Booking Calendar Contact Form vs Simply Schedule Appointments

The Booking Calendar Contact Form plugin allows you to create a powerful and flexible booking form for your WordPress website. Easily create a reservation form with a booking calendar where users can select start and end dates (like check-in/check-out) or single dates. It’s the perfect solution for hotels, property rentals, service providers, and anyone needing to accept bookings and payments. The built-in PayPal integration (which is SCA-ready) allows you to securely process payments for reservations. The reservation calendar is completely optional, so you can also use the plugin to create a general-purpose contact form or payment form. 🌟 Key Features of the Free Version PayPal Integration: Securely accept payments for your bookings. Fully compatible with SCA (Strong Customer Authentication) / PSD 2. Reservation Calendar: Allow users to select: Start and end dates (e.g., check-in / check-out) A single date Flexible Booking Types: Supports full-day (the entire day is blocked) or partial-day (hotel-style, where check-out and check-in can happen on the same day). Availability Management: Optional date verification prevents double-booking by blocking dates as they are reserved. Seasonal Pricing: Configure different prices for different date ranges (e.g., high season, low season, holidays). Flexible Pricing Rules: Define prices based on the number of days selected (e.g., weekly rates, 3-day specials). Fixed-Length Bookings: Enforce specific booking lengths (e.g., weekly-only bookings). Responsive & Mobile-Optimized: The form and calendar look and work great on all devices. Admin Management: View, manage, and print a list of all bookings from your WordPress dashboard. iCal Export Link: Easily export your bookings to external calendars like Google Calendar, Airbnb, etc. Configurable Emails: Customize the notification emails sent to the administrator and the user. Customizable Messages: Configure all validation messages and date format settings. Block Dates: Mark holidays or other specific dates as “not available.” Built-in Anti-Spam: Includes a built-in CAPTCHA to protect your form. Multi-User Support: Assign a calendar to a specific WordPress user (e.g., an editor) to let them manage their own bookings. Calendar Styling: Includes multiple colors for marking dates on the calendar. ### A Flexible Solution for Any Website Hotel & Room Booking: Use the partial-day booking type to manage hotel or B&B reservations. House & Apartment Rentals: Use the full-day booking type for property rentals. Service Bookings: Allow clients to book appointments, classes, or services. General Payment Form: Hide the calendar to create a simple contact or payment form connected directly to PayPal. Note: Payments processed through the plugin are SCA ready (Strong Customer Authentication), compatible with the new Payment services (PSD 2) – Directive (EU). ### Looking for More Features? This free version is powerful, but our Commercial Versions unlock even more functionality: Visual Form Builder: A drag-and-drop builder to completely customize your form fields. Full iCal Sync: Two-way synchronization with external calendars (Google Calendar, Airbnb, etc.) to import and export availability. Coupons & Discount Codes: Offer special promotions and discounts. …and many other advanced features. For more details on the commercial versions, please visit the plugin’s website. Language Support The Booking Calendar Contact Form plugin is compatible with all charsets and supports translation through standard PO/MO files located in the /languages/ folder. The following translations are already included: Afrikaans (af) Albanian (sq) Arabic (ar) Armenian (hy_AM) Azerbaijani (az) Basque (eu) Belarusian (be_BY) Bosnian Bulgarian Catalan (ca) Central Kurdish (ckb) Chinese (China) (zh_CN) Chinese (Taiwan) (zh_TW) Croatian (hr) Czech (cs_CZ) Danish (da_DK) Dutch (nl_NL) English Esperanto (eo_EO) Estonian (et) Finnish (fi) French (fr_FR) Galician (gl_ES) Georgian (ka_GE) German (de_DE) Greek (el) Hebrew (he_IL) Hindi (hi_IN) Hungarian (hu_HU) Indonesian (id_ID) Italian (it_IT) Japanese (ja) Korean (ko_KR) Latvian (lv) Lithuanian (lt_LT) Macedonian (mk_MK) Malay (ms_MY) Malayalam (ml_IN) Norwegian (nb_NO) Persian (fa_IR) Polish (pl_PL) Portuguese (Brazil) (pt_BR) Portuguese (Portugal) (pt_PT) Romanian (ro_RO) Russian (ru_RU) Serbian (sr_RS) Slovak (sk_SK) Slovene (sl_SI) Spanish (es_ES) Swedish (sv_SE) Tamil (ta) Thai (th) Turkish (tr_TR) Ukrainian (uk) Vietnamese (vi)= Troubleshoot Area = Located below the booking calendars list. Important: Only use this section if you experience conflicts with third-party plugins, themes, or character encoding. Script load method: Switch to “Direct” if the booking form does not appear on the frontend. Otherwise, keep the default “Classic” setting. Character encoding: Update the charset if special or non-Latin characters display incorrectly in forms or emails. Note: You must re-enter special characters after updating this setting. Booking Duration Limits (Global) Minimum nights: Bookings must be equal to or longer than this value. Maximum nights: Bookings cannot exceed this value. Price Supplements Apply automatic price adjustments based on the length of the stay. Supplement for bookings between X and Y nights: Adds a one-time fee (or discount) for bookings falling within the specified range. General Calendar Settings Settings applicable to both admin and public views: Calendar Pages: Number of months to display simultaneously. Calendar Language: Auto-detects the browser language. Select manually if auto-detect fails. Start Weekday: Sets the first day of the week (e.g., Monday or Sunday). Date format: Choose between dd/mm/yyyy or mm/dd/yyyy. Accept overlapped reservations: “No overlapped” prevents double-booking (recommended). Reservation mode: “Complete Day” charges for both the first and last day. “Partial Day” charges them as half-days. Public Calendar Settings Settings specific to the customer-facing calendar: Min/Max available date: Limits the selectable date range (e.g., 2025-12-31, today, or today + 3 days). Working dates: Define which days accept bookings (useful for disabling weekends). Disabled and special dates: Click specific dates to block them (e.g., holidays). Fixed Reservation Length: Restrict bookings to a specific duration (details below). Fixed Reservation Length Enable this to force bookings to span a specific number of days (e.g., strictly 7-day rentals). Fixed length (days): The required duration of the booking. Start Reservation Date: Restrict check-ins to specific weekdays (e.g., every Monday). Disabled and special dates: When this mode is active, use the calendar to mark valid start dates (useful for package tours). Note: Customers only select the start date; the end date is calculated automatically. Form Builder Available in commercial versions. Allows full customization of the form, including adding, editing, or removing fields. Submit Button Customize the button label here. Styling: Use the CSS class .pbSubmit. Add custom CSS in the “Customization area” at the bottom of the calendar list page. Advanced: Modify dex_scheduler.inc.php for structural changes. See the FAQ for CSS samples: https://bccf.dwbooster.com/faq#q82 Validation Texts Translate or customize the error messages shown when form validation fails. Price Configuration Define the pricing structure. Currency: PayPal currency code (e.g., USD, EUR, GBP, JPY). Default request cost (per day): The standard daily rate. Total cost for specific # of days: Overrides the daily rate with a fixed total price for specific durations. Supplement for range: Adds a fee (or discount if negative) for bookings within a specific day range. Seasons configuration: Define date ranges with custom pricing. Season prices override default costs. PayPal Payment Configuration Enable PayPal: Free version supports On/Off. Commercial versions allow “Optional” (User chooses “Pay Now” or “Pay Later”). PayPal Email: The address receiving payments. Product Name: The item name shown on the PayPal checkout page. Return URL (Success): The full URL customers are redirected to after a successful payment. Return URL (Cancel): The full URL customers are redirected to if they cancel payment. PayPal Language: Sets the language of the PayPal interface. Taxes: Enter a percentage to apply tax at PayPal (e.g., enter 10 for 10%). Discount Codes: (Commercial only) Create codes to apply price reductions. Optional Services/Items Field Available in commercial versions. Create selectable extras with associated costs (e.g., Breakfast, Parking, WiFi). Notification Settings to Administrator(s) Configure the email sent to you when a booking is made. Notification “from” email: The sender address appearing in the notification. Send notification to email: The address receiving the notification. Subject/Content: Customize the email text. Keep the %INFORMATION% tag to automatically insert booking details. Email Copy to User (auto-reply) Configure the confirmation email sent to the customer. Email field on the form: Select the form field where the user enters their email. Subject/Content: Customize the confirmation message. Keep the %INFORMATION% tag to insert booking details. Captcha Verification Configure built-in spam protection. Use Captcha Verification?: Enable/Disable. Dimensions: Set the width and height of the image. Chars: Number of characters to display. Font Size: Set the min/max randomization size. Styling: Customize noise level, background color, border color, and font style. Preview: Test the current captcha appearance.

Simply Schedule Appointments® is an easy-to-use WordPress appointment booking plugin. It’s an automated appointment booking system loved by 70,000+ businesses, with a 5-star review average. The Simply Schedule Appointments booking calendars are easy and fast to set up. And enjoyable for your customers and clients to book and schedule appointments. You can set up the appointment scheduling calendars to take your first booking in less than 5 minutes! And, the best part is that our 5-star support team is here to help you each step of the way, either through our comprehensive and organized Help Center, here on the WordPress Forums, or directly from the Simply Schedule Appointments Support Tab within the plugin. Booking System Features to Help You Schedule Business Meeting Appointments Features included with the Simply Schedule Appointments Free Basic Edition for booking appointments: Unlimited Booking Calendars and Customizable Notifications Use Advanced Scheduling Options and Blackout Dates to highly tailor your schedule Embed the appointment booking calendars using the Block Editor, Elementor widgets, Beaver Builder modules, and Divi modules Style and Customize the Booking Calendars to match your brand and website Translation-ready – including Spanish, German, French, and more! Deeply connected with WordPress, including integrations for the The Events Calendar plugin, WP Fusion Automations, and more! Features included with the Simply Schedule Appointments Paid Premium Editions for booking appointments: Group or class event booking – Book time slots up to a certain capacity Booking Flows – Choose from a selection of booking steps and layouts Google Calendar Sync – Allow your site’s booking system to check your personal calendar for conflicts and customize those calendar events Team booking – Allow your staff to receive bookings and customize their own schedules Resource booking – Schedule meeting rooms, rental items and things such as bikes or tables, or set max occupancies Mailchimp – Automatically add users as new contacts to your audience from the booking form Stripe and PayPal for Payments – Instantly get paid for your time and expertise Twilio for SMS notifications and reminders Gravity Forms and Formidable Forms Integration – Create complex booking forms Zoom and Google Meet for virtual meetings Google Analytics and Tag Manager tracking enabled to count booking form conversions Trigger Webhooks for appointment actions and connect to Zapier ICS Subscription Feeds – Sync your personal calendar applications to all incoming bookings. Simply Schedule Appointments is perfect if you want to let your customers schedule phone calls, in-person or virtual video meetings, or coaching appointments. The perfect tool for business consultations, interviews, or scheduling services. You can tame and automate your schedule and easily manage when you’re available for appointments. And block off dates when you don’t want to be disturbed for bookings — no more phone calls or back-and-forth emails to find a meeting time that works. Simply let your WordPress booking system take care of it! Easily limit how many daily appointments you schedule and set the minimum time between bookings. Automate your schedule while still maintaining control of your availability — manage your booking calendars, time slots, and appointments all in one place. Offer different types of appointment calendars for your services. For example, you could allow new clients to schedule on an introduction call calendar or let established customers schedule a longer time slot with a separate calendar. And, forget about double-bookings, Simply Schedule Appointments is capable of preventing unexpected scheduling problems! Are you looking to offer tutoring or remote teaching classes? Let your students quickly book times with you for lessons, reviews, or simple consultations. Localized time zones make meetings for distance learning and remote office hours a breeze to schedule. Simply Schedule Appointments contains all the data from your appointments and customers within your WordPress site. Own your data and be fully GDPR-compliant and make it easier for your booking system to achieve HIPAA compliance. Complete documentation to start booking appointments today is available on our website. Getting Started with the WordPress Booking Calendars is Easy Use the built-in Setup Wizard to create your first Appointment Type in under 5 minutes. Next, just embed the booking calendar on your site using our general booking shortcode [ssa_booking] or our native WordPress editor block: Who This Booking System is For Simply Schedule Appointments is ideal for anyone who needs to automate and book appointments with clients and customers, including booking for: Client Meeting Booking — Entrepreneurs, Web developers, Consultants, Personal and Business Coaches, Lawyers, Car Dealers, Real Estate, Agencies Event Booking — Wedding coordinators, Dress Shops, Boutiques, Workshop Teachers, Food Truck Lots Class Lessons or Tutor Scheduling — Personal trainers, Yoga studios, Exercise Studios, Language / ESL Tutors, Dance Studios, Fitness Professionals, Music Teacher, Instructors, Professors Service Booking — Handyman Services, Contractors, Hair Salons, Barbershops, Photographers, Tattoo Shops, Notaries, Tax Preparations, Home Inspections Visitor Booking — Bakeries, Restaurants, Museums, Retirement Homes, Curbside Pickup Patient Booking — Nutritionists, Vaccination Appointments, Chiropractors, Physical Therapists, Pharmacy Prescription Pickups Simple Reservations — Equipment Rentals, Room Reservations, Table Reservations for Restaurants, Office Reservations Simply Schedule Appointments offers an excellent experience for your customers who need to book appointments. Our WordPress booking plugin has just the features you need without all the extra bloat and needless settings found in other appointment booking plugins. And our UI is snappy, highly responsive, and a joy to use. Flexible, Fast, and Powerful Booking Calendars Other appointment scheduling plugins are either too simple or too complicated. They lack the basic features you need to start automating your schedule and booking appointments, or, if they do have those features, as you grow and add services, staff, and locations, they become complex and confusing to use for booking. Simply Schedule Appointments is ready to grow with your business’ booking needs — without all the confusion and clutter of settings that don’t apply to you. It’s also highly compatible with WordPress and can be added to any theme and page layout on your site. Simply Schedule Appointments offers fully responsive booking calendars and works efficiently on any device – even touch screens. Our WordPress booking plugin will work dependably and reliably, whether you’re managing your appointment availability from your tablet or your customer is booking an appointment from their smartphone. User-Friendly and Accessible Booking System Our WordPress booking calendar system was designed with people in mind, first and foremost. So we’re always thinking about how people will be using our appointment scheduling plugin, what they’ll expect, and what booking features they’ll want and need. This WordPress booking calendar system is built with you and your customer in mind and is accessible for everyone. We believe appointment scheduling should be as clear and straightforward as possible while maintaining the flexibility and booking features our customers need. We’ve made sure that everyone can use our appointment scheduling plugin, including people with auditory, visual, and physical disabilities. Everyone deserves access to everything the web offers, so we built our WordPress booking calendar plugin with accessibility in mind. As a result, you’ll never have to worry that a customer will find themselves unable to schedule an appointment because of their abilities or the device they’re using. Deep Integrations With All the Tools and WordPress Plugins You Love Integrations included with the Simply Schedule Appointments Free Basic Edition for booking appointments: Logged in WordPress users can see their appointments and benefit from auto-filling Name and Email fields. Elementor widgets Beaver Builder modules Divi modules WP Fusion Automation The Events Calendar Integrations included with the Simply Schedule Appointments Paid Premium Editions for booking appointments: Google Calendar Mailchimp Stripe and PayPal for Payments Webhooks for Zapier and Make Twilio for SMS notifications Gravity Forms Gravity Wiz Perks Formidable Forms Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager Zoom and Google Meet for virtual meetings The Events Calendar Project Panorama LifterLMS Webex Facebook pixel Useful Links to Help You Start Booking Appointments Today Help Center for Troubleshooting and Setup Guides Free Basic Edition Setup Guide Booking Demos to Try Before Installation How to Display the Booking Calendars on a WordPress Page or Post Admin Dashboard Walkthrough Guide Full Appointment Type Settings Guide