The same guest books direct in March, through an OTA in July, and on a corporate rate in November. That is three records with three slightly different versions of the truth. Across a group of properties, one person can become a dozen.
A Master Profile is the record that ties those together. Bookboost links them automatically, surfaces the most reliable name, email address, and phone number, and keeps every original record intact underneath.
It is on by default. There is nothing to switch on.
Profile, sub-profile, Master Profile
Profile, or sub-profile. One guest record from one source at one moment: a PMS booking, a digital reception submission, a manual entry.
Master Profile. The parent record linking every sub-profile that belongs to the same person.
Match and Relate. The matching that does the linking. The important word is relate: sub-profiles are linked rather than merged, so nothing is overwritten and nothing is lost. You get one view of the guest and the full history of where each detail came from.
This is the opposite of a manual merge, which combines two records permanently. See Merge two guest profiles for when you would want that instead.
Seeing a Master Profile
Go to Profiles in the left menu.
Open Guests and find the guest you want.
Select the eye icon on the right of the row.
The profile opens with any linked sub-profiles listed beneath it, so you can see which records were clustered and what each one contributed.
Matching works on identifiers such as email address and phone number. Where those differ too much for a confident match, the records stay separate and you can link them yourself.
What it changes in practice
A campaign reaches a guest once. Not three times because they exist three times.
"Welcome back" is accurate. A returning guest is recognised as returning, even if the earlier stay was at a different property in the group.
OTA-masked details can be recovered. If a redacted OTA booking matches an earlier direct stay, the real contact details are already on the Master Profile.
Guest counts stop being inflated. Reporting aggregates at Master Profile level, so the number reflects people rather than records.
What this does not do
It does not catch everything. Guests whose contact details vary too much are not linked automatically. Some duplicates will still need doing by hand.
It does not merge or delete anything. Linking is additive. If you want two records permanently combined, that is a separate, irreversible action.
It does not correct bad data. A misspelled name on a sub-profile stays misspelled. The Master Profile surfaces the most reliable version rather than fixing the others.
Deduplicated analytics need Bookboost Insights. Insights is a separate add-on rather than part of every account.
What to do next
If two records clearly belong to the same guest but were not linked, see Merge two guest profiles. To correct the details on a profile, see Editing a guest profile.
Getting help
Open Help at the bottom of the left menu and choose Talk to Us, or email support@bookboost.io.