Initial Setup & Onboarding

The Setup page, in the sidebar under Platform, is your checklist for getting SuiteOp ready for guests. It tracks what’s done from your real account data, tells you what’s still needed before you can go live, and links each item straight to the screen where you set it up.

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How the Setup page works

The top of the page shows where you stand — Not ready yet, Ready · not optimized, Ready & optimized, or Live — with a progress bar split into two parts:

• Needed to go live — the required items. You can’t go live until all of them are done.
• Recommended — items that give guests a stronger portal. They never hold you back from going live.

Every item is checked off automatically once the thing it describes is actually configured in your account, so you never need to tick anything by hand. Completed items stay in place with a check mark and an Edit link, so you can go back and change them. Add properties instead shows a Done pill and an Add account link, for connecting another PMS account.

Until your properties are imported, every other item is locked — connect your PMS first.

Tip

If you use an AI assistant, the Set up with your AI assistant callout lets you connect it to SuiteOp’s MCP server so it can draft your check-in steps, house manuals, and upsells for you. Click Open developer settings to get started.

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The setup items

Foundation

• Add properties — Connect your property management system (PMS) and import your properties. This counts toward Needed to go live. See Adding your properties below.

Let your guests check in

• Property groups (Required) — Group properties by building or market. See Grouping your properties.
• Check-in instructions (Required) — See Adding check-in instructions.
• Set up your portal (Required) — Create the guest portal your guests open. Create one per area you operate, since local guides attach to the portal, then add your branding or keep the defaults.

Verify your guests

• Connect payments — One account-level connection covers deposits, upsells, and charges.
• Damage waiver or deposit — Add a deposit hold, waiver fee, or insurance as a guest verification step.
• Rental agreement — Have guests sign before they get access, added as a verification step.

Advanced optimization

• Set up upsells — Sell early check-in, late checkout, and add-ons from the guest portal.
• House manuals — The full property guide: appliances, house rules, amenities.
• Local guides — Recommend activities, restaurants, coffee, and bars near each portal.

Guided tours

Some items — Connect payments, Damage waiver or deposit, Rental agreement, and Set up upsells — have a Show me how button that starts a guided walkthrough, highlighting the controls you need. SuiteOp only offers a tour when your permissions cover every screen and action it uses. Finishing or skipping a tour doesn’t complete the item; it’s checked off only when the setup is actually configured.

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Adding your properties

Clicking Connect on Add properties opens the property setup flow. A Setup pill in the header tracks the three property stages (add, group, check-in instructions). If you’ve already connected your PMS but haven’t imported yet, Add properties takes you straight to the import step.

1. Choose your PMS

   Pick the system that runs your listings today — for example Guesty, Hostaway, OwnerRez, or Airbnb — from the list, or search for it. If Opal detected your PMS from your sales call, its card is shown first with a Detected chip.

2. Connect

   Click your PMS’s card. Guesty and Hostaway ask for your credentials right there; for other systems, SuiteOp takes you to that integration’s page to connect (with a Back to setup link to return).

3. Choose which listings become properties

   Pick the listings you want to manage in SuiteOp — nothing is imported until you choose. Your reservations and calendars come in with them. You can add more listings later.

4. Continue to grouping

   Click Continue to grouping to move on.

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Grouping your properties

Groups control who on your team can see which properties — and they let you share one entry code, one guest portal, and one set of tasks across every property in the group.

1. Ask Opal for a suggestion

   Click Suggest groups with Opal. Opal groups your properties by building, then market by default, so units behind the same front door share a code. You can switch to By market or By type instead. Each suggested group shows badges such as Team access, Shared entry code, Shared guest portal, and Task scope.

2. Adjust the groups

   Rename group, Move to… another group, Remove from grouping, Add a group, or Delete group (its properties become ungrouped).

3. Accept

   Click Accept these groups.

Note

Only someone with access to every property and permission to modify properties can accept a grouping, because it changes which properties your teammates can reach. If SuiteOp refuses your grouping for that reason, choose Continue without grouping and ask an admin or owner to finish this step.

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Adding check-in instructions

Instead of writing instructions from scratch, paste what you already send guests and let Opal format it.

1. Choose the properties

   Select individual properties, whole groups, or All properties.

2. Paste and format

   Paste your existing check-in notes — from your PMS, a listing site, or a document — into Paste & format, then click Format as steps to turn them into separate steps, or Use as summary to keep them as an overview shown above the steps. Switch between Check-in and Check-out to write both.

3. Fine-tune

   Edit the steps, Add a step, and use Insert variable for details that differ per property — such as the door or access code, WiFi network and password, guest name, check-in and check-out times, or property address. Variables fill in automatically for each property.

4. Apply

   Click Save (one property) or Apply to N properties, then Continue.

Caution

Applying to several properties replaces any instructions they already have — SuiteOp warns you how many of the selected properties this affects before you apply.

You can also edit check-in instructions later from each property’s Settings → Access & Check-in tab. See How to Set Up Property Access Instructions.

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Going live

SuiteOp doesn’t send guest messages itself yet, so your PMS delivers the portal link to your guests. Once every required item is done, the Send your portal links card unlocks:

1. Click Go live

   Only team members with the Manage organization permission can do this; everyone else sees that an admin needs to send the links.

2. Add your portal link to your PMS messages

   Copy the link from the dialog and paste it into your PMS’s booking-confirmation and pre-arrival messages. Replace [reservation_id] in the link with your PMS’s own reservation variable — every PMS names it differently, and the dialog links to a guide for yours.

3. Confirm

   Click I’ve added it — we’re live. SuiteOp records the date you went live on your account.

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Setup on your Home dashboard

Until your account is live and fully optimized, your Home dashboard shows a setup banner with your status and anything you’re still waiting on, plus an Open setup button (or Go live, once you’re ready). The banner hides once you’re live and everything recommended is done, and comes back if something slips — for example, when you import a new property that still needs setting up.

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Related

Steps to Take When Adding a New PropertyThe per-property checklist for adding properties after your initial setup.

Home DashboardCustomize the widgets and layout of your home screen.

Getting Started with OpalHow SuiteOp's AI assistant helps across the platform.