Bookster – WordPress Appointment Booking Plugin vs Timetable and Event Schedule by MotoPress

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! 🚀

MotoPress Timetable and Event Schedule is an all-around organizer plugin developed to help you create and manage online schedules for a single or multiple events, customize the appearance of each event, add date, time, description and display all the needed items in a carefully-crafted timetable. It also comes with Upcoming events widget. Plugin Demo Documentation Free Theme Events Calendar – an extended version of the Timetable plugin: a detailed comparison. Main features Several column types. Ability to choose columns and events to be displayed in the schedule. Ability to add event tags and categories. Ability to display the events by the appropriate categories. Hour measure to be displayed in the left timetable column to show more accurate duration of each activity (event). Filter styles: drop-down list and tabs. Option to display/hide ‘All Events’ view mode, hours column and empty rows. Customizable event parameters (title, time, subtitle, etc.) and the ability to display only preferable ones in the timetable. Featured images for individual events in the calendar. Opportunity to set event URL to link it any external website. Text align options for event blocks. Unique IDs for multiple timetables on a single page. Color settings for background, background hover, text, and text hover. Export and import of your data. RTL ready. The event calendar plugin can be used for timetabling different types of events like various lessons, gym classes, festivals, conferences, ceremonies, case-studies, formal parties, concerts, and much more. It’s handy in terms of backend event schedule management and maximum easy for your audience to use. Key advantages Responsive design The event calender is optimized to be viewed perfectly on different devices. Manually adjust the way to show your timetable on mobile devices and desktops. Event filtering The visitors can filter the timetable to display the only events they are interested in. Color controls Highlight important activities by presenting them in different colors. Various color markers can become helpful in making the event calendar more colorful or in customizing it to fit your website color scheme. Visual time frames Hourly time frames are generally large enough for showing the events, but you still can increase them by setting the timetable to show up to 15 minutes accurate time in the left ‘time’ column. Timetable Gutenberg block The calendar events plugin provides Timetable block for Gutenberg. Timetable can be added to any other builder via shortcode. Timetable Elementor widget Plugin provides Timetable widget for Elementor. Choose the layout and style for your events, show or hide the event description, customize the table look, choose the mobile behavior and more. Events Calendar To address some of the limitations of the MotoPress Timetable plugin and simplify the event management process even further, we developed an absolutely fresh product, the next-gen WordPress events calendar plugin. While sharing some features and goals with the free Timetable plugin, the Events Calendar is designed for easier event creation in visual mode, with many more features: Add and display recurring events easily. Create hourly, multi-day, and all-day events. Create multiple calendars. Use month, week, day, and list views for events. Create an event that starts on one day and ends on another. Add multiple events to the same time slot. Dedicated WordPress block to edit the look of your calendar. Shortcode settings. Compare Timetable vs Events Calendar Appointment Booking Want to take automatic online appointment reservations through your website for events, classes, and any other type of services? Hourly Appointment Booking is our custom-crafted plugin optimized for easy appointment scheduling and quick online reservations. Developed by MotoPress – a trusted WordPress company with over a decade of expertise in crafting booking solutions, including our renowned WordPress Booking Plugins and the extensive Gutenberg block collection – Getwid WordPress Blocks. Copyright Timetable and Event Schedule plugin, Copyright (C) 2016, MotoPress https://motopress.com/ Timetable and Event Schedule plugin is distributed under the terms of the GNU GPL. Credits Plugin bundles the following third-party resources: GUMP, Copyright (c) 2015 wixelhq.com, MIT License jQuery UI, Copyright (c) 2013 jQuery Foundation and other contributors Licensed MIT Spectrum Colorpicker, by Brian Grinstead, MIT License jBox, by Stephan Wagner, MIT License jQuery UI Timepicker, Copyright 2010-2013, Francois Gelinas, Dual licensed under the MIT or GPL Version 2 licenses.