What is a guest card in rental leasing?
A guest card is a short record of a rental prospect: who they are, how to reach them, what they are looking for, how they found you and what happened at each step. Apartment staff fill one in when someone inquires or tours. A small landlord can use the same idea in a notes file or spreadsheet, and it keeps every lead from living only in your memory.
What a guest card is
The term comes from apartment communities, where a leasing office hands a card to every visitor. Today it is usually a digital record, but the job is the same: write down the prospect before they become an applicant. It is not an application, it does not run a credit check, and it is not a promise from either side.
It answers three questions you will otherwise forget: Who asked? What did they want? What did we say or do last?
What to put on a guest card
Keep it short. A card nobody finishes is no help. These fields cover most landlords.
| Field | Why it helps |
|---|---|
| Name, email, phone | So you can reply and follow up |
| Which unit or listing | You may have several vacancies |
| Target move-in date | Tells you whether the unit will still be free |
| Source: how they found you | Shows which listing sites and signs work |
| Date and channel of each contact | A clear history of what you sent |
| Showing date and outcome | Who toured, who did not show |
| Next step and date | Keeps the lead moving |
Move-in date, budget and number of people are fine to ask, because they relate to the unit. Ask the same questions of everyone.
What to leave off
A guest card is a record a regulator or a court could one day read. Leave out anything you would not want to explain.
- Guesses about a person's race, religion, national origin, family status, disability or sex. These are protected under the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3604).
- Opinions like "seems like a good fit" or "not our type". If you must note a reason a prospect is not moving forward, tie it to a written rental criterion, such as income or move-in date.
- A Social Security number or date of birth. Those belong on an application with consent, not on a casual note.
Notes about what a person said about their own situation should be factual and brief, such as "asked about a ground floor unit". Do not write a medical or family-status inference.
Guest card, inquiry and application: how they differ
| Record | Created when | Holds |
|---|---|---|
| Inquiry | Someone writes or calls | A message and contact details |
| Guest card | You log the prospect | Contact, preferences, source, history |
| Application | They apply, with consent to checks | Income, history, screening results |
The card is the middle step. It turns a loose message into a lead you can follow, and it later links to the application if they apply. The steps in the rental application process begin where the card ends.
Keeping cards tidy over time
Review your cards weekly. Close leads that said no, merge duplicates (the same person often writes from a phone and an email), and add the next step to every open card. A card with no next step is a lead that will be forgotten. Delete data you no longer need; do not keep sensitive details on a card, and follow your state's rules on how long to keep records of people who applied.
How DoorKeeping handles it
Every inquiry from your listing creates a lead record, the DoorKeeping version of a guest card. It holds the contact details, the source, each message and showing, and later links to the application and the lease, so one lead has one history. Duplicates are found and can be merged. See listings and screening for the steps on either side of it.
Sources
Questions
- What is a guest card?
- A short record of a rental prospect with their contact details, what they want, where they came from and what has happened so far. It comes before an application.
- Do small landlords need guest cards?
- They help any landlord with more than one lead at a time. A spreadsheet row or a note per lead is enough, as long as you keep the same fields for everyone.
- Is a guest card the same as a rental application?
- No. A guest card is a lead record. An application collects income and history, with consent for checks, and starts the screening process.