Configure Confirmation Suffix Lookup
Turn this on and choose 4–10 characters for faster, safer Self Check-In lookup. This takes about 2 minutes.
This guide helps you configure how many trailing confirmation characters guests must enter. The default is 4 characters, and guests must enter the exact configured count.
Go to: Settings → Security → General Settings
Quick Reference
| Setting | What It Controls | When to Use It |
|---|---|---|
| ID Scan | Keeps last-4 lookup available in Self Check-In | Keep on if you want to use last-4 lookup |
| Quick Lookup with Confirmation Number Suffix | Allows suffix search in Self Check-In | Guests struggle with long confirmation numbers |
| Number of characters guests must enter | Sets the required suffix length from 4–10 | Use more characters when suffixes often collide |
| OHIP fallback | Recovers some reservations from an existing AVA record when the bulk list misses them | Use when Opera reservations should still be searchable by last 4 |
| Save General Settings | Saves your change | After you update the toggle |
Turn On Last-4 Lookup
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Make sure ID Scan is On
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Find Quick Lookup with Confirmation Number Suffix
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Toggle it On
✓ Number of characters guests must enter appears.
-
Enter a whole number from
4to10in Number of characters guests must enter✓ Guests must enter exactly that many trailing characters.
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Click Save General Settings
✓ A success message appears.
Turn Off Last-4 Lookup
-
Find Quick Lookup with Confirmation Number Suffix
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Toggle it Off
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Click Save General Settings
✓ Guests must enter the full confirmation number.
How It Works
- This setting applies only to Self Check-In.
- ID Scan must be on to use this setting.
- The default suffix length is 4 characters.
- You can set the suffix length from 4 to 10 characters.
- Guests must enter exactly the configured number of trailing characters.
- A longer suffix reduces matches with other reservations arriving in the same window.
- If more than one reservation matches, the guest must enter the full number.
- On Opera OHIP, AVA keeps paging while Opera says more results exist.
- Short pages no longer stop lookup early when Opera returns
hasMore: true. - On Mews, AVA uses direct suffix resolution when the PMS supports it.
- This avoids loading a full reservation list and helps prevent lookup timeouts.
- If direct resolution is unavailable, AVA keeps the existing list-and-match fallback.
- Mews can match hotel, booking-site, and legacy OTA confirmation references.
- For Mews multi-room reservations, AVA keeps the room that matches the entered suffix.
- This remains true when AVA uses a cached match or refreshes the cached reservation.
- If Mews finds two different reservations, AVA asks for the full confirmation number.
- If Mews cannot finish a safe search, AVA fails closed instead of trusting partial results.
- AVA can still recover a reservation from an existing AVA record when the bulk list misses it.
- This fallback happens automatically and does not change other PMS behavior.
Tell Guests Which Reference to Enter
Ask guests to enter the ending characters, not the beginning. They can use either the hotel confirmation number or the booking-site reference.
For example, if the reference is ABC12345, they enter 2345 when the length is 4.
The lookup field may show a leading … to indicate that the ending is required.
Entering the first characters can return no reservation. Ask the guest to check their booking email and count from the right.
If ID Scan is off, this toggle is disabled and guests must use the full confirmation number.
This toggle is on by default for new properties.
Troubleshooting
Guests still have to enter the full number
What you see: Guests are prompted for the full confirmation number.
Fix:
- Check if multiple reservations share the configured suffix
- Ask the guest to enter the full confirmation number
Guests cannot find a reservation with the configured suffix
What you see: Search shows no results.
Fix:
- Confirm Quick Lookup with Confirmation Number Suffix is on
- Confirm ID Scan is on
- Confirm the guest is using the Self Check-In link
- Confirm the guest entered the ending characters, not the first characters
- Ask the guest to try the hotel confirmation number or booking-site reference
- If suffix lookup still fails, ask the guest to try the full confirmation number
OHIP reservations still miss the lookup
What you see: An Opera reservation still does not appear after a last-4 search.
Fix:
- Ask the guest to try the full confirmation number.
- Refresh the Self Check-In session and try again.
- Confirm the reservation exists in Opera and is synced to AVA.
- If it still does not appear, confirm Opera shows the same confirmation number.
Last-4 toggle is disabled
What you see: You cannot change Quick Lookup with Confirmation Number Suffix.
Fix:
- Turn ID Scan on.
- Click Save General Settings.
- Reopen General Settings and try again.
Suffix length does not save
What you see: The suffix length returns to its previous value or shows an error.
Fix:
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Enter a whole number between
4and10. -
Confirm Quick Lookup with Confirmation Number Suffix is on.
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Click Save General Settings.
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Reopen General Settings and verify the saved value.
✓ Values below 4, above 10, or containing non-numeric characters are rejected.
Staff search behavior is unchanged
What you see: Staff search still requires the full confirmation number.
Fix:
This is expected. Last-4 lookup applies only to Self Check-In.
Mews suffix lookup shows an error
What you see: A valid suffix does not find a Mews reservation, or lookup shows an error.
Fix:
- Ask the guest to enter the full confirmation number.
- Confirm the reservation exists in Mews and has the expected arrival date.
- Refresh the Self Check-In session and try again.
- Contact support if the full number also fails.
Mews suffix lookup opens the wrong room
What you see: A multi-room Mews reservation opens a room that does not match the entered suffix.
Fix:
- Refresh the Self Check-In session.
- Ask the guest to enter the ending characters again.
- Confirm the selected room matches the guest's booking details.
- Ask the guest to use the full confirmation number if the room still differs.
- Contact support if the full number also selects the wrong room.
Still Stuck?
Contact success@vouch-technologies.com if:
- ❌ Guests still cannot find reservations after using the full number
- ❌ The toggle does not save after multiple tries
- ❌ You see error messages after saving
Helpful to include:
- Screenshot of the General Settings section
- The confirmation number pattern (mask the full number)
- Time the issue started