Onboarding

From your first call to live, in 24 to 72 hours.

This is everything we ask you for, gathered once. Most of it you can get ready before you even log in. We move the data, you keep hosting.

See what to prepare Print the checklist
24 to 72 h

Kickoff call to going live.

3 to 4 hours

Your total effort. The rest is ours.

Zero data loss

Every booking arrives, reconciled to the cent.

2 signatures

You and ondio sign off on going live together.

The clock

Three lanes, running at the same time.

Nothing in one lane waits for another. Your lane is the short one.

What happens in each lane on each day of onboarding
Lane Day 0 · kickoff call Day 1 · the migration Day 2 · the bot and the face Day 3 · sign off and cutover
Youthe host
  • The call, about two hours
  • Hand over the pack below
  • Pull all five exports, in the same hour
  • Start gathering the payment documents
  • Answer our questions about anything the data left unclear
  • Click Connect WhatsApp and claim the bot number
  • Start the bot answers in the portal
  • Finish the bot answers, tick it Active
  • Upload photos, skim the tags we suggest
  • Confirm the rates and rules match your old system
  • Pull fresh exports one last time
  • Review the totals and sign
  • Announce your new number and website
ondiowe do it
  • Your account, property, rooms and rates created
  • Portal invite sent
  • Payment account application submitted
  • Your five files through the import wizard
  • Exceptions triaged, phone numbers normalised
  • Reconciled to the cent, the import refuses to commit otherwise
  • Calendar feeds wired per room
  • We message the bot ourselves on your number, before any guest can
  • Your website live on your own address
  • A final top up import, so bookings taken during onboarding arrive too
  • The go live checklist, signed by both of us
  • Channels cut over, old system set to read only, rollback window opened
Waitingon others
  • Payment provider starts its checks
  • WhatsApp display name review starts. It is the only per client step at Meta, everything else is ours and already done
  • Display name usually approved by now
  • Payment account clears, online payments switch on whenever it lands

Scroll the table sideways to read every day

Rooms and rates before bookings

Every booking points at a room and a rate, so those have to exist first. It is why we ask for them on the call and not later. Re running an import is safe, so a room you rename afterwards costs nothing.

Start the clocks we do not own

The WhatsApp display name review and the payment account checks both have waiting periods nobody can shorten. Started on day 0, they never hold up a launch.

Payments never block go live

You go live whether or not the payment account has cleared. Until it does, a booking holds for 48 hours, you confirm it, and you record the transfer in the portal. Switching card payments on later is a setting, not a project.

Before you start

Three things to have at hand.

This is the whole list for WhatsApp. There is no developer account to make, no Facebook Page to build, no Business Suite to set up. We hold all of that.

For the WhatsApp step

  • An ordinary Facebook login. Yours, personal, the one you already have. It is used once, to create the WhatsApp business account that stays in your name.
  • Your phone next to you. Some paths need one code typed in.
  • A card. WhatsApp charges you directly for guest conversations at Meta's published rates. You hold that relationship, we never sit in the middle of it.

The bot number itself: for most hosts, nothing to buy. Inside the popup Meta offers a free number that guests never see, because your business name shows in the chat instead. It is claimed on the spot with no verification call. If that option is not offered to you, we use a landline you already have or arrange a local number for you. Either way it is a second line, so your own phone and your own chats are never touched.

Worth knowing about the free number

  • It works only on WhatsApp, and it cannot be moved to another provider later. Your WhatsApp business account and your message templates stay yours either way. If you outgrow it, we swap you onto a real local number and you keep everything except that one number.
  • It is a United States range number underneath. Guests see your business name in chat, but the raw number does show on a contact card, and in any click to chat link you print on signage.
  • Until Meta approves your display name, usually within a working day, the account may only start five conversations in 24 hours. Replies to guests who message you first are never capped.

The pack

Nine things, asked once.

One call, one checklist, one place to upload. Nothing here needs technical skill. The times are what it actually takes.

A

Who you are

You10 minDay 0
  • Your business name, and the property name guests know you by
  • The email address that becomes your portal login
  • An ordinary Facebook login, for the WhatsApp step only

Why: the login is how you see everything else on this list happening.

B

The bot number

You5 minThen a review
  • For most hosts: nothing to buy. Meta gives you a free number inside the Connect WhatsApp popup
  • Have a phone and a card with you when you click it
  • If the free option is not offered: a voice capable landline you already have works, or we arrange a local number
  • Never your own everyday number. The bot runs on its own line

Why: guests message the bot, staff take over from the portal when they want to, and your personal phone stays yours.

C

The property and every room

You20 minDay 0
  • Details, the exact location on a map, check in and check out times, what the property offers, your logo
  • Every room or unit, named exactly as your old system spells it
  • The names on your signage, if guests see something different from the system name

Why: the import matches bookings to rooms by name. A room spelled two ways is the single most common reason a migration needs a human. One property per import run.

D

Rates and rules

You15 minDay 0
  • Your rates, plus how midweek, weekends and seasons differ
  • Minimum stays, including the weekend ones
  • Can guests book same day? How far ahead? Is there a daily cutoff time?
  • Dates already closed off, so they migrate with everything else

Why: these are the rules that stop the wrong booking being sold the moment you go live.

E

Five exports from your current system

You15 min at a computerTwice
  • Bookings, arrivals and departures, cancellations, payments, and your client list
  • All five pulled in the same hour, or the totals will not reconcile
  • Pulled once on day 0, and once more at cutover for the final top up
  • Not on NightsBridge? Send what your system gives you. We map it and a person checks the mapping

Why: this is your history. We reconcile it to the cent against your own reports, and the import refuses to commit if the totals disagree.

F

Money, policies and the payment documents

You20 min plus documentsExternal clock
  • Your cancellation terms, tier by tier. It is the question guests ask most
  • Deposit terms, and any agent or tour operator rates
  • For the payment account: a bank confirmation letter under three months old, your company registration documents, a director's ID, and proof of your business address
  • One decision: where a cancelled booking still holds money, is it refunded or kept as credit?

Why: the payment provider runs its own legal checks and they take days. Start on day 0 and it never delays you. You upload these in the portal, and we delete them automatically once the account is open.

G

What the bot should say

You45 to 60 minDay 1 to 2
  • About fifteen named questions, already written out for your kind of property. Never a blank page
  • The things only guests who booked should get: gate codes, wifi passwords. We hold them back until close to check in
  • Two contacts: who handles bookings, and who is on site
  • How it should sound: what you call your rooms, your tone, and anything it must never say

Why: the bot answers only from what you have written. Nothing is invented, so an unanswered question is one it hands to you instead of guessing.

H

Where else you sell

You10 minThen us
  • Which platforms you are on, and who holds those logins
  • A calendar link for each room, so both systems see the same nights
  • The order at cutover: we test first, then you announce, then the old channel stops

Why: two systems selling the same room is the one failure that costs a guest their booking. We change that over deliberately, in that order.

I

Photos

You15 minDay 2
  • Upload them all at once. A phone camera is fine
  • We sort and label them, you skim what we suggest and correct anything wrong
  • At least a few per room, so no page reads "no photos yet"

Why: these become your website and the pictures the bot sends a guest who asks what a room looks like.

Your week

What each day feels like from your side.

Day 0

One call

About two hours, most of it us asking and typing. You pull the five exports while we are still on the call, and start collecting the payment documents. Your portal invite arrives the same day: a six digit code in an email.

Day 1

Your history arrives

We import and reconcile. You answer a short list of questions about anything the data left unclear, click Connect WhatsApp, and start writing the bot answers.

Day 2

The bot and the website

You finish the answers and upload photos. We message the bot ourselves on your number, as a new enquiry, as a guest who booked, and as a guest who is staying. Your website goes live on your own address.

Day 3

You sign, we cut over

Fresh exports, a final top up import, and you check the totals against your own reports. You and ondio sign together. Then the channels change over, your old system goes read only, and a rollback window stays open behind you.

Everything on this list lives in one page in the portal.

Your progress, what is still in your lane, and where to upload each document. Log in with the code from your invite email.

Open the portal

Stuck

Ask us. We would rather answer than have you guess.

Email michelle@ondio.co.za and we reply within one working day. If something on this list does not exist at your property, say so. Half of it has a sensible default.