What is a guest count?

Point of Sale (POS) Glossary

A guest count is a record of the number of customers in a group on the same receipt. For example, at a restaurant, the guest count would represent all of the people sitting at a table who are on the same check. At a mini-golf location, the guest count might include all of the people in a group playing together. At a bowling alley, an entire team might pay together at the POS terminal for a group rate.

The guest count may be important for situations where the business automatically includes a gratuity for the waitstaff when there are a certain number of people at the table. Some establishments might also give a discount for groups, so they would also want their point of sale system to keep track of the number of patrons.