Getting started
Your first week
A practical day-by-day checklist to get your hotel and your team running on ChatBeds.
The set-up wizard gets your account ready. This checklist gets your hotel running. Work through it over your first week, at your own pace. Tick things off as you go.
Day 1: Your property
- Check your rooms. Open Rooms. Rename the rooms to match your doors (101, 102, 301...), group them into room types and set a price for each type.
- Set your policies. In Settings → Cancellation policies, decide when a booking can be cancelled for free.
- Bring in your bookings. Add the bookings you already have for the coming weeks in Reservations or on the Calendar, so ChatBeds knows which rooms are taken.
- Turn on your booking page. In Settings → Booking page and guest messages, switch on your booking page so guests can book you directly with no commission. See Booking page.
Avoid double bookings
If you sell on Booking.com, Airbnb or other sites, connect them before you take bookings in ChatBeds. See Channels.
Day 2: WhatsApp
- Connect your hotel's WhatsApp number from the Chat page. It takes a few minutes with Meta. See Connect your number.
- Add a payment method in Meta's WhatsApp Manager, so WhatsApp can bill your conversations.
- Check your message templates. On Chat → WhatsApp number, the templates should show as approved within a day. Press Check now to refresh.
- Choose your chat language. Under Chat language, keep Automatic to reply to each person in their own language, or pick one language for everyone. See Languages and voice notes.
Day 3: Your team
- Add yourself first. On the Staff page, add yourself with the role Owner (or General Manager) and your WhatsApp number. Link your phone so you can test everything.
- Add your staff. Add each person with their name, role and WhatsApp number. See Add your team.
- Send the invites. Each person replies YES, or scans the QR code, to connect.
- Set shift times. Under Shift times on the Staff page, set your morning, evening and night shifts.
- Give dashboard logins to managers and accountants who need the web dashboard, in Settings → Team and permissions. See Roles and permissions.
Day 4: Practise
- Try commands in the sandbox. Open Chat → Sandbox, pick a staff member under Send as, and type a command such as
occupancy. The sandbox works exactly like WhatsApp. - Run one real booking from WhatsApp. Have a receptionist send a booking, check the guest in and check them out.
Sandbox commands are real
A booking made in the sandbox is a real booking, and a clock-in puts that person on duty. Cancel any test bookings when you are done.
CBYour hotel on WhatsApp · Maria, receptionist
book 101 Daniel Moore 2n
Booked room 101 for Daniel Moore
Mon 12 Oct to Wed 14 Oct (2 nights)
Total: USD 240
Balance due: USD 240
Ref 8A3B2C
- Ask everyone to send
help. Each person sees the commands their role can use. - Practise a room report. A housekeeper sends
301 clean, and the supervisor replies301 pass.
Day 5: Shifts and alerts
- Ask staff to clock in and out. Staff send
clock inwhen they start andclock outwhen they leave. Alerts only reach people who are on duty. - Choose alert levels. On the Staff page, set each person's Alerts to the level that suits them.
- Set quiet hours. In Settings → Alerts, choose the hours when only critical alerts are sent.
- Send a test alert from Settings → Alerts to check that alerts reach a person's phone.
See Alerts and shifts.
Day 6 and 7: Review
- Look at the Activity log to see who did what, and whether it came from WhatsApp or the dashboard. See Activity log.
- Check the Command log on the Chat page. Look for messages marked "Not understood" or "Not allowed for their role", and show staff the right command.
- Run your first night audit to close the day. See Night audit.
- Finish the checklist. Make sure every item on the dashboard's Finish setting up card is ticked.
Need help?
If something does not work as expected, see WhatsApp troubleshooting or contact support.
Still need help?