Bookster – WordPress Appointment Booking Plugin

Description

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.

Customers book appointments themselves, see real-time availability, and receive automatic confirmations.

You manage everything from one dashboard.

💫 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
• Organize services into categories (e.g., Haircuts, Coloring, Spa Treatments)
• 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)

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

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 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:

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

1. Go to Bookster → Calendar in your WordPress dashboard
2. You’ll see all appointments in calendar format
3. Click any appointment to view details or make changes
4. Use the view buttons at top to switch between day/week/month views
5. Use filters to show appointments based on agents or booking status

Creating a Manual Booking (For Walk-Ins or Phone Bookings)

1. Go to Bookster → Calendar
2. Click the + New Appointment button (or click an empty time slot)
3. Select the service and staff member
4. Choose date and time
5. Enter customer information (name, email, phone)
6. Select payment method
7. Click Create Appointment
8. 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

1. Go to Bookster → Settings → Payments tab
2. Verify your PayPal email address is correct
3. Confirm PayPal is enabled (toggle should be blue/on)
4. Test in PayPal sandbox mode first
5. Check if PayPal account is verified and can accept payments
6. Review PayPal transaction logs for error messages

Calendar showing wrong timezone

1. Go to Settings → General in WordPress
2. Set your city timezone correctly (e.g., “New York” or “Berlin”)
3. Save changes
4. Go to Bookster → Settings and verify timezone matches
5. 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:

1. Run the 5-step setup wizard
2. Add the booking calendar to a page
3. Create a test booking to see the customer experience
4. Customize email templates with your branding
5. Share your booking page link with customers
6. Start accepting appointments 24/7!

Your new booking system is ready to help you grow your business. Welcome to Bookster! 🚀