How to check in guests at a multi-night event that runs past midnight

The short answer

For an event that runs over several nights, each ticket should check in once per night, and a night should last until it actually ends, not until the clock strikes 12. A guest who steps out at 12:30 am and comes back is still on Friday’s night, not Saturday’s.

On One Ticket, a ticket to an event over several days checks in once each day, a night that runs past midnight counts as its own day until it ends, and the next day’s door only opens 12 hours before that day starts.

Why midnight trips doors up

Many check-in tools decide “today” by the calendar date. That works for a daytime fair. For a Friday night running to 2 am, it goes wrong in two ways:

• Re-entry after midnight looks like a new day. A guest who went out for air at 12:30 am scans back in as Saturday’s check-in, and their ticket then reads “already in” when they arrive on Saturday night.
• Test scans count. A volunteer tests the scanner the day before with a real ticket, and that guest is “already in” before the doors have even opened.

Either way, the person at the door ends up arguing with a paying guest over a screen that’s wrong.

Set the door up for several nights

Whatever tool you use:

1. Decide what the ticket is. One ticket for every night, or a ticket per night. How do I sell tickets for an event over several days? helps you choose.
2. Put the real end time on each night. If it finishes at 2 am, say so. The end time is what tells the system a night is still going.
3. Decide your re-entry rule and tell the door team: a stamp, a wristband, or a rescan.
4. Test with a test ticket, not a guest’s, or test the day before.
5. Check the time zone. Make sure the times the door sees are the venue’s local time, especially if anyone on your team has a phone set to another zone.

On One Ticket

Make the event once, with each night as a date:

1. In the editor, choose Pick a date (or the date row).
2. Under Dates, set the first night, then choose Add date for each further night.
3. Set Starts and Ends: every night shares them. An end earlier than the start, such as 8 pm to 2 am, says Finishes the next day.
4. Save and publish. One ticket covers every night.

At the door, choose Check-in and Open scanner beside the event, or give a volunteer a door link. Then:

• Each ticket checks in once a night. On Saturday, Friday’s scans don’t count against anyone.
• A night past midnight is still that night until it ends. A guest rescanned at 1 am on Friday’s night shows Already in, and is free to come in again on Saturday.
• Each night’s door opens 12 hours before it starts, never before the night before has finished. A scan more than 12 hours before a night starts doesn’t count for that night, so test the scanner the day before the first night, or with a test ticket.
• Already in shows the time they were scanned, in the event’s own time zone, whatever the phone is set to.

If you’d rather sell each night on its own, make each night its own event, or a series with a session each night: each session has its own tickets, capacity and door list. See Check people in and Door links for volunteers.

Related: How to check people in at the door with a phone, How do I let a volunteer run check-in? and What if someone loses their ticket at the door?