(I am not the expert in this system - so I hope the following is correct.)
The footfall system is logically the same for guild and non-guild members.
When evaluating a particular player’s entry into a particular beacon in a settlement, if the player doesn’t have any permissions in any beacon owned (or controlled) by that beacon owner (or controller) then a footfall payment is generated. (The payment could be reduced based on cool downs.)
Sure - I’d be happy to see anything that helps us track down potential issues.
For the avoidance of doubt - being friends or being in a guild does not stop footfall payments.
On the surface you may think - “everyone should generate footfall” - but …
The only aim of these rules is to stop players being forced into doing cheesy things to game the system. What I mean here is that if normal play isn’t sufficient and players feel compelled to follow daft (and usually tedious) actions to win. For example, say every day you encouraged your friends or fellow settlement members to all walk through your beacon, and in return you walk through their beacons. This is a group that you can coerce into this arbitrary action to generate income. But the whole purpose of footfall was an encouragement and reward to creating something useful or beautiful and worth visiting.
So these rules were introduced to limit cheesing and allow the original ambition be the primary driver.
(And for everyone out there who’ll just respond - “drop footfall it’s rubbish - just pay everyone a basic income” - then please realise that footfall doesn’t aim to do this. If the only aim was a tap for adding coins into the game then fine. But footfall isn’t a daily tap. The daily and weekly feats are the tap. If you want more basic income then champion these being balanced.)