How to Do the initial Setup

Set up your Beds24 account in ten steps, from your account settings to your first live booking channel. Beds24 is self-service, so you can do the whole setup yourself and change any setting later.

Quick Guide

1. Complete your account settings in Settings > Account.
2. Create or import your properties and rooms in Settings > Properties.
3. Create prices, so Beds24 can show availability.
4. Connect a dynamic pricing tool (optional).
5. Connect a payment processor (optional).
6. Connect your booking channels (optional).
7. Enter the bookings you already have.
8. Automate messages and booking changes in Settings > Guest Management > Auto Actions.
9. Set up your booking engine for direct bookings (optional).
10. Install the Beds24 app (optional).

Table of Contents

1. Before you start
2. Plan your properties and rooms
3. Step 1: Complete your account settings
4. Step 2: Create properties and rooms
5. Step 3: Create prices
6. Step 4: Connect dynamic pricing (optional)
7. Step 5: Set up payment collection (optional)
8. Step 6: Connect your booking channels (optional)
9. Step 7: Enter existing bookings
10. Step 8: Automate messages and processes
11. Step 9: Set up your booking engine (optional)
12. Step 10: Install the Beds24 app (optional)
13. Explore more functions
14. Troubleshooting
15. Important notes

Before you start

Help is built into the control panel and this Help Center. Use whichever suits you:

• Context help: click the ? icon next to any setting, or Help at the top right of a page.
• Setup Wizards: the Beds24 Setup Wizards guide you through the setup step by step.
• Videos: watch the video tutorials or the Beds24 YouTube playlist.
• Webinars: watch recordings and see upcoming dates on the webinars page.
• Training: Beds24 offers paid online training sessions where you get help setting up your account. To book one, send a support ticket from Support at the top of the control panel.

Tip: wherever you see the copy icon next to a setting, click it to copy that value to other rooms or properties.

Plan your properties and rooms

A property is the place you rent out, such as a hotel, hostel, B&B, holiday house or campsite. Rooms split a property into separately bookable units, so a room can be a bedroom, a whole vacation rental, a bed in a dorm, a pitch or a cabin. Every property needs at least one room, and each room or room type can have several units in its inventory.

Decide on your structure before you create anything:

• Booking channels: set up Beds24 the same way your channels are set up. If your lodgings have different hotel or property codes on Booking.com or other channels, create them as separate properties so you can connect each one.
• Vacation rentals: create one property with one room that represents the whole rental.
• Hotels, B&Bs, inns and hostels: create one property with one room per room type.
• Several apartments or villas: you can create them as rooms in one property if that suits your marketing. Each room has its own prices and booking rules.
• Booking pages: each property gets its own booking page, with its own design if you want one. A multiple property booking page can show all properties with search filters such as facilities and location.

For accounts with many properties, see How to Setup Agency & Multiple Properties.

Step 1: Complete your account settings

Go to Settings > Account and complete your details. Most settings can keep their default value.

Host notifications

New-booking and system notifications go to the administrator email in Settings > Account > Account Access. System notifications are error messages, answers to support tickets and other messages not tied to a booking.

If you have several properties, set Booking notification emails sent to to Administrator and Cc: Property in Settings > Account > Host Notifications. Each property then gets a copy at the email address in Settings > Properties > Description.

Note: use different email addresses for sending and receiving. Some email programs, such as Gmail, hide incoming emails that come from your own address.

Booking page languages

When you turn on more than one language in Settings > Booking Engine > Internationalization, you get a tab for each language in your descriptions, booking page information and notifications. Enter your text in each language tab.

Step 2: Create properties and rooms

Import your properties and rooms from a booking channel, or create them manually.

Import from Airbnb or Booking.com

• Airbnb: import a listing as a new property with a new room, or as a new room in an existing property. See Connect Airbnb Account.
• Booking.com: see Import Properties from Booking.com to Beds24.

Create properties and rooms manually

Steps:

1. Go to Settings > Properties and add a property.
2. Go to Settings > Properties > Description and complete the property information.
3. Go to Settings > Properties > Rooms and click Edit. Enter the room name and the number of rooms of that type.
4. Optional: go to Settings > Properties > Rooms > Offers and define your offers.

Expected result: your property and its rooms appear in the Calendar, ready for prices.

An offer is a price combined with booking conditions. Each room has one or more offers. Offer 1 is your standard offer and is always shown to guests. Add more offers to sell the same room at different prices, such as packages, promotions or discounted conditional prices. Each offer can have its own booking type. See Offers.

Note: if you sell individual beds in dorms rather than private rooms, see How to - Hostel and Retreat Setup.

Tip: when you copy a room, all its settings are copied too. If you want to link prices between rooms, remove the prices before you copy.

Step 3: Create prices

Beds24 needs a price to show availability, so a date without a price shows as unavailable. The price setup wizard guides you through this step.

Beds24 has two types of prices:

• Daily Prices (recommended): a price for one date. Daily Prices are easy to manage and the best choice for most properties. You can set several prices per date, for example for different minimum stays or offers. See How to setup Daily Prices.
• Fixed Prices: a price with a start and end date that applies to a range of dates, with rules for when it's available. Use Fixed Prices only if your prices are set well ahead with few or no seasons, if you want guests to send an enquiry when no price is found but the room isn't fully booked, or if you want to give referrer discounts. See How to setup Fixed Prices.

Combine Daily Prices and Fixed Prices

• With Fixed Prices you don't need a Daily Price for every day. Use a Daily Price to override the Fixed Price on individual dates or date ranges. If you often adjust prices, use Daily Prices only.
• Rules in Fixed Prices have no effect on Daily Prices.
• If you use Daily Prices with minimum stays, add a Gap Filler to fill the gaps.

Tip: if several rooms have a similar price structure, link their prices, with or without an offset.

Step 4: Connect dynamic pricing (optional)

Connect PriceLabs, RoomPriceGenie or Beyond to send prices to Beds24. Beds24 then uses those prices for all your sales channels.

Step 5: Set up payment collection (optional)

To collect payments automatically, connect a payment processor in Settings > Booking Engine > Deposit Collection Direct Bookings. Stripe is the Beds24 preferred partner and offers the most functions. See How to setup Payments.

Step 6: Connect your booking channels (optional)

Set up the channel manager to keep your sales channels in sync. See How the Channel Manager works, or go straight to a channel:

• Airbnb Mapping
• Booking.com: Synchronise bookings, prices and availability
• Expedia Mapping
• VRBO Setup

Step 7: Enter existing bookings

Enter the bookings you already have, so dates you've sold elsewhere can't be booked twice. Choose the method that fits each booking source:

• Booking.com, Airbnb and Expedia: import all upcoming bookings automatically with the import button in Settings > Channel Manager > Airbnb, Booking.com or Expedia. This is the recommended method: Beds24 can then also import later changes to bookings imported directly from Booking.com. The import works once the channel is set up, even before you activate it.
• Other bookings: upload them as a .csv file in Settings > Properties. See Import bookings manually.
• Single bookings or blocked dates: click the suitcase icon in the Calendar, or Add Booking at the top.
• Availability only: if you don't need the booking itself, lower the number in the Inventory row of the Calendar. The number shows the rooms left to sell. Double-click it, change the value in the pop-up and save.

Expected result: the Calendar shows your existing bookings, and those dates are no longer available.

Step 8: Automate messages and processes

Go to Settings > Guest Management > Auto Actions to set up message templates for automatic and manual sending, and to change bookings automatically when conditions you define are met. See Auto Actions.

Step 9: Set up your booking engine (optional)

Take commission-free direct bookings with your own booking page. Go to Settings > Booking Engine to customise its look and content. See How to setup the Booking Page.

Booking widgets connect your website to your booking page. Choose from booking buttons, booking boxes, booking strips and calendars in Settings > Booking Engine > Booking Widgets, then copy the code to your website. You need to be able to edit your website's HTML. Your web hosting provider can help if you're not sure how. See How to use Widgets.

Guests who book directly get a confirmation message automatically. Customise it in Settings > Guest Management > Confirmation Messages. See How to setup Confirmation Messages.

Step 10: Install the Beds24 app (optional)

The free Beds24 app for iOS and Android helps with daily tasks when you're away from your desk. See Mobile App Android and IOS.

Explore more functions

• Customise your control panel in Settings > Account > Preferences. See Preferences.
• Customise your dashboard. See How to setup the Dashboard.
• Add sub accounts so owners or staff have their own login. See Sub Account.
• Click Functions in Support for links to the menu pages of key features.

Troubleshooting

Important notes

• The control panel uses the English number format: decimals are separated by a full stop, not a comma.
• You can change every setting at any time after the initial setup.
• Rules in Fixed Prices don't apply to Daily Prices.
• Copying a room copies all its settings, including prices.

Related Articles

• Introduction
• How to setup Properties
• How to setup Prices
• How to Switch from another channel manager
• How to Setup Agency & Multiple Properties