Hidden fields in Booking Calendars allow you to add invisible text questions to your booking form. These fields are never shown to guests filling out the form, enabling you to pass internal data like campaign sources, tags, or known customer details discreetly.
This feature is particularly valuable for campaign tracking, lead tagging, and integrating customer information seamlessly into your workflows.
Key Benefits of Hidden Fields
- Discreet Data Handling: Pass internal data without displaying it to guests or relying on URL parameters.
- Enhanced Tracking: Simplify campaign tracking and lead tagging for marketing and operational needs.
How Hidden Fields Work
With any Free Text question in your booking form, you can enable the Hide this question from visitors toggle. This ensures that:
- The question will not be visible to guests filling out the form.
- The field remains hidden in the transcript in the guest’s notification emails and the calendar event associated with the booking.
When you enable the Hide this question from visitors toggle, you can populate the hidden field data in two ways:
- Pre-Fill via URL: Use the pre-fill feature to populate the hidden field dynamically through the URL. If data is pre-filled via URL, it will override any set fallback value.
- Fallback Value: Set a default value that will be used if no data is provided via URL.
Note: When you toggle Hide this question from visitors, the Answer required toggle becomes unavailable. Since the question is hidden from guests, it’s not possible to require an answer.
How to Create a Hidden Field
Here’s how you can set up a hidden field in your booking form:
Navigating to the Booking Form Tab
- Click on Booking Calendars in the left-hand side menu.
- Select the Booking Calendar you want to modify.
- Go to the Booking Form tab.
Creating the Hidden Field
- Select Free Text in the Add Questions pane on the right.
- Provide an internal label and enter the question text.
- Map the question to a field using the Field Mapping dropdown.
- Toggle on Hide this question from visitors.
- (Optional) Enter a Fallback value to use in case no pre-fill data is provided.
- Click Save.
Pre-Fill Hidden Fields Using a URL
You can pass information through a URL without displaying it to your guests.
To achieve this, first map the question to a Field. Once mapped, you can utilize our Pre-fill feature to construct a URL that includes the data you wish to capture in the hidden field, and then share this URL with your guests.
Sending Hidden Field Data to Third-Party Tools
Hidden field data can be mapped to Fields for integration with third-party tools like CRMs or automation platforms (e.g., Zapier).
To achieve this, first map the question to a Field. Once mapped, you can set up mapping for the third-party tool that includes the hidden field. For guides on setting up mapping for various third-party tools, please take a look at the following articles:
Using hidden fields enables you to pass valuable data silently while maintaining a clean and distraction-free experience for your guests. By combining fallback values, URL pre-filling, and third-party integrations, you unlock powerful possibilities for tracking, segmentation, and workflow automation.
