Questions
Taking bookings on WordPress: the real questions
The questions people ask before choosing a booking plugin, with short, practical answers, whatever your business.
Before you start
- Taking bookings on a WordPress site: what you needA contact form isn't enough. The six things a real booking system does for you, and how to check each of them before you choose a plugin.
- Free or paid booking plugin: the real differenceWhat a free booking plugin should already do, what is worth paying for, and the four questions to ask before you choose one.
- Booking by the hour, day or nightPlaces, time slots, nights, covers or rented items: what you sell changes how you count. How to choose, and the pitfall with multi-night stays.
Places, payment and no-shows
- Avoiding double bookingsTwo customers for a single place: where double bookings come from, and the five rules that make sure a place is only ever sold once.
- Taking a deposit or full payment at bookingNothing, a deposit or the full price: what to ask for at booking depending on your business, and what to check before taking payments online.
- Reduce no-shows: reminders, cancellation, depositsWhy customers who have booked don't turn up, and five simple steps to make sure they come, or free up their place in good time.
- A waiting list to fill places that free upA fully booked date shouldn't send visitors away. How a waiting list recovers cancelled places, without promising the same one twice.
Special cases
- Taking bookings with WooCommerceTaking payment for a booking through your shop, or selling a time slot as a product: what has to be right, and what you need to check.
- Bookings and GDPR: your customers' dataWhat you can ask your customers for, how long to keep it, and how to answer a request for erasure: GDPR applied to bookings.
- Switching booking plugins without losing bookingsMoving from one booking plugin to another: what can be brought across, what can't, and in what order to do it so you lose no customers.