Skip to main content

​
What you’ll accomplish

Your first task in Helm depends on whether you’re an agency or a guide. This guide will walk you through the most important thing to do when you’re getting started.
If you’re running an agency or tour company, your first task is to get your bookings into Helm. You can do this by connecting your existing booking system (like Bokun) or by creating your first booking manually.This guide will show you how to connect Bokun to automatically sync your bookings, or how to create a booking from scratch if you’re not using an integration yet.

​
Step-by-step walkthrough

If you use Bokun to manage your bookings, connecting it to Helm will automatically sync all your tours, bookings, and customer information.To connect Bokun:
  1. From your Helm dashboard, go to Settings
  2. Navigate to Organization → Integrations
  3. Find Bokun in the list of available integrations
  4. Enter your Bokun subdomain in the field provided
  5. Click Connect to Bokun
  6. Authorize Helm in Bokun’s approval screen
  7. You’ll be redirected back to Helm with a connected status
Once connected, Helm will start syncing your bookings. Depending on how many bookings you have, this can take a few minutes. You’ll see them appear in your dashboard as they sync.After your bookings are synced, you can start assigning guides to them directly in Helm.
For detailed setup instructions, see Connecting Bokun.

​
Option 2: Create a booking manually

If you’re not using Bokun or want to create a booking from scratch, you can add bookings manually.To create a booking:
  1. From your dashboard, click “New Booking” or go to the Bookings page and click the ”+” button
  2. Fill in the booking details:
    • Customer information: Name, email, phone number
    • Tour or experience: What they’re booking (select from your existing experiences or create a new one)
    • Date and time: When the tour takes place
    • Number of guests: How many people are attending
    • Additional notes: Any special requests or important information
  3. Click “Create booking”
Your booking is now in the system. You can assign a guide to it, send confirmation details to the customer, and track it through completion.

​
What happens after creating your first booking

Once you have a booking in Helm (whether synced from Bokun or created manually), you can:
  • Assign guides: Choose which guide will lead the tour
  • Manage schedules: See all your bookings on a calendar view
  • Communicate: Send updates to guides and customers
  • Track status: Monitor which bookings are confirmed, in progress, or completed
This is the core of what Helm does—it keeps all your bookings organized and makes it easy to coordinate your team.

​
What’s next

You’ve completed your first task in Helm! Here’s what to explore next: For agencies: Now that you have bookings in the system, learn how to manage your schedule, assign guides to tours, and communicate with your team. For guides: Now that your profile is set up, learn how to manage your availability, communicate with agencies, and track your upcoming tours. Everyone: Explore Key Concepts to understand how bookings, assignments, schedules, and organizations work in Helm.