Almost every visitor product sold today is hosted by the vendor, so cloud based is less a choice than a description. What matters is what follows from it: the record is reachable from more than one desk, the software updates without anyone visiting the reception, and the visitor data lives on somebody else's infrastructure under terms you should read once before you sign rather than after an incident.
Multi-site is the practical gain
One reception does not care where the record lives. Two do, immediately: the same contractor list, the same visitor types, one place to answer a question about either building, and no argument about which desk holds the master copy. This is the reason most sites end up hosted even when they started with a local install, and it is worth planning for at the first purchase if a second door is remotely likely.
Updates and the desk nobody visits
A tablet at a reception is the most neglected computer in any building. Hosted products update themselves, which is genuinely valuable because the alternative is an app three versions behind on a device nobody has logged into since it was set up. Ask what happens to sign-in when the network drops, though: a good product queues locally and reconciles, a poor one shows an error to a visitor.
The questions to ask about the data
Who processes the visitor records, where, and under what written terms; who the sub-processors are; how long records are kept and whether you can set that; how you get everything out if you leave. These are ordinary questions with ordinary answers, and a vendor who cannot answer them quickly is telling you something. The retention answer in particular should be a number you choose, not a default you inherit.
What hosting does not decide
Hosting says nothing about whether the sign-in is quick, whether the host is told, whether badges print or whether the evacuation list can be produced in a hurry. Those are product questions. It is easy to spend a procurement cycle on infrastructure and none on the four things the reception will judge it by.
Questions people ask about cloud based visitor management system
Is cloud hosting less secure than a local install?
Different, not automatically worse. A hosted product is patched by the vendor; a local install is patched by whoever remembers. Judge it on the written processing terms and the retention controls rather than on the word cloud.
Can we choose where the data is stored?
Some vendors offer a region, most do not. Ask before you buy if it matters to you, and get the answer in the contract rather than in an email.
What happens if the internet goes down at reception?
It depends on the product. Ask for a demonstration with the tablet in flight mode: the good answer is that sign-in continues and syncs later.