Create a cloakroom with ease

In Tapcoat, a cloakroom is the digital twin of your physical cloakroom area. It holds all the information about which items are accepted, how the hanger locations are numbered, and how capacity limits are communicated. Before you can start an event, you need to set up at least one cloakroom.

You create it in four guided steps directly in the dashboard under the “Cloakrooms” menu item.

Important before you start: The numbers you configure in Tapcoat must match the physically numbered hooks, shelves, or storage spaces at your venue exactly. Make sure your clothes rails or storage spaces are already labeled or numbered before the setup. Otherwise, the assignment won’t match reality, and guests won’t be able to find their hanger location.

Step 1 — Enter a name

Give the cloakroom a unique, descriptive name. Your guests can see this name — it appears on the digital cloakroom pass in the wallet app. Choose a name that clearly describes the location, so guests know where to go at pickup. Good examples:

  • “Main cloakroom, north entrance”
  • “Luggage drop-off, lower level”
  • “VIP cloakroom, lounge”
  • “After-party area, upper floor”

A clear cloakroom name reduces questions to your staff and helps guests find the right area, even at large or unfamiliar venues.

Step 2 — Define items

Items are the types of objects this cloakroom accepts. For each type, you create a separate entry with a matching icon and a name of your choice. You are completely free in your selection — possible item types include, for example:

  • Jackets / coats
  • Suitcases / trolleys
  • Bags / backpacks
  • Instruments
  • Sports equipment
  • Other

You can combine as many item types as you like and name them freely. There is no limit. Tailor the list to what guests actually drop off at your venue.

Optional setting: Default selection

If you enable the default selection, an item type is automatically preselected with a set quantity during check-in in the app. This makes sense if one type is much more common at your events than others. Example: at an evening event, almost every guest drops off exactly one jacket. If you enable the default selection for “Jacket” with a quantity of 1, your staff no longer has to enter anything manually at check-in — saving several seconds per check-in, which adds up considerably with 500 guests.

Optional setting: Warning for staff members

If you enable this feature, the app shows a warning as soon as the number of remaining free hanger locations falls below a threshold you define. This way, your staff is informed in good time, before the cloakroom is full — and can react: prepare additional capacity, redirect guests to another station, or notify the event management. You set the threshold yourself, for example a warning at 20 remaining hanger locations.

Step 3 — Configure the areas

Areas define how the numbers of the hanger locations are structured. This is the most important and technically demanding step of the cloakroom configuration.

What is an area?

An area is a separate number range within the cloakroom. You can create multiple areas — for example, if jackets and suitcases are stored in separate places, or if you run cloakrooms in different rooms with their own number ranges. First, you assign each area the item types it handles — either all of them or a specific selection.

What is a building block?

A building block is one part of the hanger location number. Numbers are made up of one or more building blocks, put together from left to right. Each building block has one of three types:

  • Numbers — an ascending numeric range. You define the start value, end value, and the number of digits. With 2 digits and a start of 1, Tapcoat generates the numbers 01, 02, 03, and so on.
  • Letters — an ascending alphabetical range from A to Z or a subset of it.
  • Text — a fixed piece of text that stays the same in every number, for example “VIP-” or “A-“. Used as a prefix or separator.

Quick-start templates

For the most common number formats, three templates are available that preconfigure the building blocks automatically:

  • 001 — purely numeric, three digits, from 001 to 999
  • A-001 — letter as prefix, hyphen, three-digit number
  • VIP-001 — fixed text as prefix, hyphen, three-digit number

You can use any template as is or adjust it manually.

Practical examples

  • Jackets, hooks 1–999: one Numbers block, start 1, end 999, 1 digit → generates the numbers 1, 2, 3 … 999
  • Suitcases, area A, hanger locations 1–10: Text block “A-” + Numbers block start 1, end 10 → generates A-1, A-2 … A-10
  • Suitcases, area B, hanger locations 1–10: separate area with Text block “B-” + Numbers block → generates B-1, B-2 … B-10
  • VIP area, hanger locations VIP-01 to VIP-20: Text block “VIP-” + Numbers block start 1, end 20, 2 digits → generates VIP-01, VIP-02 … VIP-20

Live preview

To the right of the configuration, Tapcoat shows in real time what the first and last number of the area look like and how many hanger locations are created in total. Make active use of this preview to spot configuration errors before you continue.

Step 4 — Review the summary and finish

In the last step, you see a complete overview of all settings: name, item types, areas, and number ranges. Check carefully that all details match your physical cloakroom — especially the number ranges. Once you finish, the cloakroom is active immediately and can be assigned to an event.

Note: A cloakroom can be assigned to multiple events. You configure it once and reuse it for every subsequent event — without having to set it up again.