> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cortado.pro/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Booking Questionnaires

> Collect extra event details from customers after they book

## Booking Questionnaires Overview

After a booking is confirmed, you often still need details that don't belong on the inquiry form — parking instructions, an on-site contact, load-in notes, dietary restrictions, and similar day-of logistics. Booking questionnaires collect those answers from the customer on the portal, then show them on the event in Cortado.

You design the questions once. Cortado copies them onto each **new** booking. Customers answer on the booking portal (typically right after they pay), and your team reviews the responses on the event detail page.

<Note>
  Booking questionnaires are separate from [inquiry forms](/guides/forms) (which capture new leads) and from the short question cards [Gibby](/guides/gibby#questionnaires) uses in chat.
</Note>

## Where to Configure Them

All questionnaire design lives at **Settings > Services > Event Types**.

That page has two layers that stack on every new booking:

1. **Default questions** — asked on every new booking, regardless of event type.
2. **Event-type questions** — extras for that type only (wedding, corporate, and so on), shown after the defaults.

If both are empty, customers are not asked anything extra.

## Default Questions

Use defaults for details you need on every job.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Event Types">
    Go to **Settings > Services > Event Types**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Edit Default questions">
    The **Default questions** card sits at the top of the page. Add, reorder, or remove questions there.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Preview, then save">
    Switch to **Preview** to see the questions the way a customer will, then click **Save default questions**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

The designer copy on this card is explicit: these questions are copied onto every new booking. Editing them later does not change bookings that already exist.

## Event-Type Questions

Use event-type questions for details that only apply to some jobs — a wedding timeline, corporate AV needs, or a birthday cake flavor.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the event type">
    On **Settings > Services > Event Types**, click a type in the table, or click **Create Event Type**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add Event-type questions">
    Scroll to **Event-type questions**. These appear after your organization defaults on new bookings of this type.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save">
    Click **Save Changes** (or **Create Event Type**). The table's **Questions** column shows how many extras that type has.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Designing Questions

Each question has:

* **Prompt** — the question customers see (required)
* **Help text** — optional context shown under the prompt
* **Type** — the input they fill in
* **Required** — on by default; turn it off for nice-to-haves
* **Options** — for multiple choice and multi-select only

Use the up and down arrows to reorder, and **Add question** to grow the list. The **Design** and **Preview** tabs let you edit and then check the customer-facing layout.

### Question Types

| Type                | What the customer sees                        |
| ------------------- | --------------------------------------------- |
| **Short text**      | A single-line answer                          |
| **Long text**       | A longer paragraph                            |
| **Multiple choice** | One option from the list you provide          |
| **Multi-select**    | One or more options from the list you provide |
| **Yes / No**        | A yes or no choice                            |
| **Phone**           | A phone number                                |
| **Email**           | An email address                              |
| **Address**         | A single-line location                        |

Multiple choice and multi-select need at least one option. Empty prompts cannot be saved.

<Tip>
  Keep required questions to the handful you actually need before the event. Optional questions still appear, but they will not block the customer from submitting.
</Tip>

## How Questions Get onto a Booking

When a booking is created — a customer accepts a quote, you accept on their behalf, or you create an event directly — Cortado copies the current default questions, then that booking's event-type questions, onto the booking as a snapshot.

That snapshot is self-contained:

* Later edits to defaults or to the event type do **not** change existing bookings.
* Bookings created before you added questions will not pick them up automatically.
* If neither defaults nor the event type have questions, the booking has no questionnaire.

Set the questions up before you start sending quotes you expect to convert, so new bookings get the list you want.

## What Customers See

On the booking portal, questionnaires appear as **Event details**.

* After a successful payment, if required questions are still unanswered, the portal opens the questionnaire so they can finish it next.
* On the booking page, an **Event details** card in the left rail shows **Answer event questions** (or **View your answers** once required questions are done), with a **To do** or **Done** badge.
* The form title is **Event details**, with the prompt **Share a few details so we can prepare for your event.**
* Submitting saves with **Submit answers**. Customers can come back later and **Update answers**.

Required questions must be filled in before submit. Optional questions can be left blank.

## Reviewing Answers on the Event

Open any event on the booking. A **Questionnaire** card appears under the booking details when that booking has questions.

* The description shows **X of Y answered**.
* Each prompt is listed, with a **Required** badge when applicable.
* Answers display as text (including **Yes** / **No** and joined multi-select labels). Unanswered items say **No answer yet**.

This card is for review. Customers change answers from the portal; the event page does not edit them.

## Best Practices

1. **Put universal logistics in defaults** — parking, on-site contact, and load-in notes belong on every booking so you do not recreate them per type.
2. **Put specialty asks on the event type** — wedding timelines and corporate AV should not clutter a birthday booking.
3. **Ask less than you think** — every required question is a hurdle after payment. Use optional questions for extras.
4. **Preview before you save** — the Preview tab is the fastest way to catch a missing option or an unclear prompt.
5. **Write prompts in the customer's voice** — "Where should the team park?" converts better than an internal field name.
6. **Check answers before the event** — make reviewing the Questionnaire card part of your pre-event pass so you are not chasing details the morning of.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Events & Calendar" icon="calendar" href="/guides/events-calendar">
    See questionnaire answers on the event detail page.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Customer Portal" icon="window" href="/guides/customer-portal">
    How customers pay and complete event details after they book.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Settings" icon="gear" href="/guides/settings">
    Event types, defaults, and the rest of Services.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Inquiry Forms" icon="window-maximize" href="/guides/forms">
    Capture the lead first — questionnaires come after the booking.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>
