Both Actions live in the gap between I want something and someone knows about it. They close that gap in opposite directions: Book hands the visitor off to a system you already run, and Request writes a message the visitor sends to you.
| Book | Request | |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | Enterprise | Growth |
| What it does | Opens your booking system in a new tab. | Opens the visitor's own mail or messaging app with a request written out. |
| Who owns the outcome | Your booking provider. | Whoever reads the destination inbox or phone. |
| Reaches you if the visitor stops halfway | No, and nor does your booking system. | No — unless you also switch on app push. |
| Good for | Classes, appointments, tables, tours. | Towels, valet, a refill, a test drive, a question at a desk. |
Book: handing off to your calendar
NearField does not run a calendar and does not want to. Book is a clean hand-off to the one you already keep: Calendly, Square, Mindbody, an OpenTable link, anything with a URL.
- 1
Add the Book block
It is in Visit info & one-tap help in the block picker, marked with a lightning bolt.
- 2
Paste your booking link
The Booking link field. If you leave off the
https://prefix, NearField adds it. - 3
Write the heading and the button
Heading defaults to Book a time and the button to Book now. Name the actual thing — Book a guided tour beats Book now on a wall.
Neither the heading nor the button uses the default wording. Both say what this particular booking is for.
Book can sit behind phone verification on Growth and above, which turns a wall-mounted booking link into confirmed, reachable contacts in your Audience.
Request: routing a short ask to staff
Request is the concierge Action. The visitor picks one thing from a short list, optionally types a room or table number, and taps. Their phone opens a message with everything already written: Request: Towels (Room number: 412).
Staff get a message with the request and the room already in it, not just hi. That is the whole value — the thing that makes a request actionable is the detail nobody wants to type.
- 1
Add the Request block
It sits in Questions & answers.
- 2
Choose Send requests by
Text or Email. The field below it swaps between a phone number and an email address to match.
- 3
List what they can ask for
What can they ask for? takes a short list. Three to six options is right; a long list stops being one tap.
- 4
Decide about the reference
Ask for a room or table number is on by default, labelled Room number. Rename it for your space — Table, Berth, Locker.
Five options, one reference field. The send button stays inactive until the visitor has picked something. - 5
Switch on Send to the NearField app
This is the step people skip. Read the next section before you decide against it.
Making a request actually reach you
Send to the NearField app is the channel that does not depend on that. It fires the moment the visitor taps, carries the choice and the reference, and lands on every phone you are signed in on. Run both: the message the visitor sends is the one your night porter can reply to, and the push is the one that tells you the ask happened at all.
Either way the choice is stored as an answer, so requests show up in Audience as sent a request and count in the Action performance card in Stats.
Example
The Bellhaven Hotel: the nightstand Marker
One Marker on the nightstand of every room, pointing at a room card Experience. Near the bottom sits a Request block headed What do you need?, with Towels, Extra pillows, Housekeeping, Late checkout and Something else.
Send requests by is text, to the front-desk mobile. Ask for a room or table number is on, labelled Room number. Send to the NearField app is on, so the duty supervisor sees the ask on their phone even when the guest never finishes the text.
The spa page on the same account uses Book instead, pointing at the existing treatment calendar. No list of options, no reference — the calendar already asks everything it needs.
Can Request send straight to my staff without involving the visitor's phone?
Only through app push today. There is no server-side email or SMS to the organisation yet, so a push to the NearField app is the reliable channel and the composed message is the fallback.
Can I route different options to different people?
Not within one block. Use two Request blocks with different destinations — one for housekeeping, one for the desk — or route everything to one inbox and triage there.
Book shows a plan chip and will not add. Why?
Book needs Enterprise and Request needs Growth. A tile above your plan shows the plan name instead of adding a block, and tapping it opens your upgrade options. Nothing is added and nothing is charged.
Can I use a plain Button instead of Book?
Yes, and often you should. A Button opens the same URL for free. Reach for Book when you want the tap counted as an Action in Stats, or when you want phone verification in front of it.