Guests have their phone with them from booking to their return visit

In 2025, Croatia welcomed 21.8 million tourists and passed 110 million overnight stays for the first time, according to an analysis by the Zadar County Tourist Board based on data from the eVisitor system. Almost every one of those guests carries a smartphone for their entire stay.

Yet at many hotels and campsites, the guest experience still runs on paper and plastic: a booking confirmation the guest digs out of their email at the front desk, a plastic card to get into the campsite, a paper breakfast voucher and a flyer with the Wi-Fi password. After departure, the connection with the guest often disappears until the next season, if the guest comes back at all.

A wallet pass in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet can follow the guest through their entire stay, with no app they'd have to download for just one week of vacation.

One pass for the whole guest journey

The guest doesn't get a new pass for each stage of their stay. They get one, and you change what it says.

Check-out is the key moment. That's where most hotels and campsites lose the connection with the guest, and where a wallet pass is only starting to build it.

Before arrival: a booking the guest doesn't have to look for

Along with the booking confirmation, the guest gets an "Add to Wallet" link. From then on, everything important about the stay is in one place:

• Dates and booking number, always handy at the front desk or the campsite entrance.
• Arrival directions, parking, front desk hours and contact details, on the back of the pass.
• A notification the day before arrival, with a reminder and any details that have changed, such as check-in times or schedules.
• Pre-arrival offers, such as breakfast, transfers, wellness or bike rental, for guests who have opted in to receive them.

The guest doesn't have to dig up an email from two months ago, and you don't need a dedicated app to reach them.

During the stay: a guest pass instead of a stack of paper

After check-in, the same pass becomes a guest pass. Its details are updated remotely, so the guest always sees what they need at that moment.

At a hotel, the guest pass can include:

• the room number, Wi-Fi details and opening hours for the restaurant and wellness area
• included services, such as breakfast, half board or beach loungers, which staff check with a glance at the pass or a tap
• daily notifications about events, schedule changes or offers at the hotel

At a campsite, the pass works even harder:

• the pitch or mobile home number and vehicle details
• entry at the barrier, pool or sanitary facilities with a tap of the phone on an NFC reader, instead of a plastic card or wristband
• notifications about the entertainment program, the shop, the restaurant or excursions

For NFC entry, Walletap works with Dot Origin, the maker of VTAP readers certified for Apple Wallet and Google Wallet. A screenshot of the pass doesn't open the NFC entrance, so entry stays reserved for guests.

One clarification: digital hotel room keys in the wallet do exist, but they depend on the hotel's lock system. The guest pass works independently of that. Without NFC, it can be rolled out right away; for NFC entry, Apple first has to approve NFC for your account.

After departure: a pass that brings the guest back

The biggest value of a wallet pass comes after check-out. The plastic card stays in a front desk drawer, and the paper voucher ends up in the trash. The wallet pass stays on the guest's phone even after they get home.

At check-out, the same pass gets new data: instead of the room number and Wi-Fi, it shows what brings the guest back:

• Points or status for the next stay, visible every time the guest opens their wallet.
• Early booking offers for next season, sent straight to the pass.
• Special perks for returning guests, such as late check-out, an accommodation upgrade or a restaurant discount.

Hotel groups that already have a loyalty program don't have to change it. The wallet pass can be the digital face of the existing program: it shows the member number, tier and points balance, and the data syncs with your system through an API.

Send marketing messages after departure only to guests who have opted in. We cover this in more detail in our guide to push notifications and GDPR.

What a hotel group or campsite gets

• A direct channel to the guest. A notification on the guest's lock screen, with no app, no SMS costs and no spam filters.
• Less work at the front desk. Guests have all the information on the pass, so questions about Wi-Fi, breakfast and schedules come up less often.
• Less plastic and paper. No entry cards to produce, and none lost or never handed back.
• Controlled entry. Unlike a QR code or a paper entry pass, an NFC pass in the wallet can't be lent out with a screenshot.
• A connection with the guest after the season. The pass stays on their phone, so next year's offer goes straight to the guest.
• One system for the whole group. The same pass template for every property, and you enter each hotel's or campsite's own details, such as Wi-Fi and opening hours, on each guest's pass.

Guests are quick to adopt a pass like this. At Pro-Gym, the largest gym chain in Istria, every member uses the digital membership card in their wallet, and entry at three locations works without a front desk.

Getting started: a pilot at one property

There's no need to change the whole system at once. It's best to start with one hotel or campsite and one clear use case.

1. Choose a property and a use case. For example, a guest pass with included services at one hotel, or campsite entry with an NFC reader.
2. Tie pass issuance to the booking. Include the "Add to Wallet" link in the confirmation email, or send it at check-in.
3. Design the pass with your branding. Logo, colors and property details, with clear information on the back.
4. Track results through the season. In Walletap analytics, you see how many guests add the pass and how many use it, and in your own booking system, you track the response to the offer to come back, for example with a promo code.
5. Roll out to your other properties. Once the pilot shows results, the same template carries over to the whole group.

The pre-season is the ideal time for a pilot: the system is set up before the rush, and the first results come in as early as summer.

The bottom line

Croatian tourism keeps breaking records, but guests don't come back because of overnight-stay numbers. They come back for the experience, and because someone remembered them after they left. A wallet pass connects the two: it makes the stay easier and keeps a channel to the guest open even after the season is over.

Getting ready for next season? Get in touch and we'll show you what a guest pass would look like for your hotel or campsite, from booking to the offer to come back.