Appointment Hour Booking – Booking Calendar vs SimplyBook.me – Booking and reservations calendar

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

SimplyBook.me is the easiest way to start collecting bookings on your WordPress website. The plugin will allow you to register your free account and immediately publish your booking calendar on the front-end of your site. With a few clicks, you can easily add your services and service providers, and design the most beautiful booking widget. You will be collecting appointments and reservations in no-time! Easy appointment scheduling Simple plugin onboarding and configuration Manage your calendar and bookings using the powerful mobile app (iOS and Android) Accept touchless payments via the app on your onsite checkout High email deliverability for reservation confirmations and appointment reminders. Create multiple services, providers, categories and locations Send email and SMS notifications to your customers for their bookings Add “Book now” buttons on your Instagram, Facebook and Google Business Profile Sell Memberships, packages & gift cards Manage bookings for Classes & Events Increase sales by offering products and service add-ons in the booking process Marketing campaigns by emails and push notifications Waiting Lists and “Make me look busy” features Offer Coupons and a Loyalty System to enhance brand loyalty Insights and statistics about your bookings, reservations, cancellations, workload and revenues Adjust time zone settings if you have clients in different time zones Create individual schedules for staff Create multiple users related to providers Accepting payments and/or deposits to confirm the bookings in the booking process Easily implement your booking widget with a Gutenberg block, Elementor Widget or a shortcode SimplyBook.me can be used for free up to 50 appointments per month. In addition, you can use one of the Special features for free! You will automatically be signed up for a Free 14-day trial, which allows you to test the Special Features without any restrictions, including advanced scheduling tools. Why SimplyBook.me? SimplyBook.me is an advanced online booking system that creates a professional booking widget on your WordPress site where your clients can book your services at any time. You will then have access to an admin interface where you can manage your bookings, calendar, and settings. On top of that you will get an admin app where you can manage all your bookings, handle appointments, adjust scheduling, and accept payments on the go. Thousands of clients all over the world have selected our booking system to make their business easy and comfortable to use (see our testimonials). SimplyBook.me provides users with a broad range of features so that you can tailor the system to your needs, irrespective of what industry you are in. For a more detailed understanding of the SimplyBook.me service, you can explore at the following link: https://simplybook.me/ This plugin is developed by SimplyBook.me, is ISO27001 compliant and utilizes its API to transmit and store all information, including settings and details of bookings, as well as other personal client data, directly on SimplyBook.me. Before using the plugin, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the privacy policy and terms of use of SimplyBook.me at the following links: Privacy Policy Terms of Use This will help you better understand the terms of use of the plugin and ensure your confidentiality. This is the official SimplyBook.me plugin, developed by SimplyBook.me and Really Simple Plugins About Really Simple Plugins: Really Simple Plugins is the creator of most-used plugins Really Simple Security and Complianz. With a total of ~6 million installs, we focus on making the most user-friendly and easy-to-use plugins. We work with SimplyBook.me to make the most powerful booking system available directly in your WordPress dashboard. Benefits of the Online booking system Integrating an online booking system like SimplyBook.me is crucial for service businesses aiming to improve customer experience and extend their market reach. By enabling clients to book appointments outside of traditional office hours, an online scheduling and booking system increases accessibility and customer satisfaction. This system simplifies the entire appointment process, automates important reminders, and reduces scheduling errors, freeing up staff to concentrate on delivering superior service. Additionally, an online booking system offers powerful analytics that provide deep insights into customer behaviors and preferences. This data is essential for making informed adjustments to service offerings and planning effective marketing strategies. Last but not least it´s the best way to boost your sales by offering service add-ons and products for sale in the booking process, by sending tailored marketing email campaigns, offering coupons on less busy days, by prompting tips during check out and so much more, the options are endless!