Inviting a Guest
Registering a guest in MyWatchtower lets them enter the community without delay. Gate staff can verify registered guests quickly, and every visit is logged in your property's entry activity. Guests are created in a single guided wizard, and this article walks through its core steps. The wizard's access period, schedule, and entry-code options each have their own article — they're linked below where they come up.
1 — Start the wizard
You can start from either place:
- On your dashboard, select the Add Guest tile ("Register a new guest or vendor"), or
- Open your Property page, select the Guests tab, and use the create button there. Starting from the Guests tab skips the type step, since the wizard already knows you're adding a guest.
2 — Select the type and property
If asked, choose who is being let in at the gate:
- Visitor — "A friend or relative."
- Vendor — "A business or delivery service." (Vendors follow the same wizard; see "Managing Vendors" for vendor-specific tips.)
If you hold more than one property, also pick which property the guest belongs to.
3 — Enter the guest's details
- First Name and Last Name — use the name on the guest's ID. Nicknames or misspellings can keep gate staff from finding them.
- Associate Vehicle (Optional) — link a registered vehicle so staff can recognize it at the gate.
- Notes (Optional) — visible to gate staff when processing visitors; use them for access instructions (for example, "Only allow M-F 8-5").
- Photo (Optional) — if your account has permission to manage profile photos, you can attach a photo of the guest. Photos are JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, or HEIC files up to 5 MB, with one photo per person, and are shown in place of the automatically generated initials wherever the guest appears. A photo helps gate staff confirm that the person at the gate matches the record.
4 — Set when the guest may enter
On the Access step, either tick "This is a permanent guest" or set a Start Date and End Date, and optionally limit the days and hours the guest may enter:
- See "Making a Guest or Vendor Permanent" for what the permanent option means.
- See "Setting a Guest's Entry Schedule" for dated access and day/hour schedules.
5 — Optional entry codes
If your community has these features enabled, the same Access step can issue entry codes alongside the guest:
- Enable QR Code Access — see "Issuing a QR Code When Creating a Guest."
- Enable kiosk pin access — see "Giving a Guest a Kiosk PIN."
If you don't see these options, your community may have them turned off — contact your community's management office.
6 — Submit
Select Submit. You'll see a confirmation that the guest was created (and the QR code too, if you enabled one), and you'll land on your property's guest list.
After the guest is created
- To fix details, change access, restrict, or delete the guest later, see "Editing or Removing a Guest."
- To send a QR code to your guest, see "Sharing and Downloading a QR Code."
Registering guests in advance speeds up entry at the gate. Keep names accurate and end dates current for the smoothest experience.