Unmanned Facility SoftwareWhat unmanned facility software is, and what it has to do.

What makes it different from ordinary booking software?

Ordinary booking software assumes someone will be there to handle the exceptions. Unmanned software has to make exceptions impossible instead: payment is taken before the slot is held, the waiver is signed before the code exists, and the code dies on schedule — because there is nobody on site to say yes or no.

Put practically: booking software fails gracefully by falling back to a human. Unmanned software has no human to fall back to, so every rule has to be enforced by the system at the moment of booking rather than at the moment of arrival.

What are the four pieces, and why do they have to be one system?

Booking, payment, waiver, and access. They have to be one system because every one of them changes the others: a refund should kill a door code, a cancelled booking should free the slot and revoke access, and an unsigned waiver should block the code from ever being issued.

• Booking. Sells a specific resource for a specific window. Prevents double-booking and holds turnover time between sessions.
• Payment. Collected in full at booking, not on arrival. This is the single change that removes no-shows from an unstaffed operation.
• Waiver. Signed during checkout and stored against the person, not the booking, so repeat customers don't sign twice.
• Access. A code or credential scoped to the reserved window, issued on confirmation and expired at the end.

What goes wrong most often in unmanned facilities?

The most common failure is a booking change that never reaches the door — someone reschedules and shows up to a code that doesn't work, with no one to call. The second most common is a code with no expiry, which quietly turns a paid hour into an open-ended one and collides with the next booking.

Both failures have the same root cause: two systems that each believe they own the truth. Any evaluation should start by asking a vendor what happens to a door code when a booking is refunded, and treating a vague answer as the answer.

What does unmanned facility software cost?

Two pricing models dominate. Flat subscriptions run roughly $100 to $300 a month for a single-site operator, and per-transaction platforms bundle software and card processing into one fee, commonly around 3.9% plus a fixed amount per booking. Which is cheaper depends almost entirely on your average ticket.

The rule of thumb: a fixed per-booking fee is a rounding error on a $300 package and brutal on a $35 rental. If your business is small tickets at volume, flat pricing wins; if it's a handful of large packages a month, per-transaction pricing can genuinely be cheaper.

Do I need to replace my door hardware?

Usually not. If your access controller publishes an API for doors, people, and PIN credentials, booking software can drive it directly and your existing keypad stays on the wall.

Cinch issues the code. Delivering it to your specific door controller is integration work we scope and confirm before you sign — not a checkbox we pretend is already ticked. Most cloud access controllers (infinias / 3xLOGIC, and others in that class) publish an API for doors, people, and PIN credentials, which is all a per-session code needs. If yours doesn't, we'll tell you that on the first call rather than after the contract.