Appointment Hour Booking – Booking Calendar vs WP BASE Booking of Appointments, Services and Events

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

WP BASE Booking of Appointments, Services and Events is a complete service and appointment booking e-commerce solution that allows business owners with or without service providers accept hourly or daily appointment reservations from front end and manage or manually create appointments from admin side. It is easily extendable with addons and highly customizable with settings, shortcodes and filter/action hooks. Various free and premium extensions, including addons for integration with WooCommerce, Google Calendar, PayPal, Stripe, Twilio, WPML, BuddyPress, Zoom, Jitsi, Agora are available. Visit our demo website for examples and learn more at WP BASE.com. Documentation Developer and user instructions can be found in our Knowledge Base Unique Features Your clients can pick service, provider, time slot, fill booking form, modify any selection and confirm booking on the same page. During the whole booking process, everything is in your client’s viewport. Loads its css and javascript files only to the pages it is used. It does not pollute whole website. WP BASE can be used in post content, inserted to templates, sidebar widgets and even to popups. Unprecedented working hour setting procedure allows even irregular work schedules easy to set. Extremely sound software and database design allows hundreds of locations, services, providers each having own complex schedules to be used without having significant effect on page load speed. With optional addons, it can be used as a Marketplace with GeoDirectory support, it can integrate with Woocommerce, Google Calendar, BuddyPress with BuddyBoss support, Easy Digital Downloads, Zoom and several other third party platforms. With addons it can use PayPal, Stripe, authorize.net AIM as payment gateways, send SMS notifications with Twilio. As far as we know, there is no similar product in the market which can achieve all the above. General Features Designed for maximum conversion rate: No steps, no page refreshes. Booking is as easy as 1 click. Also Flex Steps booking method is selectable for smaller footprint Uses ajax: Client stays on the same page even after changing service or date Intuitive: On page load, automatically shows your current availability for your popular service. Client can further browse through other dates and services. Responsive: Automatic adaption to different page and screen widths Mobile device support: Automatic detection of mobile phone connection and switching to appropriate display Easy Setup: With just one click and a single shortcode you can create a fully functional booking page and start accepting bookings immediately Flexible: Several booking methods (weekly, monthly, in table view) and themes to select from Multi site support: Automatic creation of database tables for existing and new subsites in Multi Site Installation Scalable: Can be extended to thousands of services and providers. Many addons to choose from. Services Unlimited number of services can be defined Service durations can be set from 5 minutes to 30 days Services can be custom sorted For each service description and featured image can be defined to be displayed in tooltip Services can be assigned to any unique member of the website Services can have any capacity with or without assigned providers allowing more than one booking/client per slot Working Hours Working hours are configured using a unique, simple, intuitive graphical interface Any combination of working hours for each week day up from 5 minutes intervals can be easily entered Even irregular schedules can be set in just seconds Services can have own working hours making them usable without service providers No need to define break hours: If not picked as a working time, a slot is automatically assigned as a break time Multiple working hour tables for services, service providers can be opened, displayed and saved at the same time Copy/paste of working hours from one service to another or to several services Listing of Bookings on the Front End Client can view own bookings, plus admin can view any other client’s or all bookings Display according to status, start and end dates Dynamic search, filtering and sorting of the booking list Selectable and custom sortable columns Different selectable columns for mobile devices to use screen efficiently Cancellation of bookings by the client using confirmation email or button on the website with adjustable limit time Booking and Editing on the Admin Side Manual Booking by admin on behalf of a client, e.g. appointments accepted over phone or email Manual booking can be selected to respect the same availability conditions as the front end Fast manual booking for repeat customers by Rebook button with selecting first available time Filtering of bookings by month, service and balance (negative/positive) Search over booking ids, user names, emails, booking note and any of the client fields Selecting and editing multiple bookings by a single or multiple admins Bulk status change of selected bookings possible Emails Automatic email sending with separate custom templates for confirmation, pending, cancellation, completion states Sending of test emails to check configuration Multiple email addresses can be defined for multiple admins Automatic and manual sending of notification emails for each appointment status Possibility to use all booking and user variables in the templates Possibility to use list of bookings shortcode in the email templates, i.e. inform user about their past, future or all bookings Look and Feel Configurable confirmation and pending message popup with HTML support Configurable Terms & Conditions popup on front end. If enabled, client cannot apply without confirming terms Booking in list/table view or weekly or monthly calendars, selectable within the shortcode and auto switching for mobile devices Selection from 12 included jQuery UI standard themes to match your WordPress theme Custom jQuery UI theme or css file can be created to override existing styles and saved against being overwritten by plugin updates Help System Setup Wizard with description of basic settings Inline settings help inside the plugin Further documentation available at WP BASE.com Localization Automatic adaptation to time and date formats, start day of the week settings of WordPress All front end messages and texts can be easily customized or translated on admin side without any additional tool Ready for translation for other (admin side) texts Support for RTL and calendars starting on Saturday, Sunday and Monday Performance Integrated Native Object Caching Lazy Load function for fast page loading Compatible to major caching plugins Free from PHP sessions. No front end cookie writing (cookies are set with ajax). Thus graceful to server side caching Scalable to virtually unlimited bookings, services and providers Developer Friendly Integrated Custom Functions tab which can be used to add own php codes without the need for modifying php files About 300 WordPress hooks for further customization (With addons more than 1200) Automatic recognition of shortcodes in page templates Functions to read/add/edit/delete bookings, services, providers Debug mode to help locate errors Other Features Automatic removal of unconfirmed (pending) bookings after a preset time Client can cancel own bookings using link in email, or their account, if allowed so Client can confirm own booking using link in email, e.g. to verify their email address Admin side schedules display bookings in weekly and monthly views. Free slots are clickable to add a new booking Clients can be automatically registered as WordPress users upon submission and notified about their registration Account page that displays user submitted values and booking list is automatically created for clients Admin toolbar submenu to access plugin created pages JavaScript and css files are only loaded on plugin related pages both on front end and admin side, to reduce conflicts Compatible with major page builders and caching plugins Admin side graphical reports for bookings and revenue With Advanced Features Premium Addon Advanced Features Addon is a must use for professional websites. It extends functionality and display of your website in several ways. Additional booking View “Flex View” which combines advantages of all other views into one Classic sidebar widgets can be used for booking GDPR compliance from WP 4.9.6 (Erase and export user data upon user request) Timezone support: Automatically dedect client timezone to let them display available time slots in their own timezones Possibility to define Trial Services for which clients can make booking for limited number of times With Service Providers Premium Addon Service Providers Addon allows assigning members of your website as staff who will provide your services. Unlimited number of service providers can be defined Providers can be assigned to one or more services Providers can view their assignments on their account page Providers can be randomly assigned to an appointment if client does not have a preference Providers can create/edit/delete own services, confirm/edit own bookings, manage own working hours and holidays if set so Client can select first provider, then service among services provided by the provider on the front end Free Addons incorporated into the core from V4.0 Easy Digital Downloads Integration: WP BASE services can be sold as digital products (downloads) of EDD alone, with other services or with other downloads. Export & Import: Allows export and import of WP BASE settings and database tables to/from another site/subsite. Includes import option from Appointments by WPMU DEV. Extended Service Features & Categories Addon allows several website settings to be applied per service. It also adds category support to services. Front End Booking Management: Allows admin or any user with selected capability add and edit all bookings and submitted user fields on the front end. Limited Availability: Availability of each service can be easily set on a full calendar making them suitable for event or Airbnb type rental bookings. Manual Payments: Allows adding and editing records for offline (bank transfer, cheque, cash) payments. Shopping Cart: Allows clients book multiple appointments in a single checkout. Minimum and maximum number of appointments per booking is selectable. Can be used to book on different pages and make a single checkout on any page. Quotas: Different quotas (maximum number of future or completed bookings) can be set per service. Different quotas can be defined per week days, weekend days and holidays, per week and per month. Test Bookings: Given number of partly or fully random test bookings can be created for test purposes. Premium Addons BuddyPress: Adds settings, list of bookings and calendars on BuddyPress/BuddyBoss front end user pages. Integrates with notifications and groups. Coupons: Applies discount over total payable amount upon submission of coupon code. Start and end dates, maximum usage, applicable services and/or providers can be selected. Custom Pricing: Payment and down payment amounts can be formulated depending on any variable, for example to apply special price for happy hours Digital Wallet: Adds a deposit system to your website that allows your clients to purchase credit points or service packages and then redeem it at a later point for your services. Extras: Allows adding unlimited number of “extras” which can be used to offer selectable additional service options to the client. Extras can be applied to locations, services and service providers. Event Bookings: Any post/page/custom post can be easily configured to be bookable as event Google Calendar: Integrates Google Calendar with WP BASE. Any new booking can be added to GCal as a new event and any new event entered in GCal can be added as a new booking in WP BASE. Updates in case of editing and cancellation are automatic. Group Bookings: Allows client book for more than one person with a single booking. Client can provide a list of participants who can also receive emails. Person Types are supported Locations: Services can be assigned to one or more location. This feature can also be used to group services and limit their availability depending on capacity, e.g. multiple doctors using a single examination room Marketplace: Users can register to the website, sell their services and manage their bookings. They can establish and manage their team of providers Multi Language: Allows booking selections and variables to be displayed in preferred language of the visitor Online Meetings (Zoom & Jitsi & Agora): Allows integration with Zoom, Jitsi and Agora video/audio conferencing system Service Bundles: Allows admin combine two or more services as jobs of a bundle and sell them as a single service. Time delays between service jobs can be set. Payment Gateways: 2checkout, authorize.net AIM, Paypal, Stripe support available. PDF Attachments: Allows dynamically creating PDF files with booking details and attach them to emails Recurring Appointments: Allows clients select recurring appointments on the front end with selectable recurring frequencies daily, every other day, weekly, biweekly and monthly. Reminder & Follow-up emails: Sends automatic reminder emails to clients before appointment time and to clients whose bookings have negative balance and below a set amount Seasonal Working Hours: Allows weekly “alternative” schedules to be defined and assigned to services and service providers, making it possible to create working hour settings changing every week within the year, e.g. for shift work SMS: Sends SMS messages as confirmation, pending, cancellation, completion and reminder using Twilio service. Different message templates for different groups (client, provider, admin) can be used. User Defined Fields: Allows admin add unlimited number of fields in the confirmation form. Text, textarea, option/select and checkbox fields are supported. User defined select/option functions can be added. Variable Durations: Allows service durations to be variable based on date, time and/or provider. Also allows clients pick desired duration for configured services within set limits Waiting List: Allows clients to apply for a waiting list when desired time slot is full. When there is an opening in the service, clients in the waiting list are informed by email. Woocommerce Integration: Integrates WP BASE with WooCommerce and allows selling of services as Woocommerce products WP BASE Developer Package: includes all current and future addons usable in multiple client websites