Pinpoint Booking System – Version 2 vs Bookster – WordPress Appointment Booking Plugin

If you have a service (accommodation, event or anything else) or product that has to be booked in advance, the Pinpoint Booking System is the best way to help your clients make a reservation – directly from your WordPress website. The booking calendar can be customized in any way you like, from the design to its functionalities, with add-ons. It’s never been easier to schedule a service – with this booking system, your clients can book an appointment directly from your website, with the help of an AJAX powered, clean and intuitive calendar, with a responsive interface. This booking system makes renting a product a matter or a couple of clicks – all in one page. If you’re in the accommodations business, this booking system is perfect for you. Reservations can be customized by days or by nights – with morning check-outs. You can add extra amenities or services to your client’s bookings, or offer them discounts and vouchers. Being an administrator of this booking calendar is just as easy. Pinpoint Booking System is a match for both big and small companies, due to its easily manageable, flexible and intuitive administration area. Plugin website | PRO version | Documentation | Support FREE vs PRO The FREE version is limited to 1 calendar. Some functionality is limited by this restriction, but almost all features are available. Responsive Booking Calendar With this WordPress booking calendar plugin, your clients will be able to book your services and check for their availability directly from your WordPress website. This AJAX simple calendar makes it easier for your clients to make appointments because there is no need to refresh the page to make any updates. This user friendly WordPress booking calendar is perfect for any of your clients – it’s responsive, so it can be viewed on any device and it adapts to your customer’s time zones. The Pinpoint booking calendar can be customized to a great extent: the client can select how many months to view in the calendar and there is a sidebar, where your customers can search for availability, select the number of rooms or items that they need, use coupons or select extras. Your client is able to see a summary of their reservation and, if necessary, you can add a custom form that they can fill in – directly in the booking calendar. Book Days In your booking calendar, days are displayed with one out of 5 types of availability: none, available, booked, special or unavailable. You can set a special price for groups of days, or select the minimum or the maximum number of days that can be booked. Book Nights This feature is perfect for you if you’re in the accommodation business. The booking calendar offers support for morning check-outs. Your clients will have the option of checking-in in the afternoons and checking-out in the mornings – and the prices and availability will be displayed accordingly. Book Hours With Pinpoint, you can control your reservations by hours. Hours are treated exactly the same as days, with 5 types of availability, special prices for groups of hours or a minimum or a maximum number of bookable hours. Book Hours Intervals Pinpoint booking calendar lets you adjust the reservation time interval even more – with the help of the time slot. You can set hour intervals for your bookings, down to the minute. This gives you increased precision and control over your client’s reservations. Reservations management Booking management has never been easier. Booking calendar administrators can add, cancel, edit, reject or delete reservation requests. Bookings can be instantly approved or rejected, but can never overlap – and the booking calendar will update accordingly. You can choose between a list view or a calendar view to display your clients’ reservations, and they can be printed or exported in 4 types of formats – CSV, XLS, JSON, and ICS. BOOKING CALENDAR EXTENSIONS Extras With Pinpoint, you can add extra amenities, services or others to your client’s bookings, either with a price or for free. You can set default values for the extras, and whether they are mandatory or not. Also, multiple extras groups can be made to be used with your booking calendar. Forms In case you need more information from your clients, you can create a custom form that your customers can fill in directly in the booking calendar. You can have text fields, text areas, checkboxes, dropdowns and even custom fields in your form. It’s worth knowing that you can create an unlimited number of custom forms for your calendar. Discounts In this booking calendar, you can create discounts according to the time interval the reservation is made for. You can decide how the discounts will be calculated – once by day or hour, fixed or a percent – and their default amount. Taxes and fees If reserving your product or service comes with extra taxes or fees – you can add them to your booking calendar. You can decide their value, and if they will be included or not in the overall reservation price. Coupons Another useful feature Pinpoint has is the creating of vouchers or coupons for your customers. You can set their default value, the terms and conditions of how they can be used and add them directly into the booking calendar. WooCommerce Bookings This booking calendar can be greatly extended with the WooCommerce plug-in. With this, you can make the most of the shopping cart, the specific payment gateways and all the other extra features that come with the WooCommerce WordPress plug-in. Additionally, all your reservations data is saved both in Pinpoint and WooCommerce orders. Learn more Other WordPress Booking System Features Synchronization via iCal files For better reservation management, the Pinpoint Booking Calendar can be synchronized with other calendars – Mac Calendar, Outlook, Google Calendar, iCalendar or Airbnb, via iCal format data. Notifications for Booking Requests You can send your clients’ reminders and notifications form your booking calendar, either by email or SMS. You can set up text messages to be sent, either to you or your customers – with Clickatell SMS gateway. For an email notification, you can create custom templates for any type of notice or language, and they will be sent with STMP, PHPMailer class or PHP mail function. Support for multiple languages If your local language is different from English, or you need to offer your services in multiple languages, the Pinpoint booking system offers support for a couple of languages already. However, if you find that yours is not, you can modify or translate your own texts with a simple “to-do” tool. Support for multiple currencies You can use any currency with our Pinpoint booking system. However, if you need to, you can customize your own currency to fit your needs, using hooks. Online Payment Getaways Even though payment cannot be mandatory when a client makes a reservation, it can be an option. With this booking calendar, PayPal is the default payment method, but if you have another preference, you can change that with add-ons. There are 6 payment gateways to choose from – Stripe, WePay, 2Checkout, Authorize.Net, Braintree, ICEPAY and Mollie.

Managing appointments through phone calls, texts, and emails is chaotic. You lose track of bookings, double-book appointments, and spend hours on scheduling instead of serving customers. Bookster turns your WordPress site into a 24/7 booking system. 🌐 View All Demos Customers book appointments themselves, see real-time availability, and receive automatic confirmations. You manage everything from one dashboard. 📌 Documentation | Core Pro vs All Access 💫 Perfect For Hair salons and barbershops Spas and beauty clinics Massage therapists and wellness centers Personal trainers and fitness coaches Consultants and coaches Tutors and education services Medical and dental practices Any service business that takes appointments 💙 How It Works Customers visit your booking page, choose a service, pick their preferred staff member, select an available time slot, and book instantly. You receive an email notification and can view all appointments in your calendar dashboard. No more back-and-forth scheduling. 🔥 Key Features (100% Free) Unlimited Bookings & Services Create unlimited services with custom names, descriptions, and photos Set individual duration and pricing for each service Add taxes, fees and discounts to bookings No limits on number of appointments per month Offer service add-ons and upsell options Smart Scheduling Set your working hours for each day of the week Configure different availability for different services Add buffer time between appointments (e.g., 15-minute cleanup) Block off days for vacations or holidays Set minimum advance notice for bookings (e.g., require 24-hour notice) Customer Booking Experience Clean, mobile-friendly booking form that works on all devices Multi-step process: choose service → select staff → pick time → enter details → confirm Customers see only available time slots (no double-booking) Optional customer account dashboard to view and manage their bookings Customers can cancel or reschedule appointments themselves Payment Options Accept cash/check for in-person payment Accept PayPal payments online (customers pay when booking) Stripe integration available via premium addon for credit card payments Mark bookings as paid or unpaid manually Track revenue in the analytics dashboard Automatic Notifications Email confirmation sent to customers immediately after booking Reminder emails sent before appointment Email notifications sent to admin when new bookings arrive Customize email templates with your branding All emails sent automatically – no manual work required Admin Dashboard View all appointments in Bookster → Calendar menu Switch between day, week, and month calendar views Click any appointment to view or edit details instantly Filter appointments by status (confirmed, pending, cancelled) Search for specific customers or appointments Drag appointments to different dates to reschedule Color-coded by service or staff member for quick overview Analytics & Reports Track total bookings and revenue right from dashboard View performance by service (which services are most popular) Monitor individual agent performance Make data-driven decisions about staffing and services Premium Addons (Optional) Upgrade your booking system with these customizable options: Staff Management Add unlimited team members from Bookster → Agents menu Set individual working hours for each staff member Assign specific services to specific team members Let customers choose their preferred agent or assign automatically Track performance and bookings per agent Booking Form Customize booking form steps (reorder, add, or remove steps) Add custom fields to collect specific information Enable recaptcha, brand logo, timezone selector, and more for your booking system. Advanced Features (coming in future addons) Group bookings and classes Recurring appointments Multiple locations management SMS notifications via Twilio Design Toolkit for Block Editor and Elementor Getting Started Adding the Booking Calendar to Your Site Method 1: Shortcode (Works Anywhere) Add [bookster_booking_form] to any page, post, or widget area. Method 2: Block Editor 1. Edit the page where you want the booking form 2. Click the + button to add a block 3. Search for “Bookster” 4. Select the Bookster Booking Form block 5. Publish the page Method 3: Classic Editor Paste [bookster_booking_form] directly into your content. Viewing and Managing Appointments Go to Bookster → Calendar in your WordPress dashboard You’ll see all appointments in calendar format Click any appointment to view details or make changes Use the view buttons at top to switch between day/week/month views Use filters to show appointments based on agents or booking status Creating a Manual Booking (For Walk-Ins or Phone Bookings) Go to Bookster → Calendar Click the + New Appointment button (or click an empty time slot) Select the service and staff member Choose date and time Enter customer information (name, email, phone) Select payment method Click Create Appointment Customer automatically receives confirmation email Troubleshooting Booking calendar not showing on my page Check 1: Verify the shortcode Make sure you added [bookster_booking_form] exactly (with square brackets). Check 2: Clear cache If using a caching plugin, clear your cache: WP Rocket → Clear Cache or similar. Check 3: Theme conflict Temporarily switch to a default WordPress theme (Twenty Twenty-Five) to test. If it works, there’s a theme conflict. Customers not receiving email confirmations Check 1: Email settings Go to Bookster → Integrations → Email tab and confirm email notifications are enabled. Check 2: Check spam folders Ask customers to check spam/junk folders. Add your domain to their contacts. Check 3: WordPress email issues WordPress email can be unreliable. Install an SMTP plugin like YaySMTP to improve email delivery: 1. Install YaySMTP plugin 2. Connect it to Gmail, SendGrid, or Mailgun 3. Send a test email to verify Check 4: Test with yourself Create a test booking using your own email to confirm emails are sending. Time slots not showing as available Check 1: Working hours configured Go to Bookster → Settings → Schedule and verify hours are set for the day in question. Check 2: Agent availability If using staff members, check Bookster → Agents and verify the agent works on that day. Check 3: Minimum advance notice Check Bookster → Settings → General → Restrictions, if you require 24-hour notice, today’s appointments won’t show. Check 4: Service duration If your service is 2 hours but only 1 hour remains before closing time, that slot won’t appear. Double bookings happening This shouldn’t happen with Bookster. If it does: Check 1: Multiple admin users If multiple people manage bookings, ensure everyone refreshes the calendar before creating appointments. Check 2: Contact support If this persists, contact Bookster support with specific examples. PayPal payments not working Go to Bookster → Settings → Payments tab Verify your PayPal email address is correct Confirm PayPal is enabled (toggle should be blue/on) Test in PayPal sandbox mode first Check if PayPal account is verified and can accept payments Review PayPal transaction logs for error messages Calendar showing wrong timezone Go to Settings → General in WordPress Set your city timezone correctly (e.g., “New York” or “Berlin”) Save changes Go to Bookster → Settings and verify timezone matches Clear browser cache and reload Third-Party Services Bookster uses these external services to provide full functionality: FullCalendar.io Purpose: Renders the interactive booking calendar Privacy: No personal data sent to FullCalendar Terms: https://fullcalendar.io/license Stripe.com (Optional – only if using Stripe addon) Purpose: Process credit card payments Data shared: Customer name, email, payment amount Privacy: https://stripe.com/privacy PayPal.com Purpose: Process PayPal payments Data shared: Customer name, email, payment amount Privacy: https://www.paypal.com/privacy When customers make payments, they’re redirected to Stripe or PayPal’s secure servers. Bookster does not store credit card numbers. Support Need help? We’re here for you: Documentation: Visit Bookster’s detailed guides Support Forum: Post questions in the WordPress.org support forum Email & Live Chat Support: Contact us through the Bookster website Video Tutorials: Watch setup videos on our YouTube channel Response time: We typically respond within 4 hours on business days and 12 hours on weekends. We’d Love Your Feedback ❣️ If Bookster helps your business, please leave us a review on WordPress.org! It takes 60 seconds and brightens our day. Click here ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to share your experience. Have a feature request? We’re actively developing new features based on user feedback. Submit your ideas here. Compatibility Works With All Major WordPress Themes: Brandy WP Shadcn GeneratePress OceanWP Divi Avada And thousands more Page Builders: Elementor Gutenberg (Block Editor) Classic Editor Beaver Builder WPBakery What’s Next? After installing Bookster: Run the setup wizard Add the booking calendar to a page Create a test booking to see the customer experience Customize email templates with your branding Share your booking page link with customers Start accepting appointments 24/7! Your new booking system is ready to help you grow your business. Welcome to Bookster! 🚀