---
title: "Flex Office: visitors"
description: Invite external visitors, book a parking spot and a meal for them, organise their reception and check in a colleague at reception.
url: "https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/flex-office-visitors/"
updated: "2026-11-01"
category: FlexOffice
---

# Flex Office: visitors

Flex Office lets you invite external visitors, book a parking spot and a meal for them, and organise their reception on the day of the visit. External guests of a meeting are visitors like any others. This article also covers checking in a colleague at reception and the **Visitors & Externals** settings page.

## Before you start

- **The Visitors block** of a desk can be read with the permission to invite visitors at Access level. Inviting, correcting, removing, cancelling, booking a spot or a meal requires this permission at Execute level. You invite for yourself, or for the population of your role.
- **Inviting externals to a meeting** requires, in addition to booking the room, the permission to invite visitors at Execute level. Without it, the **External guests (optional)** section does not exist.
- **The Reception button** only appears with the permission to manage visitor reception (Access level for the list, Execute level to record arrivals and departures). This permission covers the visitors of the whole company. Reception does not see the visitors' email address.
- **Record an arrival** only appears with the permission to check in someone else at Execute level. It applies to colleagues in the population of your role.
- **The Visitors & Externals page** can be read with access to the module; saving it requires the general settings permission at Execute level.
- **Deciding on a visit** that requires approval: see [Approvals](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/flex-office-approvals/).

### Permissions in the role matrix

- “Invite external visitors (for oneself, or for the population of one's role), book their parking spot and meal”: Access level to see a desk's visitors, Execute level to invite and manage (meeting guests included).
- “Manage visitor reception: see all of the day's visitors, record arrivals and departures, enter the badge”: Access level for the day's list, Execute level to record arrivals and departures.
- “Check in someone else (reception): record the on-site arrival of an employee of one's population who has a booking that day (execute)”, Execute level.
- “Flex Office module — Access”, Access level: read the Visitors & Externals page.
- “Flex Office general settings”, Execute level: save the Visitors & Externals page.
- “Access request (DSR)”, Administer level: find and export a visitor; “Anonymization”, Execute level, in addition: anonymise them.

## What these screens are for

- **A desk's visitors** (card of an office day in the calendar): invite a group of visitors, add, correct or remove a person, cancel the visit, book a spot and a meal for each visitor.
- **A meeting's external guests** (meeting form, Meeting rooms tab): a visit is created with the meeting. See [Meeting rooms](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/flex-office-meeting-rooms/).
- **Visitor reception** (**Reception** button in the calendar): “Who is expected, arrived or gone; temporary badges”. Reception records arrivals and departures.
- **Record an arrival** (calendar entry): “A person’s arrival at reception, on their booking for today.” It concerns colleagues, not visitors.
- **Visitors & Externals** (Flex Office settings): allow invitations, enable the temporary badge, choose the required fields.

## Step by step

### Invite visitors

1. Book your desk for the day of the visit, then open that day's card in the [calendar](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/flex-office-calendar/).
2. In the **Visitors** block, click **+ Invite**.
3. Enter the expected **Arrival time**. The visit takes the date, location, zone and time slot of your desk.
4. For each person, enter the **Name**, **Company** and **Email** (optional, unless your settings require them), and the **Email language**: French, English, German or Italian.
5. **One more person** adds a line; the cross on a line removes it.
6. Click **Invite**.

### Manage a visit

- The status of the visit is shown: **Awaiting approval**, **Confirmed**, **Declined** or **Cancelled**. Under each person: their status, “invitation sent” once the email has gone, and the language of their emails if they have an address.
- **+ Add a person** adds a visitor to an existing visit. If visit approval is in place, the visit goes back to pending; a refusal only removes the people added.
- The buttons at the end of a visitor's line correct them (then **Save**) or remove them.
- **Cancel the visit** cancels the whole group.
- For each visitor, book their spot (**Book a parking spot**, then **Book this spot**) and their meal (**Book a meal**), or remove them (**Remove the spot**, **Remove the meal**).

### Invite externals to a meeting

1. In a meeting's form, open the **External guests (optional)** section and click **Add an external guest**.
2. Enter the **Name**, **Company**, **Email** and language (“Host’s language” by default).
3. Save the meeting. A visit is created at the room's location, on the day of the meeting, with the organiser as host and an arrival at the start of the meeting.

The details (series of meetings, moving, cancelling) are in [Meeting rooms](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/flex-office-meeting-rooms/).

### Welcome visitors on the day

1. In the calendar, click **Reception**. The **Visitor reception** window opens.
2. Choose the **Location** and the **Day**. The list shows, for each visitor, their status (**Expected**, **Arrived**, **Left**), their host, their time, their spot and their meal. A meeting guest carries the label “Meeting”, with the room and the times.
3. On arrival, enter the **Badge number** if the temporary badge is enabled, then click **Arrival**. The host is notified in the application.
4. On departure, tick **Badge returned** if applicable, then click **Departure**.

![Screenshot — The Visitor reception window](https://i0.wp.com/illizeo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/flex-office-visitors-01.en_.png?resize=800%2C500&quality=80&ssl=1)
The Visitor reception window.

### Check in a colleague at reception

1. In the calendar, click **Record an arrival**.
2. Under **Person**, search for and choose the colleague.
3. Click **Record the arrival**. The window confirms the arrival on their booking for today (location and slot), or says it was already recorded.

![Screenshot — The Record an arrival window](https://i0.wp.com/illizeo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/flex-office-visitors-02.en_.png?resize=800%2C500&quality=80&ssl=1)
The Record an arrival window.

A refusal is shown in the window: the person has no active booking today, or they are not in the population you may check in. You cannot check yourself in through reception. See [Flex Office calendar](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/flex-office-calendar/) for each person's own check-in.

### Set up visitors (administrators)

1. Open **Flex Office settings › Visitors & Externals**.
2. Enable or disable:
   - **Allow inviting visitors**: without it, every invitation is refused, including that of a meeting's guests;
   - **Temporary badge**: reception enters a badge number on arrival, returned on departure.
3. Under **Required fields**, the **Name** is always required; tick **Company**, **Email**, **Zone** if needed.
4. The **Expected visitors** block counts the visitors expected from today onwards.
5. Click **Save**.

![Screenshot — The Visitors & Externals page in Flex Office settings](https://i0.wp.com/illizeo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/flex-office-visitors-03.en_.png?resize=800%2C500&quality=80&ssl=1)
The Visitors & Externals page in Flex Office settings.

## Good to know

- **A visit takes a seat at the office.** The visitor counts in their host's zone. In a zone with desks, they take no specific desk: they hold one of the free, unassigned desks. If there are no seats left: “No seat left at the office for that slot.” A zone reserved for priority departments refuses the visit if the host does not belong to one of them.
- **A meeting's visit** has no zone: it counts in the location's capacity, and the **Zone** setting does not apply to it. It follows the meeting: moved with it, cancelled with it (a guest who has already arrived stays).
- **Site closed.** A site closed to visits on the slot refuses the invitation.
- **Approval.** If your company approves visits, a workflow is set up in Workflows on the “Visit to approve” trigger. With no workflow, the visit is confirmed directly. A declined visit cancels its visitors' spots and meals. For a series of meetings, a single approval covers all the dates.
- **Emails to visitors.**
  - A visitor with an address receives their invitation when the visit is confirmed, never before. It gives the location, the address, the date, the time, the host and the access information.
  - They receive a cancellation email if they had received their invitation.
  - A meeting guest receives an email when the meeting's location, day or start time changes. For a series, they receive a single invitation listing their dates, then one email per change.
  - Emails are sent in the language chosen for the visitor: by default the host's, otherwise the workspace's, otherwise English. They never give the subject of a meeting.
  - The templates are set in Settings › Illizeo › Emails; the invitation always remains active, the others can be switched off. Without an address, nothing is sent.
- **Host away.** If the host has an approved absence or approved remote work on the slot, the visit goes ahead. The host is warned, and reception sees “Host away”: arrange for someone to receive the visitor.
- **The visitor's meal.** It counts towards capacity and the daily lists, not towards the host's quota. If the service is full, it goes on the waiting list.
- **A visit over several days** is several visits.
- **Retention.** Visits and visitor data (name, company, email, badge) are purged after 24 months by default.
- **Data protection requests.** A visitor has no account: the DPO finds them by their email address in Organization › Data & Privacy, “Flex Office visitors” tab, then exports their data (**Export (JSON)**) or anonymises it (**Anonymise**). The upcoming visits of an anonymised visitor are cancelled; the host is notified, without the visitor's name.

## See also

- [Flex Office calendar](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/flex-office-calendar/)
- [Meeting rooms](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/flex-office-meeting-rooms/)
- [Parking](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/flex-office-car-parks/)
- [Meals](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/flex-office-meals/)
- [Approvals](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/flex-office-approvals/)
- [Notifications](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/flex-office-notifications-and-emails/)
- [Flex Office settings](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/flex-office-settings/)
- [Flex Office: module overview](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/flex-office-overview/)

### *Similaire*