Guest Update

Update a Guest

Whenever a guest asks to change their details, or you just need to fix a typo, you can use this endpoint to smoothly update their profile information. You are able to easily modify their contact details, address, preferences, and other essential guest information. When you send updates, our system will double-check everything, making sure the new info is valid and won't clash with any existing accounts.

Endpoint

PATCH /api/v1/client/guests/{guestId}

Example curl

curl "/api/v1/client/guests/f1b2c3d4-5678-49ab-9cde-112233445566" \
  -X PATCH \
  -H "accept: application/json" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -H "origin: https://docs.hostelmate.co" \
  --data-raw '{
    "guest": {
      "phone": "[phone]",
      "address": {
        "line1": "Westminster",
        "city": "London",
        "postal_code": "SW1A 1AA",
        "country_code": "GB"
      },
      "preferences": {
        "language": "en",
        "newsletter": false,
        "marketing": true
      }
    }
  }'

Pro-Tip: This is a partial update! That means you only need to include the exact fields you want to change. No need to send over data that's staying exactly the same.

---

Request Payload

Here's exactly what you can include in your update.

Top-level Fields

Field	Type	Description
guest	object	The main container for all your updates, covering contact details, address, and preferences.

Guest Object (updatable)

Field	Type	Description
first_name	string	The guest's updated first name.
last_name	string	The guest's updated last name.
email	string	The guest's updated email address. (Just make sure it's a valid email format!)
phone	string	The guest's updated phone number. We highly recommend using the E.164 format.
country_code	string	The guest's new country code. (Needs to be ISO 3166-1 alpha-2)
address	object	The guest's updated postal address (see the breakdown below).
date_of_birth	string	The guest's updated date of birth (Use the format: YYYY-MM-DD).
nationality	string	The guest's updated nationality. (Needs to be ISO 3166-1 alpha-2)
preferences	object	The guest's updated preferences (see the breakdown below).

Address Object

Field	Type	Description
line1	string	The main street address line.
city	string	The city they reside in.
postal_code	string	Their postal or ZIP code.
country_code	string	Their country code in ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 format (e.g., GB).

Preferences Object

Field	Type	Description
language	string	Their preferred language code (e.g., en, fr).
newsletter	boolean	Let us know if they want to subscribe to newsletters.
marketing	boolean	Let us know if they consented to marketing communications.

---

Response (200 OK)

If everything goes perfectly, you'll receive a response looking like this:

{
  "guestId": "f1b2c3d4-5678-49ab-9cde-112233445566",
  "first_name": "John",
  "last_name": "Doe",
  "email": "[email protected]",
  "phone": "[phone]",
  "country_code": "GB",
  "address": {
    "line1": "Westminster",
    "city": "London",
    "postal_code": "SW1A 1AA",
    "country_code": "GB"
  },
  "date_of_birth": "1990-05-15",
  "nationality": "GB",
  "preferences": {
    "language": "en",
    "newsletter": false,
    "marketing": true
  },
  "updatedAt": "2025-10-02T11:05:13Z"
}

---

Validation Rules

To keep your data pristine, we enforce a few simple rules:

• You only have to send the data you want to change! Missing fields are safely ignored and left as-is.

• If you decide to send an email, we'll check to make sure it's valid and isn't already claimed by another guest.

• The date_of_birth needs to use the classic YYYY-MM-DD format.

• Both country_code and nationality require standard ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes.

• If you include a phone number, the standard E.164 format works best!

---

Error Codes

Sometimes things don't go according to plan! Here's a quick cheat sheet for interpreting the errors:

HTTP	Code	Description
400	bad_request	Something looks slightly off with the fields or payload structure you provided.
404	guest_not_found	We couldn't seem to find a guest sharing that specific guestId.
409	email_conflict	Looks like that new email address is already being used by another guest!
422	invalid_country_code	The country code or nationality you gave us doesn't seem valid.
422	invalid_date_format	The date format for date_of_birth wasn't recognized.
500	server_error	An unexpected server hiccup occurred on our end.