Frictionless check-in: error messages, caveats, and limitations

Questions / Problems

I’ve got an error message after trying to check in with my phone – what do I do?
What are the limitations and caveats to using frictionless check-in?
What's supported for frictionless check-in?
What isn’t supported for frictionless check-in?

Answers / Solutions

There’s a reason why you’ve got an error message or that something isn’t working quite right. Check:

if it’s an unsupported feature
the solutions to the error message

Requirements

There are setups in the Matrix Booking web app that are and aren’t support. For our frictionless check-in feature to work:

Booking organisers must have a Matrix Booking login and user account.
The check-in feature must be switched on (see Switch the feature on).
You must have Require bookings to be started to confirm use switched on in the Check-in section of the Settings tab of the resource you want booking organisers to check in to (see Set up check-ins).
You need your scannable stickers next to each resource (see Get your stickers).
Booking organisers need phones that can scan the stickers you have:
- minimum iOS: 8 or later
- minimum Android OS: 6 or later

Notes:

Settings from a location or resource that’s higher in your hierarchy will be inherited by locations and resources below it. These settings will appear greyed out in the locations or resources lower in the hierarchy. You may need to change the settings of the location or resource that’s higher in your hierarchy that has them switched on.
Changing the settings described below may affect other features you have for your organisation (for example, signage). For more information, see our limitations and caveats section.
We recommend allowing a more generous check-in timeframe so that booking organisers aren’t blocked from checking in to their bookings (for example, Allow bookings to be started by [option] up to 60 minutes beforehand).

Error messages

You may come across an error message whilst using our frictionless check-in feature.

Error message	Why has this happened?	What to do
This [resource] has been booked by someone else.	The scanned resource is already booked by someone else.	Either: Book a different resource using the web or mobile apps. Find a different resource and try it’s QR code or NFC tag.
This [resource] is not available.	No booking found and resource isn't available to be booked (for example, the time is out of hours).	Either: Book the resource at the time where it's available using the web or mobile apps. Check our Caveats and limitations section. It could be an unsupported setting that’s causing the error. Come back at the time where the resource is available and try it’s QR code or NFC tag again.
The code you scanned is not associated with anything.	The resource ID within the URL is invalid.	The resource the sticker refers to is no longer in your hierarchy. It has been archived, deleted, or the sticker has been assigned the wrong URL. If the resource isn’t in your hierarchy and archived, you’ll need to move the resource from your archived area back to its original position in your hierarchy. The sticker should now work. If the resource has been deleted, the sticker won’t work and you’ll need a new sticker for that resource. If the resource is in the hierarchy but the sticker for it isn’t working, raise a support ticket to ask our Support Team to investigate the resource’s associated URL.
Something went wrong.	Other error (for example, application failure).	Either: Try again later. Check our Caveats and limitations section. It could be an unsupported setting that’s causing the error. If the issue continues, raise a support ticket.
This [resource] cannot be booked. Please contact your administrator to resolve this issue.	Other error (for example, the booking needs an attendee count).	Contact your organisation’s Matrix Booking Administrator. If you don’t know who that is, check the Help section.

Limitations and caveats for our frictionless check-in feature

What we support

When you scan a sticker and you’re redirect to our login page, both manual Matrix Booking and SSO login methods are supported.
You can reset your password when you’re redirected to our login page.
Alert text (General tab).
Require a title for each booking (Settings tab: Texts).

What we support with caveats

Only booking organisers can book, check in to a booking, and end a booking early using the scannable stickers.
On-demand bookings can only be made with a start time of “now” until the end of the current availability period. For example, when you check in until the start of the next booking, the end of office hours, or the end of the day – whichever is soonest.

What we don’t support

Resources with the following settings enabled:
- Require bookings to be made at least X hours or days in advance (Settings tab: Advanced booking rules).
- Require bookings to be approved by a Location Manager (Settings tab: Approvals).
- Require attendee count to be specified (Settings tab: Attendee count).
- Automatically add X minutes setup time to the start bookings (Settings tab: Buffer times).
- Require notes for each booking (Settings tab: Texts).

Depending on the scenario, there are other settings that may cause a booking failure:

Maximum number of bookings per person if the number is reached by that booking organiser.
Require new booking start times to align with office hours.
Require new booking end times to align with office hours.
Do not allow a person to have overlapping bookings for this category.
Require a cost code to be provided when a booking is made (Settings tab: Cost codes). If a booking organiser doesn’t have a default cost code set under Preferences in their user account, the check-in will fail.

There are certain scenarios that could cause a failure:

Resources can’t be booked by scanning the sticker next to it if the resource has a booking against it on that day if the Availability setting in the Booking categories screen is set to Whole Day. Select either:
- Hourly
- Half Day