Booking Types
A product's booking type decides two things: what the customer is asked for on the product page, and how the plugin works out the booked window. Set it on Product Settings — either by clicking a starter template or by choosing from the Booking Type dropdown.
Choosing the right type
| If you sell… | Use |
|---|---|
| Hotel rooms, cabins, holiday lets | Multiple Nights |
| Consultations, treatments, lessons, viewings | Appointment or Fixed Time Slots |
| Cars, vans, bikes, tools, costumes | Rental or Full-Day Booking |
| Tours, classes, workshops, venue hire | Event or Date-Time Range |
| Studio time, courts, lanes, machines | Fixed Block Booking |
| A one-day ticket or pass | Single Day Booking |
| A course that meets on several dates | Multiple Dates or Multiple Dates + Fixed Time |
| Something charged strictly by the hour | Duration-Based Booking |
Four of the thirteen types are convenience wrappers that run on another type's engine but start with more suitable defaults:
| Wrapper type | Runs on | Why use the wrapper |
|---|---|---|
| Appointment Booking | Fixed Time Slots | Adds a buffer between appointments and a daily appointment cap |
| Rental Booking | Multiple Nights | Talks in rental days, pickup and drop-off times, and a security deposit |
| Event Booking | Date-Time Range | Talks in event start/end times and attendee numbers |
| Package Booking | Duration-Based | A duration-priced package |
Note
If a product's booking type is missing or unrecognised — which can happen on a product migrated from an older version — it falls back to Date-Time Range. Check the type on migrated products and set it deliberately.
Settings shared by most types
| Setting | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Allow Same-Day Booking | Whether today can be booked at all |
| Cutoff Before Start (hours) | How much notice you need. 2 means nothing can be booked less than two hours ahead |
| Max Advance Booking (days) | How far into the future the calendar opens |
| Max Persons | The guest cap — but edit it on the Persons tab, not here |
| Billing Unit | Whether the price is charged per day, week, month, hour, or once for the whole booking |
Single Day Booking
The customer picks one date.
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Allow Same-Day Booking | Enabled |
| Cutoff Before Start (hours) | 0 |
| Max Advance Booking (days) | 365 |
| Max Persons Per Booking | 20 |
Good for: day passes, single-day hire, a one-day workshop.
Multiple Dates
The customer picks several separate dates from a calendar — they do not have to be consecutive.
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Minimum Dates | 1 |
| Maximum Dates | 10 |
| Allow Same-Day Booking | Enabled |
| Cutoff Before First Date (hours) | 0 |
| Max Advance Booking (days) | 365 |
| Max Persons Per Booking | 20 |
The product page shows a multi-select calendar with the hint "Choose 1 to 10 available dates."
Good for: a course that meets on chosen days, a cleaner booked for several visits.
Multiple Dates + Fixed Time
As above, but every chosen date uses the same start and end time, entered once.
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Minimum Dates | 1 |
| Maximum Dates | 10 |
| First Available Slot Time | 08:00 |
| Last Slot Start Time | 18:00 |
| Allow Same-Day Booking | Enabled |
| Cutoff Before First Slot (hours) | 1 |
| Max Advance Booking (days) | 365 |
| Max Persons Per Booking | 20 |
Good for: a weekly class at 6 pm, a recurring appointment at the same hour.
Full-Day Booking
The customer picks a first and last day.
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Minimum Days | 1 |
| Maximum Days | 14 |
| Billing Unit | day (day / week / month) |
| Allow Same-Day Booking | Enabled |
| Max Advance Booking (days) | 365 |
| Max Persons Per Booking | 20 |
Good for: whole-day venue hire, day-rate equipment, a serviced desk.
Tips
Switch Billing Unit to week or month for long hires and the customer sees a weekly or monthly rate instead of a daily one.
Fixed Block Booking
The customer picks a date and a start time, and reserves a fixed number of hours from it.
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Block Duration (hours) | 4 |
| Max Blocks Per Day | 4 |
| Billing Unit | fixed (fixed / hour / day / week / month) |
| First Block Start Time | 08:00 |
| Last Block Start Time | 18:00 |
| Max Persons Per Block | 20 |
| Cutoff Before Block (hours) | 1 |
The product page hint reads "This reserves a fixed 4-hour block."
Good for: studio sessions, court and lane hire, machine time.
Multiple Nights
The customer picks check-in and check-out on a two-month range calendar.
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Minimum Nights | 1 |
| Maximum Nights | 30 |
| Check-in Time | 14:00 |
| Check-out Time | 11:00 |
| Max Advance Booking (days) | 365 |
| Max Persons Per Booking | 20 |
The price is charged per night, and the product's catalogue price gains a / night suffix.
Good for: hotels, B&Bs, cabins, holiday lets.
Fixed Time Slots
The customer picks a date, a start time and an end time.
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Slot Duration (minutes) | 60 (15, 20, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 180, 240) |
| Max Slots Per Day | 8 |
| First Available Slot Time | 08:00 |
| Last Slot Start Time | 18:00 |
| Max Persons Per Slot | 20 |
| Cutoff Before Slot (hours) | 1 |
Good for: treatment rooms, test drives, photo sessions.
Duration-Based Booking
The customer picks a start, then how many hours.
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Minimum Duration (hours) | 1 |
| Maximum Duration (hours) | 24 |
| Duration Step (hours) | 1 |
| Max Persons | 20 |
| Cutoff Before Start (hours) | 0 |
| Billing Unit | hour (hour / day / week / month / fixed) |
Good for: hourly hire, metered services, anything billed by elapsed time.
Date-Time Range Booking
The customer picks a start date-time and an end date-time. The most flexible type, and the fallback for anything unrecognised.
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Minimum Range (hours) | 1 |
| Maximum Range (days) | 30 |
| Max Advance Booking (days) | 365 |
| Max Persons | 20 |
| Cutoff Before Start (hours) | 0 |
Good for: anything that does not fit a neat slot or night.
Appointment Booking
Runs on the Fixed Time Slots engine, with appointment-shaped settings.
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Appointment Slot Duration (minutes) | 30 (15, 20, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120) |
| Buffer Between Appointments (minutes) | 10 |
| Max Appointments Per Day | 40 |
| Max Persons Per Appointment | 5 |
| Cutoff Before Appointment (hours) | 2 |
Tips
Buffer Between Appointments is what stops back-to-back bookings leaving no turnaround time. Set it to your real changeover time, not zero.
Good for: clinics, salons, advisers, tutors.
Rental Booking
Runs on the Multiple Nights engine, with hire-shaped settings.
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Minimum Rental Days | 1 |
| Maximum Rental Days | 60 |
| Pickup Time | 10:00 |
| Dropoff Time | 10:00 |
| Security Deposit (%) | 20 |
| Max Persons | 20 |
Good for: vehicles, tools, equipment, costumes.
Event Booking
Runs on the Date-Time Range engine. The Event/Tour starter template sets the event to run 09:00–18:00 for 1–100 attendees; adjust the range and attendee numbers to suit.
Good for: tours, workshops, ticketed sessions.
Tips
Pair an Event product with Shared capacity on the Persons tab so several customers can book the same session until it fills up.
Package Booking
Runs on the Duration-Based engine, for a package sold by length rather than by calendar slot.
Changing the type of a live product
You can change a product's booking type at any time, but be careful when bookings already exist:
- Existing bookings keep the window they were made with — they are not recalculated.
- The product page form changes immediately, so customers see the new fields at once.
- Availability and pricing rules stay attached to the product; some of them only make sense for certain types (a slot rule on a nights-based product does nothing useful).
Warning
Change the booking type of a product with live bookings only when you have to, and review its availability and pricing rules straight afterwards.
Next step
- Availability — say when the product can actually be booked.
- People and Guests — set the guest cap and capacity style.