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Working with system booking form fields

System booking form fields are built-in fields that power key functions within Checkfront - such as customer identification, payment processing, and email notifications.

Understanding how these fields work ensures you maintain smooth operations and avoid disrupting important booking workflows.

Learn what system fields are, why they matter, how to review them, and detailed information on working with booking fields.

New to the Booking Form? Read the first article in this series for an introduction to the Booking Form.

 

Accessing the features mentioned in this article


Where can I find this feature using the top menu?

  • Manage > Layout > Booking Form
     

What more do I need to use this feature?

  • Admin permissions to manage your account.
     

Which Checkfront version supports this feature - classic items, classic products, or both?

  • This feature is available in both our classic version, which uses classic items (Inventory > Items), and our classic version, which uses classic products (Inventory > Products).  → Learn more about products

 

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Storing credit card information

To protect Customers’ Protected Personal Information (PPI) and to comply with PCI regulations and the Checkfront Terms of Service, please do not store credit card information in booking or note fields.

Checkfront is PCI compliant. We securely transmit payment details to certified payment providers only, and do NOT store credit card numbers, expiration dates, or CVV codes in our databases.

We recommend using a payment provider like Stripe to securely capture credit card details and process payments. See our List of supported payment providers for more options.

The penalties for breaking PCI compliance are steep for both you, the merchant, and us, the service provider. For more information, please see our Terms of Service: Checkfront Terms of Service.

 

What are system fields?

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System booking form fields are predefined fields that Checkfront relies on for key operations. They automatically collect and store essential booking and customer data, such as name, email, address, and location.

Each field has a unique Field ID, which Checkfront uses to link data across bookings, reports, and notifications. These IDs are visible in the General tab when editing a field.

 

Why system fields matter

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System fields serve several critical purposes:

  • Data Integrity: Ensure all bookings include the required customer name and email information.
  • Notifications: Connect to email templates and triggers.
  • Payments: Provide necessary information to payment gateways.
  • Reports: Standardize data across reporting tools.
  • Localization: Support regional logic for addresses, postal codes, and geoIP features.
     
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Important! Do not remove system fields

If you choose to remove pre-defined system fields from your Booking Form, please note that certain functionality could be lost, for example:

  • customer_email. The matching field is required to send email Notifications to Customers.
  • customer_country and customer_region. The matching fields are pre-filled using GeoIP detection; custom field substitutions would not be.
  • customer_postal_zip. The matching field is automatically changed based on the selected country; custom field substitutions would not be.

We recommend that you do not replace these options. You may, however, archive them if not required. First, make sure that your Payment Provider does not require these fields.

Additionally, we do not recommend using all of the Customer name fields together, e.g., customer_name along with customer_first_name and customer_last_name, as this may lead to Payment Providers not processing payments successfully.

Please note that the system fields currently support English language strings only.

 

How to review system fields (step-by-step)

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  1. Go to Manage > Layout > Booking Form.
  2. Click Edit beside any field to open its settings.
  3. In the General tab, review the Field ID — this identifies system-controlled fields.
  4. Avoid editing or deleting system fields, as this can affect core features such as reporting, notifications, and integrations.
 

Working with booking form fields

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Booking form layout showing fields for customer details with an arrow pointing to the edit form field option.

You can access and view the Booking Form field IDs by clicking on Edit next to the matching Booking Form field (Manage > Layout > Booking Form > Booking Details).

 

Form field editing screen showing name field setup with an arrow pointing to the form field ID.

The Booking Form field ID is listed within the General tab of the Edit Form Field modal. If the Booking Form field is a system field, then the ID is read-only.

Below is a list of the standard Booking Form field IDs that match the default booking fields in your Checkfront account.

 

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Use all lowercase for Booking ID fields

All Booking Form field IDs must be entered in lowercase letters to capture the resulting data in reports. For example:

  • X Incorrect: Customer_name or Customer_Name 
  • ✓ Correct: customer_name 

 

Value Default Label Description
customer_prefix Prefix

Prefix to the Customer's Name.

Prefix such as Mr, Ms, or Dr.
customer_name Name

Full name (first & last) of the Customer. This is the default field for collecting this information.

If needed, you can replace this with both customer_first_name and customer_last_name. Past booking information is retained and reportable.
customer_first_name First name First name of the Customer.
customer_last_name Last name Last name of the Customer.
customer_email Email Customer e-mail address.
customer_phone Phone Phone number of Customer.
customer_address Address Street address of the Customer.
customer_city City City of residence for the Customer.
customer_country Country

Customer country code.

Dropdown with detected country auto-selected.
customer_region State / Prov

Customer state or province.

Dropdown with detected region auto-selected. For the regions to appear in the dropdown, you must also use the customer_country field. If you do not, the field does not populate properly.
customer_postal_zip Postal / Zip

Postal or zip code.

The label of the matching Booking Form field automatically changes based on the selected country; custom field substitutions do not.
staffonly_notes Staff-only Notes Can be added at the time of booking.
customer_email_optin Stay up-to-date on our newsletter This field only displays when the Mailchimp or Constant Contact integrations are activated.
booking_language Language

The language of the booking. This special field only appears on the booking form if you have activated additional languages in your system. It is visible to Staff members only.

This allows your Staff to change the language of the notification sent to the Customer when a booking is complete. Only the currently active languages display in the dropdown menu.

 

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Learn more about email notifications

For a detailed look at email notifications and how they can be populated with Booking Form IDs, check out the following article series:

 

Next Steps

The following article examines the translation of booking form fields. 

 

 

< Configuring advanced booking form fields    |     Translating booking form fields >

 

 

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