# Exhibitors and Allocations

Section: Art Fair Guide · Page: https://artsvp.com/docs/art-fair-guide/exhibitors-and-allocations

(Plans: Expert)

Every exhibitor wants to invite their own clients; no organiser wants to hand
out fair admin to make it happen. Portals square that circle: each exhibitor,
sponsor, press partner, or gallery gets a workspace of their own to invite
guests from, capped by an allocation you control, while every response lands on
your central fair guest list. Admins and event managers manage portals, and
activating one uses 150 credits, charged once when the portal is connected.

## Build the portal group

1. Open **Portals** → **Managed Portals** and create a portal group for the
   fair or partner cohort.
2. Add the welcome message and banner partners should see.
3. Open **Settings**, then **Advanced settings**, and set
   **Invitation reply-to** if replies to exhibitor invitations should come
   to you rather than to each partner.
4. Add one portal per partner, with its name and contact email.
5. Grant an allocation for each event or collection the partner may access.
6. Set a guest limit, or leave it blank for no limit.
7. Review every allocation, then send each partner their portal link. The
   150-credit activation lands when a partner connects, hence the review
   before you send.

## What fills an allocation

Guest headcount fills the allocation, not invitation count: a booking for four
people uses four places, however it arrived. An invitation nobody has acted on
holds nothing, but a booking still in progress does hold its places until it is
confirmed, cancelled, or times out.

Partners see their remaining allocation, their own guest list, and only the
events or collections you have granted them. Your other guests and event
settings stay out of view.

With **Force Unique Bookings** on (**Settings** → **Advanced**), a collector
invited by two exhibitors cannot book twice. They can **Notify** the second
exhibitor instead, which fills that exhibitor's allocation for the whole
party and puts the guest on both portal guest lists. If the second
allocation cannot cover the party, they see
**This invite is no longer valid**.

## Allocations during the fair

You can raise a guest limit while the fair is running, and partners can request
more places through the portal. The request lands in the shared inbox. Past
allocations stay visible but are closed to new invitations. A cancelled event
stays on the list as **Cancelled**, with **Invite Guests** and **Copy link**
unavailable.

If you remove an allocation from **Edit portal**, the exhibitor keeps those
guests on their list. You choose **Allow what's already sent to be used** or
**Force close the allocation**. Adding the same event back restores the
allocation and its guests. The full steps are in
[Portals](https://artsvp.com/docs/guest-management/portals#removing-an-allocation).

One thing to be aware of: the limit is enforced when a guest books, not when an
exhibitor sends. An exhibitor can send against a full allocation, and those
guests will be turned away at the booking page. Raise the limit before they
send, not after.

## A portal's lifespan

One portal connects to one partner organisation; when the same partner needs
access in separate portal groups, create a portal in each. Opening an
unconnected portal yourself as an admin does not activate it; connect it from
**Settings** if you mean to run it, as covered in
[Portals](https://artsvp.com/docs/guest-management/portals#connecting-a-portal-yourself).

Four months after activation a portal becomes read-only: its settings lock and
it can no longer issue booking links, though links already shared keep working
until the allocation runs out. For an annual fair, create fresh portals each
edition rather than reopening last year's.

Archiving or deleting a portal does not refund its 150-credit activation, and
deleting one removes the partner's access but leaves its existing invitations
and bookings valid.

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Keep reading: [Portals](https://artsvp.com/docs/guest-management/portals) ·
[Using Your Portal](https://artsvp.com/docs/guest-management/using-your-portal) ·
[Billing and credits](https://artsvp.com/docs/settings/billing-and-credits) ·
[Guest List](https://artsvp.com/docs/guest-management/guest-list)

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