Summary: The Contractor role is a limited-access role designed for external or temporary staff — such as spa technicians, maintenance contractors, or other third-party providers — who need to view and act on guest information at their assigned departments.
A Contractor role is always assigned at the department level — every department belongs to a location, so a Contractor's location-level access (profiles, bookings, tags, payments) is automatically determined by the location(s) their assigned department(s) belong to. Conversations and notes apply a stricter check: they're scoped to the specific department(s) assigned, not to every department at that location. T
his is why a Contractor can have profile and booking access at a property, while still being unable to see a conversation tagged to a different department at that same property.
Permissions Required: No admin role required — this article applies to users assigned the Contractor role.
A Location Admin or Brand Admin manages a Contractor's department assignments via Settings > Users.
What is the Contractor role?
The Contractor role gives external or temporary staff access to AXP so they can view relevant guest and booking information and communicate with guests where needed — without seeing the platform's full guest and conversation history.
A Contractor's role is always assigned by department — there's no separate step to assign a location. Because every department belongs to a location, this single assignment determines access in two different ways:
Location-level access (profiles, bookings, tags, payments) — automatically follows from the location(s) that the Contractor's assigned department(s) belong to.
Department-level access (conversations, notes, and sending messages) — restricted specifically to the department(s) assigned, not to every department at that location.
This is why a Contractor can be able to see a guest's profile and booking at a property (because their assigned department is at that location), while still being unable to see or take part in a conversation tied to a different department at that same property.
What can a Contractor see or do?
Area | Can a Contractor access it? | Scope |
Guest profile | Yes | Only profiles with a booking at a location where the Contractor has an assigned department |
Contact details (email, phone, address, date of birth, cards on file) | Yes | Not restricted for Contractor — visible in full once profile access is granted |
Bookings | Yes | All booking statuses (including past, cancelled, and no-show), limited to locations where the Contractor has an assigned department |
Conversations | Limited | Can view and send messages in conversations tagged to the specific department(s) assigned under their Contractor role — conversations tagged to a different department, even at the same location, are not visible |
Notes | Limited | Follows the same department-based access as conversations |
Tags / preferences | Yes | Limited to locations where the Contractor has an assigned department, plus any brand-wide tags |
Requests / service orders | Yes | Full view access, but lists are limited to locations where the Contractor has an assigned department |
Loyalty information | Yes | Not location-restricted — visible across the brand |
Stored payment methods | View-only | Visible if the profile has a booking at a location where the Contractor has an assigned department; cannot charge, refund, or remove a payment method |
Editing a profile (e.g. address, email, phone) | Usually yes | Granted by default, but a Brand Admin can restrict this for an individual Contractor or brand after the role is created |
What can a Contractor NOT do?
Area | What they cannot do |
Guest profiles | Cannot create a new profile |
Payments | Cannot charge, refund, or remove a stored payment method |
Users | Cannot invite, edit, or remove other users |
Locations & departments | Cannot create, edit, or delete locations or departments |
Brand/organisation settings | Cannot access or change brand-level settings |
Message templates | Cannot create, edit, or delete message templates |
Reports | Cannot access reports or analytics dashboards |
What happens if a user has both the Contractor role and another role?
This is not recommended. Location Admins and Brand Admins need to make sure that Contractor roles only assigned to people who need limited access to the platform.
⚠️ Warning: Location Admins and Brand Admins should not also be assigned the Contractor role.
The Contractor role is intended for staff who are not permanent employees of the brand or property (for example, spa technicians, maintenance contractors, or other temporary/external providers).
Location Admin, and Brand Admin are intended for full-time, permanent employees of a property or brand. Combining Contractor with any of these admin roles is not a supported setup, and can produce inconsistent or unexpected access rather than simply "the more senior role wins."
Why can't a Contractor see a specific conversation?
This is the most common issue reported for the Contractor role. Profile and booking access follow the location of the Contractor's assigned department(s), but conversations apply a stricter, department-specific check — so having profile or booking access at a property does not mean a Contractor can see every conversation at that property.
A conversation is only visible (and only messageable) if it included the specific department(s) assigned under the Contractor's role — not just any department at the same location.
If it isn't, the conversation won't appear in Search, History, or on the guest's profile — this is expected behaviour, not a bug.
💡 Tips:nFor step-by-step troubleshooting on this specific scenario, see Why Can't I Find a Guest's Conversation in History?
Common Questions
Q: Can a Contractor create a new guest profile?
A: No. Profile creation is limited to roles such as Brand Admin, Location Admin, and Converser.
Q: Can a Contractor merge two guest profiles?
A: No. Merging profiles requires a permission that isn't granted to the Contractor role by default.
Q: Can a Contractor edit a guest's profile details?
A: Usually yes — by default, Contractors can edit fields like address, email, and phone number. A Brand Admin can also change an individual Contractor's permission set after the role is created, so if a specific Contractor reports being unable to edit a profile, check with a Brand Admin whether this has been restricted for that user or brand.
Q: Can a Contractor send messages to a guest?
A: Yes, but only within conversations tied to a department assigned under their Contractor role. They cannot send messages in conversations outside those departments — the same scoping that governs visibility also governs sending.
Q: Can a Contractor manage other users, locations, or departments?
A: No. These require a Brand Admin or Location Admin role.
Q: Can a Contractor access reports or analytics?
A: No, not through the Contractor role itself. However, a user can hold more than one role — for example, both Contractor and Report Viewer — so reporting access may still be possible depending on what other roles are assigned to that user. Speak with your Brand admins if you need reporting access alongside a Contractor role.
Q: Can a Contractor see all of a guest's bookings?
A: Only bookings at locations where the Contractor is assigned with. This includes all statuses — past, cancelled, and no-show bookings are visible too, not just upcoming or checked-in ones.
Q: Why can't a Contractor find a guest's conversation, even though they can see the guest's profile or booking?
A: Profile and booking access follow the location of the Contractor's assigned department(s), but conversations apply a stricter check that's specific to the exact department a conversation is tagged to.
So having profile or booking access at a property doesn't guarantee access to every conversation there. See Why Can't I Find a Guest's Conversation in History? for full troubleshooting steps.
💡 Tip: If you're unsure which departments a Contractor has been assigned (which in turn determines their location access), a Location Admin or Brand Admin can check and update this from Settings > Users.