What online check-in does depends entirely on your PMS, and the difference is not cosmetic. With Mews the guest is sent to Mews' own check-in page. With Apaleo they complete a Bookboost form that writes back to the PMS. With anything else they complete a Bookboost form and somebody has to key the data in.
Work out which of the three you are before building anything.
Mews
When a reservation is created, Mews generates its own online check-in link for it. You do not build a form for this. You send the link.
Add it to a campaign using the Mews online check-in token, which you will find under the Tokens tab while editing your campaign message.
The guest opens the link, completes check-in in Mews, and the reservation status in Mews changes to "Online Check-in", which is how you confirm it worked.
Two requirements: an active Mews integration, and the online check-in feature switched on in Mews. If you are not sure about the second, ask support.
See Available Mews tokens for campaigns for the full token list.
Apaleo
Here you build the form in Bookboost and it writes back. Email, phone, address, and identification sync to the guest profile in Apaleo when the guest submits.
The setting that does this is the Update in PMS toggle, set when you create the form. It is available for Apaleo.
Every other PMS
The form works. Guests complete it, the answers land in Bookboost, and the guest profile is enriched.
Nothing reaches your PMS. Somebody at the front desk still copies the details across, so treat this as collecting data early rather than as automating check-in, and do not promise your team it removes the work.
Building the form
For Apaleo and for everyone else, the form is built the same way.
Go to Guest App > Forms and select + Add new form.
Name it and choose a form type. Check-in and pre-check-in types switch on multi-guest check-in automatically. See Multi-guest check-in.
Enable Update in PMS if you are on Apaleo.
Add your fields. See What to put in a form for a check-in structure that works.
Save, then add it to a campaign with its token. Full steps in Create a form.
Details Bookboost already holds are pre-filled, so a guest sent the form by token is confirming rather than typing from scratch.
Where completed forms go
Guest App > Submissions, filterable by property, guest name, and submission date.
What this does not do
It does not check the guest in. Except through Mews, where Mews does it, this collects data ahead of arrival. Your PMS still needs the arrival recorded.
Update in PMS is not available on every integration. Without a two-way integration the data stays in Bookboost.
The Mews route is not a Bookboost form. You cannot restyle it, add fields to it, or read its submissions under Submissions. It is Mews' page.
Nothing chases a guest who does not complete it. To follow up, build an audience on who has not submitted the form. See Audience filters: guest and profile.
What to do next
If your reservations regularly carry more than one guest, read Multi-guest check-in before you send anything, because it turns itself on.
Getting help
Open Help at the bottom of the left menu and choose Talk to Us, or email support@bookboost.io.