Purpose: This article explains how Booking Contacts and Learner Booking Contacts work in Administrate, how they differ, and how communication recipients are determined across booking and unnamed-learner workflows.
Understanding these concepts is important when configuring communications, because Administrate does not automatically include “the person who booked” in messages. Recipients are determined strictly by the audience selected in your communication templates and triggers.
Contents
- Overview
- What is a Booking Contact?
- What is a Learner Booking Contact?
- Booking Contact vs Learner Booking Contact
- How communications and triggers use them
- Communication rules and trigger behavior
- How unnamed learners change the workflow
- Use Booking Contact As Student
- When Booking Contacts stop receiving communications
- Best practices
Overview
Administrate supports more than one “booker” concept.
A Booking Contact is the contact designated on a Booking. A Learner Booking Contact is used when learners are registered as unnamed students and no learner records exist yet.
These contacts can be used as communication recipients, but they are used in different parts of the workflow and should not be treated as interchangeable.
Key principle: Administrate does not infer recipients. Messages are sent only to the audience explicitly targeted in a communication template or trigger.
What is a Booking Contact?
A Booking Contact is the contact designated on the Booking itself.
This is the primary contact associated with the registration and is often:
- the learner themselves
- a coordinator booking on behalf of a learner
- an administrator managing registrations
A Booking can have only one Booking Contact, and all learners on that Booking share that same contact.
When communications target Booking Contact, they are sent to this person — regardless of whether they are the learner.
What is a Learner Booking Contact?
A Learner Booking Contact is used when learners are registered as Unnamed Students.
Because unnamed learners do not yet have contact records, Administrate uses a stand-in contact — the person who made the booking — to receive communications intended for those learners.
This allows communications to be sent even when the actual learner identities are not yet known.
Booking Contact vs Learner Booking Contact
| Concept | Used for | Typical meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Booking Contact | Booking-level contact | The person responsible for the booking |
| Learner Booking Contact | Unnamed learners | The person booking on behalf of unnamed students |
Rule of thumb:
- Use Booking Contact for booking-level communication
- Use Learner Booking Contacts when learners are unnamed
How communications and triggers use them
Communication behavior is controlled by the audience selected in the template or trigger.
Common audiences include:
- Booking Contact
- Learner Booking Contacts
- Students / Learners
The system sends messages only to the selected audience. It does not automatically include other related contacts.
Examples:
- Targeting Booking Contact → sends to the booking-level contact
- Targeting Students → sends to learner records
- Targeting Learner Booking Contacts → sends to unnamed learner stand-in contact
Communication rules and trigger behavior
Understanding when Booking Contacts receive communications requires understanding how triggers work.
Key rules:
- No automatic inclusion: Booking Contacts are not automatically copied on learner or event communications.
- Audience determines recipients: Only the selected audience receives the communication.
- Event triggers do not target Booking Contacts by default: Most event-based triggers (such as event confirmations or reminders) are designed for learners.
- Booking workflow triggers are required: To send communications to Booking Contacts based on booking activity, you must configure triggers tied to booking status transitions.
In practice:
- A learner confirmation email → typically targets Students, not Booking Contact
- A booking confirmation → can target Booking Contact if configured
- Sending to Booking Contacts based on event actions requires:
- a booking status transition
- a trigger tied to that transition
This distinction is critical when designing communication workflows. If no trigger targets Booking Contact, they will not receive messages — even if they created the booking.
How unnamed learners change the workflow
Unnamed learners are the primary reason Learner Booking Contacts exist.
When learners are unnamed:
- no learner contact exists yet
- communications cannot be sent to “Students”
- the system relies on Learner Booking Contact instead
Once learners are named:
- communications can shift to Students
- the Learner Booking Contact is no longer required as a stand-in
Use Booking Contact As Student
The Use Booking Contact As Student setting affects how single-learner bookings are handled.
Depending on configuration:
- the Booking Contact becomes the learner
- or the learner remains unnamed
This directly affects communication behavior:
- If used → learner communications go to the Booking Contact
- If not used → unnamed learner workflow applies
When Booking Contacts stop receiving communications
Booking Contacts and Learner Booking Contacts only receive communications when they are the resolved audience.
They stop receiving communications when:
- communications target Students and named learners exist
- the Booking Contact is changed on the Booking
- unnamed learners are replaced with named learners
- the communication audience is changed
They do not continue receiving communications simply because they created the booking.
Best practices
- Use Booking Contact for booking-level workflows and confirmations
- Use Learner Booking Contacts only for unnamed learner scenarios
- Do not assume Booking Contacts receive learner communications
- Configure booking workflow triggers when Booking Contacts must be notified
- Review communication audiences carefully in templates and triggers
- Understand how unnamed learners affect recipient behavior
- Document your communication model internally to avoid confusion