Customer Booking Process

Booking Form

A booking form is generated for the front-end Add to Cart form. This is set up according to how the product has been configured. Here is an example of an hourly, time-based booking.

If multiple spaces are available per block, the number of remaining spots is shown.

The cost is updated dynamically as options are selected. Once a valid booking is chosen, the customer can select Book Now to add to cart.

Checkout Process

Booking data, including dates, times, persons, and resources, is shown in the line item once in the cart.

Even if the booking duration crosses over into the next calendar day, this can be handled by the system.

If the booking requires approval, Add to Cart is replaced with Check Availability and payment is not taken in checkout. The booking goes through checkout on its own. This creates the booking and the order, but does not request or take payment.

Once you approve the booking, the customer is emailed a Booking Confirmed email as described in the Email Notifications section below.

This email contains a payment link they can click to pay; the customer can also log into their My Account page and make a payment.

Bookings not requiring payment behave as any other product in your store.

More information at: https://help.codibu.com/blog/kb/managing-bookings/.

Email Notifications

Bookings has five email alerts that are handled for you automatically. You can edit all emails sent to customers at: WooCommerce > Settings > Emails. They are:

• New Booking: Email is sent to the Admin when a new booking is created.
• Booking Confirmed: Email is sent when a booking is confirmed.
• Booking Reminder: Email is sent to the customer one day prior to their upcoming booking as a reminder.
• Booking Pending Confirmation: Email is sent to notify that the customer’s booking is awaiting answer from the store owner.
• Booking Notification: Notification emails are sent manually from Bookings > Send Notification.
• Booking Canceled: Email is sent when a booking is canceled.
• Admin Booking Canceled: Email is sent to Admin when a booking status changes to canceled.

You can also send custom notifications using Follow-up Emails (separate purchase).

Sending custom email notifications

All customers with a future booking of the product you select will receive a copy of this email.

To send a custom email notification:

1. Go to: Bookings > Send Notification.
2. Select the Booking Product from the dropdown.
3. Enter a Subject.
4. Enter your message.
5. Tick the box to send an .ics (calendar file) attachment. This is optional.
6. Send notification.

Send SMS notifications

You can send SMS notifications for bookings via Twilio using the WooCommerce Twilio plugin.

When both plugins are active, you’ll find booking notifications under WooCommerce > Settings > SMS. Here you can enable the following messages:

• Admin reminder – sent to recipients before a booking starts
• Admin cancellation – sent to recipients when a booking is cancelled
• Customer reminder – sent to customer before a booking starts
• Customer follow up – sent to a customer after a booking is completed
• Customer cancellation – sent to a customer when a booking is cancelled
• Customer confirmation – sent to a customer when a booking is confirmed

Learn more about using this integration in the WooCommerce Twilio documentation.