A phone number belongs to one contact. When a second contact turns up with the same number — a reused hotel line, a partner's mobile on a later booking, a number a carrier recycled — Hello Hotel flags it so your team can decide who owns it, instead of a text going to the wrong person.
Most of these are settled automatically: when a new reservation makes it clear who has the number now, Hello Hotel reassigns it on its own. See When a Guest's Phone Number Changes Hands. This article covers the cases that need a person.
Where You'll See a Conflict
A conflict shows up in three places:
On the guest detail panel of each contact involved — the panel shows the contacts as cards, with the same options described below
In the contact list, so you can spot them while browsing
On the Contact conflicts screen — go to Contacts → Contact conflicts to work through everything that's waiting
The Contact Conflicts Screen
The screen lists one row per phone number, with the most urgent first. Each row carries a badge:
Stay ended — the contact holding the number has checked out
Possibly the same — the details suggest these are one person
Needs a look — nothing obvious; someone should decide
Same Mews profile — both contacts point at one Mews guest profile (Mews properties only)
Open a row to see the contacts side by side — one column each, with matching and differing fields marked, and a note when the details suggest they're the same person (a shared masked OTA email, for instance). When you resolve one, the next opens.
Your Four Options
Keep it with the contact you're viewing — the other contact loses the number
Give it to the other contact
Merge the two into one record. You only see the fields where the two differ and choose what to keep; matching fields are kept automatically, and a preview shows what the merged record will look like. With three or more contacts on one number, you pick which pair to merge first. Two contacts that share a number can be merged even though only one of them "holds" it.
Ignore the conflict. It disappears from the panel, the list, and the screen.
Ignored a conflict by mistake? Undo it from the screen's Ignored list. An ignored conflict also comes back on its own if the number changes hands again — for example, when a new reservation gives it to a third guest.
Good to Know
A conflict stays open until someone resolves or ignores it. Hello Hotel doesn't decide for you — the automatic switching only settles the clear-cut cases before they reach this list.
A contact with its own number on file can't take the disputed number. It's shown for context, but Keep and Give aren't offered for it.
Merges are one at a time, with no undo. There's no bulk resolution. On a Mews property, a merge made here is applied in Mews too.
Cloudbeds properties can't merge yet. Keep, Give, and Ignore work; the Merge option isn't offered until merge is available for Cloudbeds.
Web only. The Contact conflicts screen isn't in the mobile app.
Works without a PMS. Only the "Same Mews profile" badge needs a Mews connection.
Still need help?
Use the chat widget in the app, in this help center, or on hellohotel.co, or email us at [email protected].