Finding your way around the Rentalbuddy admin: menu, Location picker and Home warnings

If someone just handed you a login to an account that is already running, start here. This guide walks the left menu top to bottom, explains the one control that catches everyone out — the Location picker — and tells you what the warnings on Home are pointing at.

If you are building an account from scratch, read the new operator setup checklist first. It covers the same screens in the order you need them.

The parts of the screen

The left menu is the main navigation. When it is closed, the burger icon at the top left (labelled menu) opens it. Your choice to keep it open or closed is remembered in the browser.
The top bar shows your company name with the selected location underneath, your own booking button for the selected location, the name of the section you are in, and — on pages that have one — a Video Guide button.
The help button in the bottom-right corner is on every page (a round question-mark icon, labelled Ask a question where the help assistant is enabled). It opens Help for this page with the guides for the screen you are on. See the guide on in-app help and support.
Banners can appear across the very top, for example when a subscription payment has failed (see below).

The booking button in the top bar opens your booking flow for the selected location as a staff booking. How that works is in the guide on editing, moving or cancelling a booking.

Which location am I working in? The Location picker

Open the left menu. At the top there is a field labelled Location — whatever is selected there is the location that Products, Bookings, Booking Management and the top-bar booking button work against. Change it and the same screens show another location's data. Editing the wrong location for weeks is a real thing that happens, because most screens look identical between locations.

Search by typing. Click the field and start typing part of a location's name; the list narrows as you type. If nothing matches you see No matching location.
Remembered per browser. The admin keeps your last choice for your login in this browser. A colleague on another computer can have a different location selected.
The globe icon next to the field (tooltip Settings) opens that location's settings directly.
A red dot next to the globe means Location is currently closed — the location is outside its opening hours right now.
Your locations / Other accounts. Partner users who manage customer accounts see the list split into these two groups, and can type a customer's company name to find its locations.

Three ways to check what is selected without opening the menu: the line under your company name in the top bar, the same line in the menu header, and on a phone the small line under the section name.

Not everything follows the picker. Settings is account-wide. Bookings has a View for all locations switch and Products can show All locations. Location-specific settings — locks, opening hours, the booking button, the website page — live inside Locations, on the location itself.

Which items you see depends on your role, so your menu may be shorter than this list.

Home — the setup Guide while your account is being set up, afterwards the dashboard with warnings above it. A number on the Home item is how many setup steps are still open. Warnings about something that has actually failed appear above the Guide too.

Bookings — the list of bookings. Open one to see what was paid, which emails were sent, the PIN codes and the change log, and to extend, move, edit, cancel or refund it.

Booking Management — the day-to-day view of the same bookings on a timeline: what is out right now, on which lock, and what is coming in. This is where you drag a booking to another lock.

Customers — customer records and their booking history. Go here to find someone by name or email rather than by booking.

Products — everything you rent out: rental products, accessories, insurance, events and memberships, with prices, stock and tax. New products belong to the location selected in the picker.

Locations — your business sites. Open a location and you get its tabs: Location settings, Locks (at self-service locations), Book button, Customer flow, Booking experience, Open dates and Website. A lot of what feels "missing" from the menu lives on these tabs.

Stations with a Moved tag — only shown to people who used the old Stations page, until they close the notice about the move. See the next section.

Accounts — only for partner users who manage customer accounts: the list of accounts you manage. It is hidden when there is no other account to show. Partner users also get Impersonate account under the Location picker, to work inside a customer's account; see the users and roles guide.

Promo codes — discount codes customers enter at checkout (there are no gift cards; see the promo codes guide).

Memberships — membership plans and the membership settings.

FAQ — a list of the main admin sections with their video guides (click the video icon on a row to play it).

Support — a support area inside the admin. It is not switched on for every account and is not shown to viewers, so it may not be in your menu.

Settings — everything account-wide, on tabs (see below).

At the bottom of the menu you find the language picker for the admin itself, the log-out button and your email address.

A small red or amber icon next to Locations, Products or Settings means something in that section needs your attention. It is a colour, never a number:

Red — something has failed or is costing you bookings: locks customers can book that give no PIN code, a lock unit that is offline, Igloohome refusing your login, Stripe pausing payments or a customer who could not pay.
Amber — something is not set up or needs a look: a location that is not taking bookings, a product that can't be booked, missing contact details, terms that look unfinished, an opening period that ends soon with nothing after it, tax rates that are not in Stripe.

Open the section and follow the marks: the affected row in the list, then the tab on the location or the Settings tab, which says what is wrong. While your setup Guide is still running, things you simply have not set up yet are not marked in the menu; the Guide is your to-do list then.

Where did Stations go? Locks are on the location now

There is no Stations page any more. Locks are managed per location: Locations → open the location → the Locks tab (the second tab, after Location settings).

If you used Stations before the change, the menu keeps a Stations entry tagged Moved in its old place. Clicking it (or an old bookmark or link to the Stations page) opens Locations with the notice The Stations page has moved: "Your locks are now under the Locks tab on each location. Open a location to add, sync and manage its locks."
When the account has only one location, the notice has a Go to locks button straight to that location's Locks tab.
Close the notice with its X and the Moved menu entry disappears for you.

Everything you did on a station — adding, syncing, activating and replacing locks, choosing the product on each lock — is on the Locks tab. The full how-to is in the locks guide.

Home: the setup Guide first, then the dashboard

While your account is being set up, Home shows Welcome to Rentalbuddy! and a Guide: a checklist with a progress bar and an x/y completed counter. Every new account gets the seven-step Guide (Account created, Your location, What you rent, Locks and access for self-service locations, Get paid, Test booking, Activate and go live), with some optional items. Accounts created before it keep the six-step Guide. Both, and what ticks each step, are explained in the new operator setup checklist.

The Guide starts with "Follow the steps below to start taking bookings. Your progress is saved, so you can stop and come back whenever you like." Under it is where to get help: "Questions? Ask us any time with the button in the bottom corner." where the help assistant is enabled, otherwise "Need a hand? You'll find guides behind the help button in the bottom corner." During a free trial it adds "You won't be charged during your free trial — you choose a plan when you're ready to go live."

What to do next is always a filled button. In the seven-step Guide it is the first required item that isn't done and isn't waiting for something else, labelled with the item's name, for example Create a location. In the six-step Guide the buttons are Create a location, Go to Open dates (when opening dates are missing), Create a product, Go to locks, Connect Stripe and, for the plan, Add billing. Everyone sees the Guide, but a step's set-up dialog only opens for roles that may do that step.

Once every step is done, Home shows the dashboard for good — so on an established account, Home and the dashboard are the same page. That is expected, not a bug. At the top of the dashboard you set a Date range, choose Bookings by Booking date or Start date, and pick Locations (default All locations). What the figures mean is in the reports and exports guide.

Warnings on Home: what has failed first, then what needs a look

Above the dashboard (and, for the first group, above the setup Guide), Home shows what is stopping your account from selling, most serious first. These warnings describe the account right now; they ignore the dashboard's date and location filters. When one place is affected the warning names it and links straight to it; when several are, it counts them and links to the list.

Shown at all times, even during setup

These mean something has actually failed, so they also appear while your setup Guide is still running:

igloohome connection needs attention — Rentalbuddy checks your Igloohome login every night; this appears when Igloohome has refused it three times in a row, or refuses because your Igloo Connect account has no payment method: "Rentalbuddy can no longer reach your igloohome account (since {date}). Until you connect again, new bookings will not get PIN codes." or "igloohome is refusing requests because your Igloo Connect account has no payment method (since {date}). Until you add one, new bookings will not get PIN codes." The fix is in the Igloohome guide.
Bookings without PIN codes — locks customers can book that can't create codes, for example "Lock {lock} at {location} can't create PIN codes. Customers who book it get no code." with Open the Locks tab, or "{n} locations have locks that can't give customers a code." with View locations. Under it: "Affected bookings are retried automatically once the lock is fixed; their codes arrive within a few minutes." A manual lock with no code saved shows here too ("Lock {lock} has no code saved…"). See the guide on customers getting no PIN code.
Lock units offline — a box station or Allockate unit has stopped reporting: "{unit} at {location} has been offline since {date}. Customers can't open its locks." with "Check that the unit has power and a network connection. This notice clears by itself once the unit reports again."
Stripe needs your attention — Stripe has paused payments, is holding your payouts, has a deadline running, or has closed the account. It says what Stripe wants, with Complete at Stripe (or Open Stripe). See the Stripe connection guide.
"A customer could not pay on {date}: no payment method is enabled in Stripe…" with Open Stripe — a customer was turned away because every payment method is switched off in your Stripe account. It stays until a payment goes through again. See the payment methods guide.

Shown once the setup Guide is finished

Locations not taking bookings appears when a location cannot be booked:

"{location} is not taking bookings." with Open location — when one location is affected. The location page then lists what is missing.
"{n} locations are not taking bookings." with View locations — when several are affected. On the Locations list each affected location has a warning icon; hover it to see what is missing, for example No time periods set, or Last time period ended with the date the season ended.
"No location can take bookings until payments are set up." with Configure payments — when online payments are not working for the account. This one is account-wide.

The reasons you will see, and where each is fixed, are: No products to book, Every product has quantity 0 (staffed locations), No locks added, All locks are switched off, No lock has a product yet, Locks can't create PIN codes (only old locks typed in by Bluetooth ID that have no way to get codes), No session lengths customers can book, Book button not set up, No time periods set, Last time period ended (with the date) and Configure payments. The lock reasons only apply to self-service locations. Locks that customers can book but that give no code are not a reason here — the location is still selling, which is why they are in the red Bookings without PIN codes warning above. Why a location is not bookable, reason by reason, is in the guide on why customers cannot book anything.

Product issues appear on the next line:

"{product} can't be booked." with Open product — for example because none of its session lengths fit the location's time slots, it has no price, or a day price is missing among the first seven days.
"{n} products can't be booked." with Review products, which opens the product list filtered to those products across all locations.

Worth reviewing (amber) collects things customers will notice, with Open location, Open account settings or View locations:

"{location} is missing contact details for customers." — the location has no Location email or Location phone, or still shows Rentalbuddy's.
"The terms and conditions for {location} need a look." or "The account's terms and conditions need a look. They apply to {n} of your locations." — the terms are missing, very short, still contain template text, or are the same text in several languages.
"{location} closes after {date} and nothing is set after that." — the current opening period ends within 14 days and no period follows it.

You can close any of these warnings with its X. It stays closed for the rest of your browser session, but comes back when the problem changes (another location, lock or product is affected), and in a new browser session if it is still not fixed. While the setup Guide is running, the not-taking-bookings, product and review warnings stay off Home: the Guide itself is your to-do list then.

One thing Home does not show: whether the booking button really is on your website page. The location's Book button tab shows that ("The booking button is live on…"), see the guide on installing the booking button.

Banners at the top of the screen

Failed subscription payment. "Payment failed – {n} days left to pay before access to Rentalbuddy is blocked", and once the grace period is over "Payment failed – access to Rentalbuddy is blocked". The button is Update payment (opens the payment page for your subscription, shown to account owners only) or Details, depending on how you are billed. The grace period is 7 days from the day the failed renewal was charged, and the block only covers the admin: customers can still book.
Free trial. "Free trial: {n} days left" with Subscribe for account owners, and for users who may change settings Need more time? to set your launch date (up to 180 days after the account was created). When the trial has ended it reads Your trial has expired; within those 180 days you can still use Need more time? to pick a later date. The details are in the account settings guide.

Billing itself is covered in the account settings guide.

Settings: the tabs and their current names

Settings in the menu opens the account-wide settings. Account owners and members see these tabs:

Account (company details, logo, analytics), Users, My profile (your own name and password), Language, Customer flow, Emails, Payments (currency, Stripe, checkout settings), Taxes, Integrations (Igloohome, Harvia sauna heaters) and Billing (your own subscription and plan).

Several tabs were renamed: User Profile is now My profile, Email Settings is now Emails, and the tax settings are Taxes. Colleagues are managed under Settings → Users — there is no separate Users page for operators any more.

Viewers and Booking staff see My profile, Users and a read-only Customer flow.

A mark next to Customer flow, Payments, Taxes or Integrations points at something that needs attention on that tab; hover it for the reason. Red means something has failed (Stripe pausing payments, a customer who could not pay, Igloohome refusing your login), amber means something is not set up or needs a look (unfinished terms, tax rates missing or not in Stripe). While your setup Guide is running, things not set up yet are marked in blue.

Two levels of settings: account and location

Mixing these up is the most common reason for "the setting isn't there".

Account level — Settings in the menu. Company details, currency, Stripe, taxes, email templates, users, billing. Applies to everything you run.
Location level — Locations → open the location → its tabs. Address, contact details, staff presence, locks, the booking button, the customer flow, booking experience, open dates and the website page. Applies to that one location.

Customer flow exists on both levels: the location's tab can use the account's settings or its own. If you are hunting for something, check both places, and check the Location picker first.

"You don't have access to that page"

What you can open depends on your role (account owner, member, Booking staff or viewer; partners have their own roles — see the users and roles guide).

If you open a page your role cannot use — from a bookmark, a link or by typing the address — you land on the first page you may use and see You don't have access to that page at the top of the screen.
If your role may not see something on a page, the notice reads You don't have access to that; if you try a change your role may not make, it reads You don't have permission to do that.
Viewers can open every page but cannot create, change or delete anything; buttons that would change something are hidden, and form fields are shown greyed out. Booking staff work with bookings and customers, and see the rest the way a viewer does.
When your login has expired, the admin renews it quietly without a notice. If your session was ended on purpose, for example because your role was changed, you are signed out and taken to the login page.
A login with no access at all sees No access: "Your account doesn't have access to any pages. Contact your administrator."

If you need more access, ask the account owner to change your role under Settings → Users.

Tables: filter chips, page controls and columns

Filter chips above tables (for example on Customers, Products and Locations) show how many rows each filter would give. A chip that would give nothing is greyed out.
Long tables have small previous/next page controls at the top as well as the full page controls at the bottom, where you set Rows per page:.
The Locations table, and for partners the Accounts table, have a Columns picker to show or hide columns. Reset to default brings back the standard set, and your choice is remembered in this browser.
Lists remember where you were. On Bookings, Customers, Products, Locations and (for partners) Accounts, your search, filters, sorting and page are kept in the page address. The browser's Back button brings the list back exactly as you left it, a reload keeps it, and you can bookmark the list or send the link to a colleague. Choosing the page in the menu opens it fresh.
Open a row in a new tab. On Bookings, Customers, Products and Locations, Ctrl-click (Cmd-click on a Mac), middle-click or right-click → Open in new tab on a row opens that booking, customer, product or location in a new tab; on a phone a long press works. Selecting text in a row to copy it doesn't open the row.

Using the admin on a phone

The admin works on phones. The menu opens from the burger icon and closes when you pick an item; the top bar shows the section you are in with the location name under it. Lists turn into cards, the Save button stays pinned at the bottom of the screen while you edit, and the help button is a round icon in the corner. The Video Guide button is only shown on larger screens.

Quick reference

I want to…	Go to
See what is rented out right now	Booking Management
Find one customer's booking	Bookings or Customers
Change a price or add a product	Products
Add, sync or switch on locks	Locations → location → Locks
Change opening hours or the season	Locations → location → Open dates
Get the booking button code, link or QR code	Locations → location → Book button
Book once yourself as a customer would	Locations → location → Make a test booking in the bar at the top, next to Save
Edit the confirmation email	Settings → Emails
Add a colleague	Settings → Users
Check revenue for a period	Home (the dashboard)
Get help on the page I'm on	The help button in the bottom-right corner

Common questions

Where did Stations go? I can't find my locks. Locks now live on each location: Locations → open the location → Locks tab. An old Stations link opens Locations with a notice explaining the move.

How do I switch location? The dropdown has too many locations. Open the menu, click the Location field and type part of the name — the list filters as you type.

Why do I see the wrong products or bookings? Check the Location picker at the top of the menu: Products, Bookings and Booking Management show the selected location.

Why does Home not show the checklist any more? Once every setup step is done, Home shows the dashboard permanently. Problems that come up later appear as warnings above it, such as Locations not taking bookings or Bookings without PIN codes.

What does the red or amber icon next to Locations, Products or Settings mean? Something in that section needs attention: red for something that has failed (locks giving no codes, a unit offline, Stripe or Igloohome refusing), amber for something not set up. Open the section; the marked row or tab says what.

Home shows "Worth reviewing" — is something broken? No, customers can still book. It lists things they will notice: missing contact details, terms that look unfinished, or an opening period that ends soon with nothing after it. Each line links to where it is fixed.

Can I open a booking in a new tab without losing my filtered list? Yes. Ctrl-click (Cmd-click on a Mac) or middle-click the row. And when you open a booking in the same tab, the browser's Back button brings the list back with the same search, filters and page.

Home says a location is not taking bookings — what's wrong? Click Open location (or View locations); the location lists what is missing, for example No time periods set or Book button not set up, each linking to where it is fixed.

I get "You don't have access to that page" or "You don't have permission to do that". Your role cannot use that page or make that change. Ask the account owner to change your role under Settings → Users.

Why are the fields on a page greyed out? Your role can see that page but not save it, for example as a viewer, or as Booking staff outside bookings and customers. Ask the account owner if you need to change it.

What does the filled button in the Guide do? It is the next step to take, for example Create a location. Click it to open that step.

I was suddenly sent back to the login page. Your session was ended, for example because your role was changed. Log in again; your new role applies from then on.

Where are User Profile and Email Settings? They are now called My profile and Emails, both under Settings. The tax settings are Taxes.

What does the red dot next to the location mean? Location is currently closed — the selected location is outside its opening hours right now.