# A user account for guest bookings

For guest bookings the plugin can create a Joomla user account automatically and link it to the booking. The participant can log in later and see their bookings in the frontend — without you having to create the account by hand.

## The option

In the plugin options, *create a user account for guest bookings* controls the behaviour:

<table class="table" id="bkmrk-as-configured-in-dpc"> <tbody> <tr><td>As configured in DPCalendar</td><td>Default — the DPCalendar setting *registration* of the booking system applies.</td></tr> <tr><td>Yes</td><td>An account is always created for backend guest bookings, regardless of the DPCalendar setting.</td></tr> <tr><td>No</td><td>No account is ever created.</td></tr> </tbody></table>

## When an account is created

An account is only created when all conditions are met:

- The booking has the status **active**.
- There is **no account yet** for the email address. (If there is one, the booking stays a guest booking — nothing is linked silently.)
- The backend user doing this is allowed to **create users** in Joomla (permission of the user manager). Without that permission the booking is saved normally and a warning is shown.

The account receives the guest's full name, the email address as the username, a random password with a forced password change, and the default user group configured in Joomla.

## With or without sending email

- **Send emails = yes:** Joomla sends the usual registration email. Depending on the settings of the Joomla user manager it contains an activation link.
- **Send emails = no:** the account is created *silently* — active, but without any email. The participant gets access later via *forgot password*. A notice in the backend confirms the silent account creation.

<div class="callout info" id="bkmrk-so-the-account-creat">So the account creation does not fail just because sending email is switched off — a deliberate difference from Joomla's standard behaviour, which discards accounts when sending the email fails.

</div>## Privacy

Only create accounts when the participant agrees — because they asked for access on the phone, for instance. No account is required for merely recording a booking; the option can be set to *no* at any time.

<small>Applies to version 1.0.7.</small>

[Deutsche Fassung](https://docs.graup-it.de/link/99)