Lay My Hat

Starting a new thread on this following Rosebud's one about FreetoBook.

Having just learned about this WordPress booking system plugin via Facebook group from Paula, the owner of https://mayoholidaycottage.com, I wonder if anyone is already using it, and could share their experiences? It might be of interest if you're looking to introduce online booking.

Features include availability calendar with iCal import/export, booking forms, email templates which you can send from the WordPress dashboard, Stripe and PayPal payments. It seems very flexible so you can take instant or deferred online payments, or booking requests (i.e. offline payments).

If I read it right I think you can set it up so that potential guests enter their card details at the enquiry stage, which are only processed if/when you approve the booking. This would be my preferred option as I like to have a conversation first.

For a one-off $49 (around £35) it looks a bargain. Paula says she's a satisfied user, although it took a while to set up.

It doesn't come up in searches in WordPress, so you have to buy from EnvatoMarket... not something I've come across before, although I'm not v experienced with WP. Reviews are positive, particularly regarding the support and flexibility.

https://hotelwp.com/hbook/

Sorry... $49 price didn't include VAT or $2 card/PayPal fee.

I looked into Hbook after seeing it on here, to replace my existing booking system, which wasn't fit for purpose.

It really suits me – I only accept bookings which are fully paid upfront with the deposit, I needed something which integrated Stripe and Paypal and I wanted something that could be adapted to the design of the website. It also allows you to customise automatically generated email templates.

What's more, it has a very straightforward iCal feature to synch calendars and fits straight into the WP dashboard. Overall very impressed.

The only way in which my website differs from HomeAway and TripAdvisor is that I have to manually repay the deposit – other than that, the bookings system is completely automated, which is what I wanted.

I didn't integrate it myself – my developer did that for me – so I can't vouch for how difficult or otherwise it is.

Hope that's some help.

I would appreciate feedback about this too. Especially how easy it is to set up..

I’m using HBook and can highly recommend it. It integrates seamlessly into my Wordpress website. Took me a day to configure and test it and now working well.

I have a number of holiday let houses which were easy to configure into HBook. HBook support is good and there is formal documentation available plus the usual blog and forum posts via Wordpress HBook site.

Ps: long time lurker, first time poster

Thanks Buzza and hello!

This really looks very interesting. I've had a look at the documentation and it seems that it is flexible in ways to do pricing too. This has always been an issue when I've looked at other booking systems.

I need to decide if I want to be able to take bookings straight away (at the moment I respond to enquiries and invoice people using wave/ stripe) and, if I do, I think HBook could be "the one". Anyone else got any experience of setting it up and using it, good or bad?

Just attempting to set up hbook and really struggling!!