Getting started

This page walks through signing up for Lodgestory and the in-app onboarding that follows: the Get started checklist, the sample conversations in a new inbox, and the guided tours on every main page.

1. Create your account

Go to https://lodgestory.com/signup and enter your name, work email, phone number and a password.

You are signed in as soon as the account is created — there is no second sign-in.

2. Verify your email and phone

• Email: Lodgestory emails you a 6-digit code. Enter it to verify the address. If you typed the wrong email, choose Use a different email to start again.
• Phone: next, Lodgestory sends a code to your phone on WhatsApp. This step is optional — choose Skip for now and verify later from the banner on your dashboard.

3. Name your organisation

Pick a name made of letters, numbers and underscores (for example SEASIDE_VILLAS). The name is permanent and becomes part of your workspace's address.

When you create the organisation, Lodgestory:

• makes you its Account Owner and an Admin,
• starts the free plan (if the free plan isn't available, you choose a plan instead),
• opens the Get started page.

4. The Get started page

The first time you open it, a short welcome appears, followed by six quick questions — what matters most to your team, your industry, the channels you'll use, your monthly conversation volume, whether you manage a team, and when you'll go live. Every question can be skipped. Your answers reorder the checklist so the steps you care about come first.

The checklist has six steps:

1. Connect a channel — WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, email, web chat or LinkedIn.
2. Invite your teammates — opens the invite dialog on Team Members.
3. Build a bot journey — ticks once a journey is live.
4. Turn on Chat Copilot — ticks once you create an AI persona.
5. Send your first campaign — ticks once a campaign is scheduled or sent.
6. Set up your first lead Track — opens the create dialog on Lead Tracks; ticks once an active Track exists, which is also when the Leads page and the Dialer appear under More on the left rail for your team (anyone can pin them to the rail from More → Customise). Naming the phone as a main channel, or real estate as your industry, moves this step up the list.

Each step ticks itself off when you finish it. Opening a step shows a short explanation, a button that takes you straight to the right screen, a Learn more link, Show me around (a guided tour of the related page), and a video walkthrough.

While steps remain, a Get set up card sits in the bottom-left corner of every page (on desktop) with your next step, and Get started under More on the left rail opens the page — the More button carries a dot while steps remain. Admins can choose Hide Get started at any time.

[SCREENSHOT: Get started page with the checklist and video]

5. Sample conversations

Until you connect a channel, the inbox shows five sample conversations marked [Demo] — WhatsApp, Instagram, email, web chat and a missed call — so you can see how conversations will look. They are examples only: nothing is sent and nobody receives them. They disappear as soon as a channel is connected.

6. Guided tours

Inbox, Campaigns, Contacts, Tickets, Calls, Leads, the Dialer, Analytics, Settings and Get started each have a short tour that highlights the main controls, one at a time. The Leads and Dialer tours appear once your organisation has an active lead Track. A tour plays by itself the first time you open the page. Use Next, Back or the arrow keys to move through it; Esc or clicking outside closes it.

Every settings page has its own tour too — Connections, Templates, Bot Journeys, Automations, Knowledge Bases, Team Members, Webhooks, Lead Tracks (and a longer one inside each Track's editor, card by card), Lead Types, Call Scripts (and the script editor with its simulator), the Compliance log and the rest. Each one plays the first time you open that page and does not come back once you have seen it. The ? in the page header replays it whenever you want.

Inside a calling account the same applies to every tab: agents, numbers, departments, IVR menus and IVR flows, business hours, call flow, call settings, WhatsApp calling, masked connect, media, AI agents and AI calls, transcription, voicemail and its inbox, do-not-call and outbound campaigns.

To see a tour again, click ? in the page header:

• Show this page's tour replays the current page.
• Replay all tours brings them all back — the main pages play theirs again on your next visit, and every settings page keeps its own behind its ?.
• Restart Get started (Account Owner only) brings back the welcome, the questions, the checklist and the tours — for everyone in the organisation, not just for you.

People who join an existing organisation see the tours automatically during their first two weeks. Choosing Replay all tours also turns that back on for you, however long ago you joined.

Frequently asked questions

Can I change my organisation's name later? No — choose carefully. Contact support if you made a mistake.

I closed the questions by mistake. Your Account Owner can click ? on any page and choose Restart Get started. Your earlier answers are kept.

Our organisation existed before Get started was added. Can we use it? Yes. The Account Owner clicks ? on any page and chooses Restart Get started. It switches the journey on for the whole organisation, which is why it is the owner's decision.

Do teammates see the checklist? No. The checklist is for Admins and Account Owners, because every step is an admin action. Everyone sees the guided tours.

Where to go next

• Start here — how the documentation is organised.
• Accounts & sign-in — sessions, passwords and inviting team members.
• Connections — setting up each channel.