Appointment Hour Booking – Booking Calendar vs Bukza

Appointment Hour Booking is a WordPress plugin for creating booking forms for appointments with a start time and a defined duration over a schedule. The start time is visually selected by the end user from a set of start times calculated based in the “open” hours and service duration. The duration/schedule is defined in the “service” selected by the customer. Each calendar can have multiple services with different duration and prices. This plugin is useful for different cases like booking of medical services where services with different duration and prices may be available, for personal training sessions, for booking rooms for events, for reserving language classes or other type of classes and other type of services/resources booking where start times are selected and the availability is automatically managed using the defined service duration to avoid double-booking (the booked time is blocked once the booking is completed). Main Features: Easy visual configuration of calendar data and schedules Working dates, invalid/holiday dates and special dates can be defined Supports restriction of default, maximum and minimimum dates Open hours can be defined for each date Each calendar can have multiple services defined Each service can have its own price and duration Start-times are calculated automatically based in the open hours and service duration Available times are managed automatically to avoid double-booking Multiple services can be selected on each booking Services can have multiple capacity Automatic price calculation Customizable email notifications for administrators and users Form validation and built it anti-spam captcha protection Manual and automatic CSV reports iCal addon with iCal export link and iCal file attached into emails Calendar available in 53+ languages Multiple date formats supported Blocks for Elementor and Gutenberg Multi-page calendars Printable appointments list Features in commercial versions: Visual form builder for creating the booking form fields Booking form can be connected to payment process (Ex: PayPal Standard, PayPal Pro, Stripe, Skrill, Authorize.net, TargetPay/iDEAL, Mollie/iDEAL, SagePay, Redsys) Payments are SCA ready (Strong Customer Authentication), compatible with the new Payment services (PSD 2) – Directive (EU) Addons for integration with external services: reCaptcha, MailChimp, SalesForce, WooCommerce and others Addons with additional features: appointment cancellation addon, appointment reminders addon, clickatell and twilio SMS add-ons, signature fields, iCal synchronization, Google Calendar API, Zoom Meetings … Appointment Hour Booking can be used for: Booking services or resources: Define schedule, open hours, services, prices and durations and let the calendar plugin manage the schedule. Sample cases: Medical services, personal training, resource allocation, booking rooms, classes, etc… The services can have a maximum capacity (example: number of persons that can book/attend the service at the same time). The default capacity is 1. If the service capacity has been set to 1 the time-slot will be blocked for new bookings after getting one booking. If the service capacity has been set to a greater number (example: service with capacity 10) the time-slot will be blocked after filling the capacity (example: after getting bookings for a total of 10 persons). This feature is described in detail at https://apphourbooking.dwbooster.com/blog/2019/01/24/bookings-for-multiple-persons/ The Troubleshoot Area Use the troubleshot if you are having problems with special or non-latin characters. In most cases changing the charset to UTF-8 through the option available for that in the troubleshot area will solve the problem. You can also use this area to change the script load method if the booking calendar isn’t appearing in the public website. The Notification Emails The notification emails with the appointment data entered in the booking form can sent in “Plain Text” format (default) or in “HTML” format. If you select “HTML” format, be sure to use the BR or P tags for the line breaks into the text and to use the proper formatting. Exporting Appointments to CSV / Excel Files The appointment data can be exported to a CSV file (Excel compatible) to manage the data from other applications. That option is available from the “bookings list”, the appointments can be filtered by date and by the text into them, so you can export just the needed appointments to the CSV file. Other Versions and Features The free version published in this WordPress directory is a fully-functional version for accepting appointments as indicated in the plugin description. There are also commercial versions with additional features, for example: Ability to process forms/appointments linked to payment process (PayPal, Stripe, Skrill, …) Form builder for a visual customization of the booking form Addons with multiple additional features Payments processed through the plugin are SCA ready (Strong Customer Authentication), compatible with the new Payment services (PSD 2) – Directive (EU) that comes into full effect on 14 September, 2019. Please note that the pro features aren’t advised as part of the free plugin in the description shown in this WordPress directory. If you are interested in more information about the commercial features go to the plugin’s page: https://apphourbooking.dwbooster.com/download

Bukza is a flexible online booking system that works for rentals, appointments, tours, events and many other services. It suits businesses of all kinds — from equipment rental and room reservations to classes, appointments and ticketed events. It lets you build custom reservation workflows, manage resources and widgets, handle payments and automate communication. This WordPress plugin embeds the responsive booking Bukza widget into your website and manager’s interface to your WordPress admin panel. The actual booking engine is hosted by Bukza web application. Documentation | Pricing Features Embed and display widgets Create widgets for any number of resources and embed them on pages of your website using shortcodes. Show the widget inline, as a popup or in a right‑side panel by selecting the display option in the widget settings. Organise resources into a catalog with nested groups so customers can browse categories and choose what to book. Display multiple resources on one calendar by switching the widget to Calendar mode. Change widget design Choose a light or dark theme and set a primary colour. For full control, edit the widget’s CSS using BEM classes. Add validation and dynamic UI Display warnings or reminders only when specific conditions are met. Hide or show fields based on selected options using reactions. Localize your widgets Choose from 30 localizations, or translate the widget yourself by customizing any text. You can also set any currency, time zone, and date or time format to match your local preferences. Create message templates Design custom email templates with any order data you need. These can range from simple text emails to beautiful, responsive HTML templates. You can create as many templates as you like and use them to send messages to customers, employees, or yourself to stay updated on order events. Emails to customers can be sent from your company address and signed with your domain’s DKIM. Build a custom order processing workflow Your orders can include multiple reservations, much like items in a shopping cart. Both orders and reservations have statuses that track each step of your business workflow. You can create as many statuses as you need. Create your own triggers to automate tasks such as sending notifications, changing statuses or sending web requests. Define conditions for trigger tasks based on order data (e.g., resource name, language, total amount or custom fields). Review orders conveniently Preconfigure tables to display any order data columns, with sorting and filters applied for a predefined period. You can also analyze your data by switching tables to calendar mode, allowing you to view orders across any time range – working hours, a week, a month, or even a full year. Configure employee access Create individual accounts for your employees with customized access permissions. For example, an employee can be restricted to specific tables, allowed to view or edit only certain orders, or authorized to run only specific triggers. Accept payments Integrate your own payment gateway using the Payment API. During the reservation process, you can charge the full amount or a partial payment, which can even be calculated dynamically based on the selected options. Block availability on the calendar Use rules with complex schedules, including start and end times that shift relative to the current moment. Block availability for one resource based on reservations of other resources. Automatically block time between reservations for tasks like refueling or cleaning. Block availability directly from the manager’s calendar. Enable 2-way synchronization with Google Calendar. Promote and engage Create promotions codes to apply percentage or fixed discounts. Generate single‑use voucher codes. Issue reusable discount cards with custom discount formulas. Use gift cards with a fixed value, reservation limit or usage periods. Mobile apps for managers Manage orders, check in visitors and scan QR codes using Bukza’s mobile apps for iOS and Android. Application areas Equipment & Inventory Rentals VR arenas, ATVs, bicycles, cars, yachts, boats, skis, snowboards, tools, photo gear, children’s items, dishes, event equipment. Venues & Spaces Business halls, coworking rooms, meeting rooms, offices, studios, training rooms, event spaces, saunas, pools, bowling lanes, sports fields, tennis/paddle/badminton courts. Tourism & Activities Bicycle tours, boat trips, excursions, city tours, amusement parks, aquaparks, karting, ice rinks, paintball/airsoft/laser tag, balloon flights. Sports & Recreation Gyms, yoga and fitness studios, martial arts, dance classes, trampoline centers, football pitches, sports arenas, swimming lanes. Services by Resource Availability Photographer sessions, car service slots, auto wash, chemical cleaning, rental pickups/returns, repair services (PC/tech/appliances), coworking desks, consultation rooms. Hospitality & Accommodation Rooms, flats, cottages, hostels, B&B, short-stay rentals, campsites. Education & Events Workshops, classes, training sessions, test sessions, rehearsals, music practice rooms, language schools, exam slots, conference rooms. Ticketed or Timed Entry Exhibitions, museums, galleries, events with time slots.