Why hotels, venues and travel companies use e-signatures
Hospitality is a business of dates. A wedding venue cannot hold the date until the contract is signed. A hotel will not release a room block until the group agreement comes back. A tour cannot depart until every traveller has signed their booking terms and waivers. When those documents travel by post or a print-sign-scan loop, a keen enquiry cools off, a competitor confirms first, or the front desk ends up chasing forms on the morning of arrival.
SignPe takes that delay out. Upload the contract or form — PDF, Word (DOC or DOCX) or a photo of a paper form — place the fields each person needs to complete, and send it. The client or guest gets an email with a Review & Sign Document button and signs in their browser, wherever they are in the world. For guests standing in front of you, the SignPe app for iPhone, iPad and Android lets them sign on a tablet at the desk. You receive the signed PDF and an audit trail either way.
Event and group booking contracts: confirm the date before someone else does
Wedding and banquet contracts, conference agreements and group room-block contracts carry the details that matter later: dates, numbers, menus, cancellation terms and minimum spend. They usually need signatures from the client and from your sales or events manager, and sometimes from a planner or company representative too.
- Client first, venue second. Use Set signer order so the client signs first and your events manager countersigns. The next signer is emailed automatically when it is their turn.
- Details on the page. Use Text fields for guest numbers, room counts or the event date, and Checkmark fields beside the cancellation and attrition terms the client must accept.
- Initials on key pages. Place Initials on pages with cancellation charges or minimum-spend terms, so it is clear each one was seen.
- Copy the team. Add the banqueting manager, revenue manager or a wedding planner as observers so they receive updates without being asked to sign.
You can watch each contract move from Sent to Opened to Signed. If a client goes quiet while the date is on hold, the Remind button emails them with one click — see signing reminders.
Guest forms and waivers at the front desk
Many properties ask guests to sign something on arrival: house rules, a pet or damage agreement, a spa consultation form, or a liability waiver before diving, watersports, riding or a guided excursion. Clipboards and paper forms slow check-in and leave a pile of paper to file.
- In person Signing on a tablet. Open the form, hand the tablet across the desk, and the guest signs directly on the screen. In the mobile app the option is In-Person Signing.
- Forms completed properly. Add Full Name, Email and Date fields, and Checkmark fields beside each statement the guest must confirm. See add text and shapes.
- Send it before arrival. Email the form with the booking confirmation, and guests sign as guests in their browser after accepting an electronic-records consent screen — check-in is quicker when the paperwork is already done.
- Paper forms into PDFs. If a guest signed a paper copy, the SignPe app’s Scan option captures it with automatic edge detection, up to 20 pages per scan.
Drafts for recurring forms
Prepare your waiver or house-rules form and save it as a draft — drafts do not use a document credit — then open it from the Drafts folder when the next guest arrives.
Travel bookings and traveller forms: everyone signed before departure
Tour operators, travel agencies and school or group trip organisers collect a signed form from every traveller: booking terms, medical and dietary declarations, activity waivers and, for minors, parental consent. With a group of thirty, keeping track of who has returned what is half the job.
- Sign from anywhere. Travellers sign on their own phone or computer, in any modern browser, from wherever they are booking.
- Parent and participant on one form. Add both as signers, with fields assigned so each completes only their own part — there is no limit on signers per document. See multiple signers.
- See who is outstanding. The Waiting for Others filter in your Documents list shows every form still waiting on a traveller.
- Remind before the deadline. The Remind button emails every signer who has not signed yet; signers with the SignPe app also get a push and in-app notification.
If a traveller disagrees with the terms, they can choose Decline to sign? and you are notified straight away. If an itinerary changes after forms have gone out, void the document and send the updated version.
Supplier and seasonal staff agreements
Behind every stay or trip is a network of agreements: contracts with caterers, florists, transport companies and local guides, contracts between agencies and hotels or tour operators, and employment contracts for seasonal staff who may be hired from another country.
- Contracts from the cloud. Import agreements straight from Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive or Box instead of downloading and re-uploading them — see cloud storage integration.
- Your company stamp. Upload your company stamp once and apply it from your saved library on every agreement that carries one.
- Seasonal hires sign remotely. New starters sign their contracts from wherever they are before they travel; see electronic signatures for HR teams.
- Delegation in peak season. A user can delegate their signing to a colleague in the same organisation, who can sign on their behalf; the delegate is notified.
A typical hospitality signing workflow
Prepare the document
Upload the booking contract, guest form or waiver, import it from cloud storage, or scan a paper form with the SignPe app.
Place and assign fields
Drag Signature, Initials, Full Name, Date, Text and Checkmark fields onto the page and assign each to the client, guest, traveller or your own signatory.
Choose how it is signed
Use Set signer order to send it by email, or In person Signing to collect a signature at the desk. Add observers for colleagues who only need updates.
Track and follow up
Follow each signer’s status in the Activity timeline on the web or the Document History page on mobile, and use Remind if anyone stalls.
Keep the record
When everyone has signed, all parties receive the signed copy. Download the audit trail PDF to keep with the booking or guest file.
Compliance considerations for hospitality and travel documents
Electronic signatures are recognised for most commercial agreements under laws such as the US ESIGN Act and UETA, the EU’s eIDAS regulation and India’s Information Technology Act 2000. Guest registration rules, package-travel regulations, consent from parents or guardians, and how far a liability waiver can be relied on all vary by country and activity, so confirm with your legal adviser which documents can be signed electronically and what they must say. The legality guide covers India in detail.
- An audit trail per document. The audit trail PDF shows the document ID, sent and completed dates, and when each signer was emailed, viewed and signed.
- Consent to electronic records. Guest signers accept an electronic-records consent screen before they sign.
- Only participants can open a document. Guest and traveller details are visible only to the sender, signers and observers on that document.
- Encryption in transit and at rest. Documents travel over HTTPS/TLS and are stored in encrypted cloud storage — see eSignature security.
Guest forms and traveller declarations can include personal and health information. Apply your own data-protection and retention policies to the signed copies you download.
How to send an event contract for signature
Upload the contract
Upload the event or group booking contract as a PDF or Word file, or import it from your cloud storage.
Add the signers
Choose Set signer order, add the client first and your events manager second, and add the banqueting team as observers.
Place the fields
Add Signature, Date and Full Name fields for each signer, Initials on the cancellation terms, and Checkmark fields for the client to accept them.
Send and track
The client is emailed a Review & Sign Document link. Watch for the Opened status and use Remind if the date is on hold.
Receive the signed copy
Once both sides have signed, everyone receives the signed PDF and the audit trail is ready to download.
