How do we complete the initial setup?
Welcome to Hinfo. We are happy to hear that your property is joining our service.
We designed our initial setup to be as seamless as possible, while being flexible to adapt to all property types and sizes.
We have designed this step-by-step guide to make sure everything for your property is completed before going live.
When your property/holiday home group joins our Hinfo service, you will be provided with a dedicated Hinfo CMS (Content Management System) account, which is designed to cater for all the following use cases:
- Initial Setup
- Publishing Unlimited Information Updates
- Accessing our Multiple Services to Respond to Guest Messages, Orders and Requests
- Update your Property Contact Details
- View Guest Usage
After receiving your Hinfo CMS account credentials with your username being your property's member ID and your temporary password, please do the following to get started:
- Visit hinfo.com/cms and enter your member ID for the username and your temporary password and click on the Login button.
- Upon your first login, please enter a new password to be saved with your account and click on the Save button.
- You will now be viewing the home tab of your CMS account, which includes links to all other sections of your CMS account.
Below are all the sections your property can use for your property, ordered by the rough timeframe to complete each section, how many property types use each section and if they are required or optional.
Each of these sections are accessible via the navigation side menu, on the left-hand side on desktop.
Be sure to continuously click on the Save button at the bottom of the screen to not lose any progress in each section.
Account Details (2-10 Minutes):
This section includes many important details relating to your property.
The following details are required for your property in this section:
- Property Image to display in the Home Tab for all your guests
- Property Address
- Property Type
- Number of Rooms/Apartments at Your Property That Are Available to Guests (if holiday home please select 1)
- Reception Phone Number
- Contact Details (including Billing Address)
There are also several headings in this section that are optional.
- Referrals: If you were referred to Hinfo by another property, please provide their property name and contact name here.
- COVID-19 / Health and Safety Information: To highlight to your guests the COVIDSafe protocols you have in place.
- Loading Details Image: If your property has a logo you want to appear when your property and local area details are being downloaded to your guest's device, please provide it here.
- Near Me or Activities: If you want to promote on-site activities instead of local attractions etc., please select Activities in this section.
- Our Properties: If you want to promote all properties in your group, please provide either a web address to your portfolio on your website or include details for up to 10.
- Property Reservations URL: To increase repeat booking, please provide a URL to the booking engine on your website. This will appear as a dedicated Property Reservations button in the Home tab for guests.
- Reviews: To encourage guests to provide public online reviews of your property, please provide a URL for each review system here. E.g. Google, Facebook, Trivago, Booking.com etc.
- Sustainability: A dedicated screen accessible from the Home tab for guests, to allow your property/group to promote the environmentally sustainable measures you have in place.
- Welcome Message: After guests access your details for the first time, you can present them with a welcome message and image if they are provided here.
Personalization (Less than 5 Minutes):
This section allows you to select the colours, fonts and text alignment your property wishes to use.
Here are the steps under each heading.
- Primary Colours: Select 2 colours that are most relevant to your property's branding. We will colour match these from your property website or similar, to maintain consistency. Where needed, we will also use a white or black colour for the text displayed in the header, footer and buttons alongside your primary colours selected.
- Headings: Select a font type and text alignment for the headings that will appear throughout your property for guests. E.g. Arial Black for a bold heading to be aligned in the centre.
- Details: Select a font type and text alignment for the details that will appear throughout your property for guests. E.g. Arial for all paragraphs of text to be aligned on the left.
- Additional Buttons for Home Tab: All options listed appear in the bottom tab bar for your guests on mobile devices. If you want a button to access these tabs to also appear in the home tab, please select Yes for each respectively.
Languages (Optional – Less than 3 Minutes):
You can setup multiple languages to be used here, including which language(s) are using our built-In Auto Translate service.
English is the default language for all guests at all properties unless you provide details for any of our other 15 supported language.
To setup Auto Translate, please tick the checkbox next to the language under the Supported Languages and Auto-Translate Languages heading. *
If you wish to provide your own translated details, please select the languages to support under the Supported Languages heading only.
* Please note Auto Translate is an optional extra at AU$4.00 per language per month.
Ask Reception / Ask Guest Services (Optional – Less than 5 Minutes):
We call out guest messaging service "Ask Reception" (or Ask Guest Services for Holiday Homes).
At this stage of the initial setup, there are only 4 quick things to do if you want to offer your guests the ability to send a message to your reception staff.
- Tick the checkbox to enable the service.
- Include an email address to receive a notification each time a guest messages your staff.
- An information alert that will appear before guests message you if you will respond only during reception hours for example.
- OPTIONAL – An alternative login email address and password if you want your staff to only be able to respond to guest messages and not access your whole CMS account.
Property Feedback (Optional – Less than 5 Minutes):
You can ask your guests a series of questions about their stay, which is more valuable than just a single short message or a single 5-star rating.
To enable this feature please do the following:
- Click on the checkbox to enable the feature and click on Submit.
- Select either Standard or Custom to use either our default questions (adapted for holiday homes) or provide your own questions.
- Provide an email address to receive all feedback submitted under the Feedback Email Address heading.
- Tick the checkbox below Maintain All Feedback Submitted On Our Servers if you would like to save all guest feedback submitted to your CMS account, to view together.
- If you selected Custom in step 2, please provide your own questions and if you are seeking a comment or rating for each. We recommend at least 3-4 questions if providing your own questions.
Emergency Details (Optional but Recommended – Less than 10 Minutes):
These are critical details that guests should refer to in the case of an emergency.
Here are the 4 details you should provide:
- Ambulance Phone Number
- Police Emergency Phone Number
- Police Non-Emergency Phone Number
- Fire Safety and Evacuation procedures for your property.
If your property is also subject to natural disasters, you can include details for how your guests should react for the following where relevant:
- Bushfires/Wildfires
- Cyclones/Hurricanes
- Earthquakes
- Floods
- Tornadoes
- Tsunamis
- Volcanos
Amenities (5 Minutes to A Few Hours):
Amenities is the primary section for including all your property details, which can be separated by each of your room types.
If your property has more than 1 room type, with any unique details for each, please click on the drop-down list next to Number of Room Types with your total count and click on the Submit button next to it.
If your property has unique details for each guest room/apartment, please select the total number. If you require more than 20 room types, please contact us directly.
There are two major components to this section when it comes to adding details for all your room types, Communal Resources and Each Room Types Details.
Communal Resources:
These are dedicated slots for various resources that will appear for all your guests in all room types.
You can upload details for the following:
- Mini Bar Price List (Description and PDF)
- Property Map (Either an Image or PDF)
- Room Service Menu (Description and PDF)
- TV Instructions (Description and Image OR PDF)
- TV Program List (Description)
Each Room Types Details:
To start providing us your main compendium details, please click on the View Details for the first room type.
Enter the name of the room type into the first text field under the Room Type Name heading on this screen.
TIME SAVER: If your property has a Microsoft Word or PDF Document of your existing compendium details (e.g. Air Conditioning, Reception Hours, Wi-Fi Details), to save you time please click on the Choose File button under the Room Type Details File heading and attach the file saved on your computer.
Click Save at the bottom of the screen to upload this file.
We will add all these details to your Headings and Details slot for this room type when we finish the initial setup for your property at our end, after submission.
If you do not have a Microsoft Word or PDF Document to provide us, please complete the following for each of the Headings and Details slot needed:
- Provide a heading
- Provide a detailed description (including styling it in bold, italic and underline)
- OPTIONAL – Attach an image via either image upload or including a web address ending in .jpg, .jpeg or .png
- OPTIONAL – Attach a PDF via either PDF upload or including a web address ending in .pdf and a name for the file in the PDF Name slot.
- OPTIONAL – Provide a video URL and button name for the video referred to in the Video Name slot.
- If using multiple room types, are currently entering details for the first room type and want to apply this heading to all your room types, please tick the checkbox next to Common with All Room Types.
For a guide on the depth of details we recommend properties provide to their guests, please view our dedicated support page on this topic.
To provide an image, PDF or video URL for any heading, please click on the Add Image, Add PDF or Add Video buttons below each details slot accordingly.
We recommend entering/saving the heading and details description first for each room type, then add the images and PDFs where relevant.
These headings and details can be added/managed in any order in the CMS, with the guest app/website managing the ordering (alphabetical by default).
After finishing the details for the room type, please navigate back to the main Amenities tab of your CMS account and go through all your other room types by entering all their unique details or uploading a Microsoft Word or PDF Document for the Room Type Details File slot for each of these.
Near Me (20 Minutes to A Few Hours):
Near Me allows you to provide details for local places and events that you recommend your guests to consider visiting during their stay.
You can list up to 50 places and 50 events in full detail, or if you chose to rename this section to Activities via the Account Details tab, you can include up to 50 on-site activities and 50 on-site events.
We recommend including at least 20 places, to get a good variety of locations to cater for all guests.
Entering Local Places Information:
To start, please select your desired number of places to include under the Near Me Places heading and click on Submit.
For each place listed, please do the following:
- Click on the View Details option to add the details (slot numbers for each place is not important until later).
- TIME SAVER: To speed up the process, please include the following for each at a minimum. We will fill-in the remaining details when completing the setup at our end.
- Name
- Suburb/Town
- Click on the Save option at the bottom of the screen.
- Navigate back to the Near Me tab via the navigation side menu, to start this again for the next slot.
Sorting Local Places:
Upon completion, to sort the ordering of all places displayed for guests, please navigate back to the Near Me tab via the navigation side menu and click on the Sort Places button below the Near Me Places heading.
This screen will provide you all the options to customize the ordering of places displayed, both in categories vertically and placements horizontally.
Under the Category Order heading, please order the categories with 1 appearing at the top.
Under the Order Per Category heading, please allocate a unique number to each place listed, with 1 appearing first on the left for each category row.
Click on the Sort Now button to save all preferences. These preferences will only be reflected on this screen.
Entering Local Events Information:
To start, please select your desired number of events to include under the Near Me Events heading and click on Submit.
For each event listed, please do the following:
- Click on the View Details option.
- Add all details relevant to this event.
- Click on the Save option at the bottom of the screen.
- Navigate back to the Near Me tab via the navigation side menu, to start this again for the next slot.
Sorting Local Events:
Upon completion, to sort the ordering of all events displayed for guests, please navigate back to the Near Me tab via the navigation side menu and click on the Sort Events button below the Near Me Events heading.
This screen will provide you all the options to customize the ordering of events displayed, both in categories vertically and placements horizontally.
Under the Category Order heading, please order the categories with 1 appearing at the top.
Under the Order Per Category heading, please allocate a unique number to each event listed, with 1 appearing first on the left for each category row.
Click on the Sort Now button to save all preferences. These preferences will only be reflected on this screen.
Local Services (10 Minutes to 2 Hours):
Local Services is designed to include details for a variety of services that are typically found in the local area.
This includes details for the local airports, doctor, hospital, place of worship etc.
To provide details for each, please click on their respective heading and enter their details.
TIME SAVER: To speed up your setup, you can include only the name and suburb/town for each and we will complete the rest of this for you when completing the setup at our end.
Please remember to continuously save after completing each service you add to not lose any progress.
In-House Restaurants (Optional – 5 Minutes to 15 Minutes):
If your property has one or more on-site restaurants, we have dedicated slots for these which will appear near the top of the Home tab list of options for guests, to increase visibility.
To start, please click on the In-House Restaurants option and the View Details button for the first in-house restaurant slot.
You can include a variety of details on this screen to sell your guests on your in-house dining experience.
We recommend including a PDF copy of each of your restaurant menus under their respective headings.
When completed, please click on Save at the bottom of the screen.
To add additional in-house restaurants, please navigate back to the In-House Restaurants tab via the navigation side menu and click on the View Details links for the 2nd and 3rd restaurant slots respectively.
Food and Drink Ordering (Optional – Up to 2 Hours):
Food and Drink Ordering allows your property to accept orders from guests, wherever they are on the premises of your property, not just in their guest room.
There are two major components to complete when setting up Food & Drink Ordering for your property.
Ordering Options:
To enable the preferences for your property, please do the following after logging into your CMS account:
- Navigate to the Food and Drink Ordering section via the navigation side menu, under the Communication & Services heading.
- Scroll down to the Food and Drink Ordering Options heading.
- Select preferences for each accordingly as described below.
Order in Advance Interval Time: This relates to guests selecting the timeframe you will deliver their order within. E.g. 6:00pm to 6:30pm is 30mins.
Order in Advance Minimum Delay: This is the minimum amount of time you need to create prepare an order. E.g. If a guest orders at 6:00pm, but you expect that the order would be ready by 6:15pm at the earliest, then the minimum delay should be set to 15mins.
Currency Symbol: This is the form of currency used in your country.
Service Fee: This is the flat delivery fee for the food to be delivered to the guest. If no fee, please add 0.00 to this field.
Public Holiday Surcharge Percentage: This is a percentage increase that applies to every menu item, only on the public holiday dates you allocated below.
E.g. if an item is $19.00 and a 10% surcharge is applied, this makes the item $20.90.
Public Holiday Dates: These are the dates you want the surcharge to apply to. Please use the format DD/MM/YYYY with a comma after each and no spaces. E.g. 15/02/2022. Old dates can be removed at any time.
Auto Translate for Food and Drink Menus: If you are using Auto Translate for your compendium details and want this to also be applied to your Food and Drink menus, please tick the checkbox under this heading.
Alternative Delivery Locations: These are all the locations you allow your guests to order food and drink to be delivered to, in addition to their guest rooms. E.g. a drink by the hotel pool, a snack in the game's room etc.
Email Alerts: If you want to receive an email alert every time a new order is placed by any of your guests, please enter your preferred email address here. This is recommended if you do not want to keep the incoming orders screen always open.
Alternative Login (Email Address & Password): If you want to allocate a designated login just for your restaurant staff to use for viewing orders only, please provide their email address and password here. Your staff can then login with via hinfo.com/foodanddrinklogin with these alternative credentials. We recommend using the same email address for the email alerts above.
Secure Details Access Password to Submit Orders: If you are using the Secure Details feature and want to limit this service to only guests that have confirmed they are on the premises, please select Yes.
Menus and Items:
Now it is time to setup the menu names and items within each.
From the Food and Drink Ordering main screen, cycle through all these steps for each menu.
- Click on the View Details button for the first/next menu available. You can include up to 20 menus for your whole property.
- Add the name of the menu under the Menu Name heading.
- If you have anything to alert your guests about with a particular menu (e.g. placing a breakfast order the day before), please include these under the Menu Information Alert heading.
- Select an availability start and end time under the Menu Start Time and Menu End Time headings. If the menu is available all day, select the Available All Day option for both start and end time.
- Click on the Submit and Publish button below the Menu End Time heading, to save all these details for the menu.
- To add items to this menu, click on the Add Your First Menu Item or Add Another Menu Item button.
- Include the following details for each item, with Name, Price and Availability all being required.
- Name: The name of the food or drink item.
- Description: The ingredients of the meal, drink sizes available etc.
- Price: The price in your local currency without any surcharges.
- Image: An image of your menu item.
- Availability: If the item is available for guests to order in real-time.
- Tags: Tick each of the following, if applicable.
- Vegetarian Meal
- Vegan Meal
- Vegan Meal Option
- Gluten Free Meal
- Dairy Free Meal
- Options: Used to allow guests to customize their order/meal. Including drink size, or additional ingredients added to a burger.
- Question: The question to ask guests for customizing their order. E.g. What size drink would you like? or What choice of cereal do you want?
- Single/Multiple Choice: The number of choices a guest can make for this option.
- Required: If an option is needed before adding item to order.
- To add the choices guests can choose from, click on the Add Another Choice button then type in the following for each:
- Choice Name: The name for the size or ingredient. E.g. small or bacon.
- Price: Any additional cost to the choice made. E.g. bacon costs $1.00 extra. Please type 0.00 if the choice is free.
- Click on the Submit and Publish button at the bottom of the screen.
Guest Services (Optional – Up to 20 Minutes):
Guest Service Requests allow your management to receive multiple types of requests from your guests in a more streamlined way.
To setup a request to offer to your guests, please do the following after logging into your CMS account:
- Click on the Guest Services option in the navigation side menu, under the Communication & Services button.
- To add a new type of request, please click on the View Details link under the Guest Service (1-20) Title heading.
- Include all the details related to this request on this screen, including:
- Name of the Request,
- Detailed description of all options, times available and associated costs,
- Duration for the bookings available. If the request relates to delivery of tangible items (e.g. extra pillows), please set to Deliver ASAP.
- Dates & Times this option is available to your guests. E.g. daylight hours for your tennis court.
- The heading/section you want to connect this request too, so it will appear alongside your other property compendium details. E.g. Your in-house restaurant for guests to request a table booking.
- Click on the Save button at the bottom of this page.
- Repeat all steps above to add multiple types of requests.
Notifications (Optional – Up to 20 Minutes):
Our Hinfo service includes the ability to send immediate notifications on-demand, alongside Scheduled Notifications.
To setup these scheduled notifications, please do the following after navigating to the Notifications tab via the navigation side menu, below the Communication & Services heading:
- Scroll down to the Scheduled Notifications heading.
- Click on the View Details button for the last tile that appears, to create a new notification.
- On this details screen, include all the following details, where relevant:
- Title (Required)
- Brief Description (Required)
- Long Description
- Image
- Phone
- Website Address
- Video URL
- Brochure/Menu
- Date/Time (Required)
- Repeating Option
- When finished, click on the Save button at the bottom of the screen.
- Navigate back to the Notifications tab via the side menu and start this loop again to add any more notifications.
When Ready to Go Live:
When everything above is completed and you are ready to go live, please do the following:
- Click on the Submit Setup – Preview Screen or Submit Setup Now button that appears in the bottom of the navigation side menu.
- If you clicked on the Submit Setup – Preview Screen button, please click on the Publish Now button at the bottom of the screen.
- A progress bar will appear showing the setup being submitted to us.
- If your property is using our Auto Translate service, this may take up to 10 minutes to complete per language, depending on the number of English details you provide.
Upon submission, we will complete the remainder of the initial setup for you within the next 5 business days, set your property to go live and commence your annual or monthly membership.
Please click on the button above, login to your Hinfo CMS account, then refresh this page to access the entire setup guide.
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