Passport MRZ could not be read confidently."

Fix:

1. Retake the passport image with both MRZ lines fully visible.
2. Keep the passport flat, centered, and free from glare.
3. Check that the printed passport number, birth date, and expiry date are readable.
4. Upload the image again.

AVA can recover some extra-character OCR errors when the repaired MRZ matches the passport image. It keeps the document blocked when the recovered values conflict with the printed document.

If the rescan still fails, use the ACI staff document review when available.

Duplicate passport warning appears for a related room

What you see: The system flags a passport uploaded in another room under one booking.

Fix:

1. Check Duplicate passport check scope.
2. Select Same room only if your policy allows cross-room reuse.
3. Save and retry the check-in flow.

If the guest recently moved rooms, wait for the move to finish before scanning again. AVA keeps the passport claim with the guest during moves within the same reservation family. It releases the old claim when the guest moves to a different reservation family.

An old duplicate passport warning does not clear

What you see: A rescan is still blocked after the original guest moved or disappeared.

Fix:

1. Confirm the guest and room assignment in your PMS.
2. Wait at least 15 minutes after the original upload.
3. Scan the passport again.

AVA protects fresh claims for 15 minutes. After that, AVA can release a claim only when it cannot resolve the claim to a live guest. Live, fresh, or unverifiable claims remain protected.

If the warning continues after the guest and room details are correct, contact support.

A rejected add-guest scan appears under the main guest

What you see: The guest selects Check In Another Guest, scans the same passport, and sees a duplicate warning.

Fix:

1. Ask the additional guest to scan their own passport or ID.
2. If the guest needs to retry, select Check In Another Guest again.
3. Review Command Center → Status after the scan.

The duplicate message identifies the guest already using that document in the room. It says: "This passport or ID is already registered to [guest name] in this room."

The rejected scan does not change the main guest's successful document stage. It also does not make the reservation Stalled when the main guest already passed that stage.

If the scan is blurry or expired, AVA shows the matching failure instead of a duplicate warning. That failed add-guest attempt also stays separate from the main guest's document status.

Review the event

Open View Details → Detailed Event Log when you need to confirm the failed scan and timestamp. The event has no guest name when AVA cannot safely identify an additional guest.

An officially partial birth date is blocked

What you see: A guest's document shows only a birth year, but verification is blocked.

Fix:

1. Confirm the document is a supported non-passport identity document.
2. Retake the image if the date may be hidden by glare, blur, or cropping.
3. If the document is a passport, provide a clear image with trusted MRZ evidence.
4. If the document type is unknown, ask the guest for a supported document.

AVA blocks unclear, malformed, and unsupported partial dates for safety.

Still Stuck?

Contact success@vouch-technologies.com if:

• ❌ Document authenticity checks fail for clean scans
• ❌ Phone-screen replays are accepted instead of being rejected
• ❌ Name matching behavior does not follow your selected mode
• ❌ Booking name verification does not appear after enabling it
• ❌ Guest names update or stay unchanged after changing the overwrite setting
• ❌ Proper-case names create unexpected PMS profile changes
• ❌ Newly scanned all-caps names stay unchanged after enabling proper case
• ❌ OTP emails do not arrive after checking the booking email
• ❌ Initial room check-in stays blocked after an additional guest completes registration
• ❌ A clearly partial birth date is blocked on a supported non-passport document
• ❌ Security settings do not save after retry

Helpful to include:

• Screenshot of your Security settings
• One reservation example and timestamp
• PMS provider and property name

Related Guides

• How AVA Reads Document Names
• Accepted Travel Documents
• Check-In Blocked by Name Mismatch