Don’t get locked out of your digital front door: why admin access matters for every tourism business

Imagine this: your web developer disappears, your marketing assistant moves on, or your email account gets hacked. You go to log in to your website, booking system, or Facebook page — and you realise you’re locked out. For small tourism and travel businesses, this isn’t just frustrating — it can stop your business in its tracks.

That’s why, as part of our Tourism Tribe Digital Assistance Plans onboarding, we now include a high-value digital asset check to start — to make sure you’ve got your digital ducks in a row from day one.

What Is admin access, and why is It so important?

Let’s make this clear: being able to “log in” is not the same as being in control.

There are two types of access to most digital platforms:

• Admin access = full control. You can add/remove users, reset passwords, change settings, and recover access.
• User/editor access: You can post content or make minor changes, but you can’t control ownership or recover access if you get locked out. Without admin rights, you’re relying on someone else to keep your digital house in order — and that’s a huge risk for your business.

If someone else set it up and you don’t have admin rights, you’re not in control.

You need admin access to these platforms (no exceptions)

Here’s your quick reference list. Make sure you (or someone senior in your team) has admin-level access to all of the following:

Website platform (WordPress, Wix, Squarespace – full backend access)
Domain name registrar (e.g. GoDaddy, Crazy Domains – for DNS and renewals) – note you may have different DNS registrars for your different domains

Email platform (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 – via the admin console)
Google Business Profile (must be the Primary Owner, not just a Manager)
Google Analytics, Search Console & Tag Manager (admin rights to edit or add users)
Social media accounts (via Meta Business Suite – with full Business Admin rights)
Cloudflare or DNS tool (manages security, speed, and domain settings)
Booking system (like Rezdy, ResBook, FareHarbor – admin dashboard access)
CRM or Email Marketing tool (Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign – to control campaigns and data)
Password manager (if used – like LastPass, 1Password) – this is where all those logins need to reside!

If you don’t know who has access or if your access is admin-level — that’s a red flag. Now is the time to fix it. Now, some web developers will tell you that you don’t need admin login to your website and they look after that for you. That is all well and good, until something happens and you’re left in the lurch. What our recommendation is – if you’re scared you will break something by having admin access is have 2 logins: one admin and one user and use the user login and keep the admin for emergencies.

The advanced checks

Website platform 

• Are there any admins you can remove? (e.g. former web dev? contractor?) – if they created content in WordPress you’ll need to reassign this content to you else you risk deleting pages.
• If you need to add new users do not add them as admin unless there is a real need to
• If you need to add Tourism Tribe please add them as admin using help@tourismtribe.com unless advised otherwise.
• Do not share your admin credentials with anyone!

Domain name registrar

• It is possible that your web developer may refused to give you your admin access as they may not have the ability to do so. Your domain name is your key to your online presence (website AND emails) and it is too risky not ot have admin access to it. If this is the case, we recommend you transfer your domain to another registrar and then give your web developer access from your own account. Talk to us for assistance and best practice with regards to managing domain names.
• We also recommend you check that you are the legal owner of your domain name. Go to Whois.domaintools.com and check each of your domain name for the registrant (see below). If this is not the right business (or the former owner/web developer etc) you need this fixed asap. Talk to us if you don’t know how to do this.
  

  

Cloudflare

Cloudflare sits on top of your domain name to act like a smart security and performance shield for your website. It helps manage traffic more efficiently, making your site load faster for visitors while also protecting it from attacks like hackers or bots. Plus, when you need to verify your domain for things like email platforms or grant applications, Cloudflare gives you a simple, central place to manage those settings—without needing to log in to your website host or call your developer.

Sometimes, web developers have set up their clients in Cloudflare but tell them they can’t have admin access. This is not true.

Do you want to know if you’re on Cloudflare? Go to whois.domaintools.com, enter your domain name and look for the cloudflare servers as per the screenshot below. If you see them, you need to get your admin credentials. If you’re not and you see your hosting provider name server there, you should consider a Cloudflare account (Free)..

Workspace / Office 365 / Email platform

You need to have your own super(admin) account. If you need to share these credentials and cannot add a partner as an admin without creating a new account (where you pay per seat), use your password manager or onetimesecret.com to securely share credentials. Do not send them via email!

What’s included in our onboarding with Tourism Tribe

We’ve written a purpose built course called Digital Foundations, together with a handout including checklists and tables where you can document your progression to ensure that you’re set up for success. In this course you’ll:

• Review your digital tools and platforms
• Check that you (not just your contractor) have admin access
• Complete the simple checklist to keep everything documented and secure
• Identify any gaps or vulnerabilities
• Learn about recommended tools and systems to make your digital life easier

Think of it as a once-off digital continuity check — to ensure your business is protected and future-ready.

We believe that this process is a vital step that every tourism operator must take to protect their business in today’s digital world.

Real scenarios we’ve seen (too often)

“Our developer set up the site, but we don’t know the login.”
“We can’t access our Facebook page because the original admin left.”
“Our domain expired because no one knew how to log in and renew it.”
“I wanted to apply for a tourism grant and needed to verify my domain — but it was Friday night, and my developer didn’t respond until the following Wednesday. I missed the deadline.”
“Our website was hacked and offline. Our developer was overseas and asleep. We had no way to fix it or even put up a holding message.”

These aren’t just tech issues. They’re business continuity issues. Revenue, reputation, and opportunities can be lost in hours — not days.

Don’t let your digital vulnerability become a real-world disaster. You just don’t have enough hours in the day to wear all the hats!

Frequently asked questions

What else do you need?

Gaining admin access is step one—but if your WordPress website isn’t being actively maintained, you’re sitting on a ticking time bomb. Outdated plugins and themes are one of the most common ways hackers gain entry. One bad update or no update at all can bring your site crashing down, take your key asset offline, or worse, expose customer data. We’ve seen operators lose entire websites because no one was looking after them. A proper care package isn’t a nice-to-have—it’s your insurance policy against digital disaster. If no one is updating, backing up, and securing your website regularly, it’s not a question of if something will go wrong it’s when. You’ll find more information about our WorPress tourism websites care packages here.