Overview
Once your contract with WaveRez is signed, the onboarding team takes over to get your account built, your Stripe payment processing connected, and your team trained. The full onboarding process includes several stages — a welcome email, Stripe account setup, an activity information form, an onboarding meeting, account build, training, and go-live. This article explains what to expect at each stage and what you need to do along the way.
Step-by-Step: The Onboarding Process
1. Welcome Email
After the sales team completes your contract, your information is handed off to the WaveRez onboarding team. You will receive a welcome email containing everything you need to get started. This email includes two key items: a link to set up your Stripe connect account for payment processing, and an activity form to gather information about your business and listings.
2. Set Up Your Stripe Connect Account
The welcome email includes a unique link to connect your Stripe account to WaveRez. This link is required — you must use this specific link to establish the connection between your Stripe account and the WaveRez platform. Do not set up Stripe independently or skip this step.
You have two options when you click the link:
If you already have a Stripe account: Log in to your existing Stripe account when prompted. The link will connect your existing account to WaveRez.
If you do not have a Stripe account: Follow the prompts to create a new Stripe account. The link will guide you through the full account creation and connect it to WaveRez automatically.
After the initial connection, Stripe may ask you for additional information such as acceptance of terms and conditions, bank account details, EIN verification, your business website URL, or other identity and business verification items. Stripe will display these requirements as warnings on your Stripe dashboard. The WaveRez team will also be notified if action is needed on your part and will reach out to let you know — especially if any unresolved requirements could cause your Stripe account to enter restricted mode, which would prevent you from taking payments both internally and on your online booking portal.
Address any Stripe verification requests as quickly as possible to avoid payment disruptions.
For more details on how Stripe works with WaveRez after setup, see Understand How Stripe Works with WaveRez.
3. Complete the Activity Form
The welcome email also includes a link to an activity form. This form gathers information about your business and your listings so the onboarding team can understand what account build will work best for you. You should create a separate activity entry for each listing you offer, so the team can account for any differences in pricing, scheduling, or trip structure between them.
If you already have an existing online booking portal with another provider, the onboarding team can often pull information from that system — as long as the information is current and up to date. Pricing should be sent separately for seasonal rates.
4. Onboarding Meeting
Once the onboarding team has received your activity form, they will schedule an onboarding meeting. This is a brief meet-and-greet call to introduce you to the team, answer any initial questions, and walk through what the rest of the onboarding process will look like from that point forward. No preparation is required on your end beyond having your activity form submitted.
5. Account Build
After the onboarding team has all the information needed from your activity form and onboarding meeting, they will build your WaveRez account. This includes creating your trips, setting up pricing, and configuring your listings. You do not need to do anything during this phase — the onboarding team handles it for you. Your Stripe account will also be fully connected to WaveRez during this step if it was not already.
6. Training
Once your account is built and ready, you will receive another email with a link to schedule your training session at a time that works for you and your team. Training sessions are flexible — you can include just yourself, your admins, your full staff, or any combination. There is no limit on the number of attendees.
Training sessions can be recorded so you can review them later. An AI-generated transcription of the meeting will also be provided after the session.
7. Login and Getting Started
After training, you will receive your login credentials and a link to access WaveRez Admin. Once you are logged in, the onboarding team generally recommends two things to help you get comfortable with the platform:
Import existing orders: If you have orders from a previous booking system, importing them manually into WaveRez is a great way to learn how to create orders. This is a manual process, but it doubles as hands-on training and is highly recommended.
Explore the system: Click around, test features, and familiarize yourself with the interface. WaveRez has a support knowledge base, live chat, email support, and phone support available to help you throughout this process.
8. Additional Training (Optional)
Once you are comfortable with the basics of creating orders and navigating the system, you can schedule additional training sessions to learn more advanced features. One common topic for follow-up training is calendar controls, which allow you to customize pricing and availability by date range. Calendar controls provide granular management for custom pricing, custom availability, blackout dates, stop sells, and long-term availability planning beyond the day-to-day adjustments you make in the matrix views.
What Happens Next
Once you complete training and feel comfortable in the system, the onboarding team will coordinate your go-live date. After go-live, WaveRez support is available for any questions or issues that come up. You can reach the support team via the in-app chat, email at [email protected], or phone.