Which keys you need, and where they go

A key (also called an API key, token or credential) is a long code that lets one system talk to another on your behalf. You create it in the other system and paste it into Hotelmente.

A key is like a door card for software: it opens only the doors you allow, and you can cancel it at any time without changing your password.

One key: your Cloudbeds API key. With it, Hotelmente AI brings in your reservations, rates and payments and starts working.

Everything else is optional and can be added later, one at a time.

Required:
- Cloudbeds API key. Where: the Connect step on the Hotelmente home, later Hotelmente AI → AI settings → Your property system.

Optional, all shown in Hotelmente AI → AI settings:
- Facebook Page + Instagram: one token you generate in Facebook’s Graph API Explorer. Hotelmente turns it into a Page token that does not expire and fills in your Page and Instagram IDs.
- Google Analytics and Search Console: no key at all. You add Hotelmente’s email to your Google accounts, read-only. The Website Analytics and Website SEO pages show the email and the steps.
- Google Places and SerpApi (competitor data): Hotelmente provides them, so they appear under Included with Hotelmente. Nothing to paste.

Public holidays, exchange rates and the display currency need no key, only preferences.

Hotelmente PAY uses the same Cloudbeds connection, plus the credentials your bank gives you for online payments. With BAC these are a merchant (affiliate) number, an API key, an API secret, a webhook signing secret and the environment (sandbox or production), and in some countries a terminal ID and a separate USD merchant number.

Where: Hotelmente PAY → PAY settings → Bank credentials. Only an owner of the hotel can see or change them. The guide Bank credentials for Hotelmente PAY explains what to ask BAC for.

Hotelmente FACTURA uses the same Cloudbeds connection, plus your access to your tax authority (or to the certified provider your country requires). Depending on the country this is an API user and password, a digital certificate or cryptographic key with its PIN, and your authorized numbering ranges.

Where: Hotelmente FACTURA → FACTURA settings, in three panels: What FACTURA invoices, Numbering and environment, and Credentials for sending. Only an owner can change them. The guide Tax authority credentials for FACTURA covers each country.

Hotelmente runs these services with its own company accounts. You never create, pay for or paste these keys:
- The AI engine that writes briefs, analyses, replies and posts.
- Google Places, for competitors, ratings and recent reviews.
- Competitor prices from Google Hotels.
- Hotelmente’s mail service for sign-in codes and account emails.
- Card and PayPal payments for your Hotelmente subscription.
- The Cloudbeds Marketplace app behind Connect with Cloudbeds.
- Hotelmente’s Google service account, which reads your Google Analytics and Search Console once you add its email.
- Hotelmente’s Meta app, which turns the Facebook token you paste into a Page token that does not expire.

In AI settings, the ones that apply appear under Included with Hotelmente. Nobody from Hotelmente will ever ask you for keys to these services.

• Cloudbeds API key → Hotelmente home (Connect step), later Hotelmente AI → AI settings → Your property system → Replace key.
• Exchange rates, display currency and holidays → Hotelmente AI → AI settings.
• Facebook and Instagram → AI settings → Facebook Page + Instagram.
• Google Analytics → the Website Analytics page shows the email to add and the box for your Property ID.
• Search Console → the Website SEO page shows the email to add and the box for your website address.
• BAC credentials → Hotelmente PAY → PAY settings → Bank credentials.
• Tax credentials → Hotelmente FACTURA → FACTURA settings → Credentials for sending.

Each settings item in the menu shows a counter such as (3/5): the required items entered out of the total. Account info and Users & team are in the Settings part of the menu; Property info is under your property name at the top right.

• Step 1: Connect Cloudbeds (required). Wait for the first sync.
• Step 2: Connect Facebook Page + Instagram in AI settings, if you want to publish posts and see their results.
• Step 3: Give Hotelmente read-only access to Google Analytics (Website Analytics page) and Search Console (Website SEO page).
• Step 4: For Hotelmente PAY and Hotelmente FACTURA, fill in PAY settings and FACTURA settings in advance. A guide at the top of each page shows what is left. Ask BAC and your accountant early: their paperwork takes the longest.

• Encrypted at rest (AES-256-GCM), in your hotel’s own space with a key derived only for your hotel.
• Never sent back to any browser, not even yours. Screens show only that a key is saved and its last 4 characters. FACTURA secrets show nothing at all.
• Never written to logs: Hotelmente removes keys, passwords and tokens from every log line.
• Used only by Hotelmente’s servers, to call the service they belong to.
• To change a secret, type the new one. Leaving the field blank keeps the saved one.

• Owners only: the Cloudbeds connection (test, replace, disconnect), PAY bank credentials, and in FACTURA settings the credentials, the numbering and what FACTURA invoices.
• Owners and managers: the other connections, such as Facebook Page + Instagram, Google Analytics, Search Console, holidays and currency.
• Viewers: see the status, change nothing.

If someone without permission tries, Hotelmente answers: Only an owner of this hotel can do that. Roles are set in Settings → Users & team.

Yes.
- Cloudbeds: Replace key tests the new key first; your current key stays until the new one works. Disconnect deletes the saved key.
- Other connections (AI settings): open the row, type the new value and click Save & test, or click Disconnect to delete the saved keys for that service.
- PAY: Remove in Bank credentials (PAY settings). FACTURA: Remove credentials in Credentials for sending (FACTURA settings).

For extra safety, also cancel the old key in the system that issued it (Cloudbeds, Meta, your bank or your tax authority).

Do not send it. Paste it yourself into the right field in Hotelmente: that is the only place it is needed, and it is encrypted there.

Never send keys, passwords or certificates by email, WhatsApp or chat, to Hotelmente or anyone else. If a key was shared by mistake, cancel it in the system that issued it and create a new one.

Each connection row in AI settings shows a status and the result of the last test with its date:
- Connected: the last test passed.
- Error: the last test failed. Open the row to see the message.
- Not connected: nothing saved yet.
- Being set up by Hotelmente: Hotelmente is finishing its side; nothing for you to do.

Click Save & test (or Test for Cloudbeds) any time. A test only reads; it never changes anything. In the menu, the counter next to each settings item, such as (2/4), turns green when everything required is in.

• Website: to add a Book now button that opens your Cloudbeds booking engine.
• Google: to add Hotelmente’s email, read-only, to your Google Analytics and Search Console, if they manage them.
• Facebook: to make you an admin with full control of the Facebook Page, if they created it.

You paste the values into Hotelmente yourself; they do not need a Hotelmente login.