Online Course Booking in WooCommerce – WooCommerce Bookings and Appointments FAQs

Can I set the course as a global asset with different products (such as 18 holes, 9 holes, society, juniors), all sharing the same availability to prevent double bookings?

Yes, it is possible to set the course as a global asset so that various products like 18 holes, 9 holes, society groups, and junior bookings all share the same availability and prevent double bookings. This approach ensures that when a booking is made for any of the product types, the availability of the course is updated for all products, thereby eliminating the chance of overlapping reservations.

Can I set up a single course product (e.g., "Surf Safety Course") with multiple time slots on different days, each slot having a different number of available seats, using the PluginHive Bookings plugin?

The PluginHive Bookings plugin does not natively support setting different seat limits for individual time slots within the same product. Achieving this requires a custom paid add-on along with the core Bookings plugin. If you need every session of the same course to offer distinct seat capacities for each time slot, please consider this add-on option.

Can I sync the same calendar for two different bookable products (one for regular players and one for larger groups) using the WooCommerce Bookings and Appointments plugin to prevent double booking?

Yes, you can prevent double booking between two bookable products that use the same calendar by creating an Asset with your desired quantity and assigning it to both products. Here's how to do it:

1. Navigate to the plugin's Asset management settings.
2. Create a new Asset (for example, name it after your golf course or a shared facility).
3. Set the asset quantity based on your available resources (usually 1 if only one group can be booked at a time).
4. Assign this Asset to both your bookable products: one for regular players and another for larger groups.
5. Once the Asset is assigned, whenever a booking is made for one product at a given time slot, the other product will automatically become unavailable for that slot, thus avoiding double bookings.

Can I use both a calendar and a dropdown for booking courses, and have customers automatically booked into a recurring 4-week course with a single charge?

Yes, you can configure the system so that customers select a starting date via the calendar, and the plugin will automatically book them into a 4-week recurring course (with sessions on the same day and time each week). You can charge the customer once for all sessions. To ensure the recurring feature works:

• All 4 consecutive session dates must be available in the calendar (e.g., if the first class is Monday, Aug 4, the following Mondays—Aug 11, 18, and 25—must also be available as bookable slots).
• The booked session schedule can be displayed to the customer.
• In the admin, you can see the order number and participant count for each specific date; on the frontend, available slots per session are displayed.

Can PluginHive’s plugin automatically reduce course prices as the number of available course appointments decreases (e.g., price drops after some course dates have passed)?

The existing PluginHive WooCommerce Bookings plugins do not support automatic price reductions based on the remaining or available number of course appointments. There is no built-in feature or current custom solution available to dynamically adjust course prices after some appointment dates have passed.

Can the PluginHive WooCommerce Bookings and Appointments plugin be used to offer physical courses, and does it support WooCommerce payment options?

Yes, the PluginHive WooCommerce Bookings and Appointments plugin can be used to offer physical courses. It allows you to manage bookings for in-person events such as courses or workshops. The plugin fully supports all payment methods that are integrated with WooCommerce, so customers can pay using any payment options enabled on your WooCommerce store.

Can the WooCommerce Bookings And Appointments plugin be used to book offline training courses, such as 5 or 6-day in-person sessions at our premises?

Yes, the WooCommerce Bookings And Appointments plugin can be configured to allow booking of offline training courses, including multi-day (5 or 6 days) in-person sessions held at your premises. The plugin supports setting custom durations and recurring schedules to match your training course timelines. To ensure the setup aligns with your specific workflow, provide detailed requirements or examples of how you wish the booking system to function. This will help in tailoring the plugin settings to fit your needs accurately.

Does the PluginHive WooCommerce Bookings and Appointments plugin allow customers to select a 3-hour booking slot at any start time, with a fixed rate multiplied by the number of people (up to a maximum of 4), and add a separate materials cost also multiplied by the number of people?

Yes, the WooCommerce Bookings and Appointments plugin allows you to configure the following:

• Set the booking period as a fixed 3-hour duration, so customers can select a start time and the system will automatically block a 3-hour slot.
• Define the number of participants as "attendees," enabling booking for up to a maximum of 4 people.
• Apply a fixed rate that is multiplied by the number of people attending.
• Add a materials cost as an additional "booking resource," which can also be multiplied by the number of people.
• Prevent double-booking: once a 3-hour slot is booked, the plugin automatically blocks that time, preventing other customers from booking the same slot.

How can I allow customers to choose a location (e.g., "A" or "B") for an in-person course using the WooCommerce Bookings & Appointment plugin, without creating separate products for each location?

You have two main options to set up location selection for your class:

1. **Separate Products Method:**

• Create individual Bookable products for each location (e.g., "Course at Location A" and "Course at Location B").
• This allows you to set separate availability calendars for each location.
• Customers book based on their chosen location.

1. **Single Product with Assets Method:**

• Use the "Assets" feature to represent each location as a selectable option within a single product.
• Configure each location as an Asset (“Location A” and “Location B”).
• Set unique availability for each asset so only the corresponding dates/times appear when a location is selected.
• This approach keeps your courses under one product listing while letting customers choose their location.

1. Go to your WordPress admin and access the Bookings plugin settings.
2. Navigate to the Assets section and create new Assets for each location (e.g., Ferndale, Southgate).
3. Assign these assets to your Bookable product.
4. Set the availability for each asset based on the schedule and capacity for each location.
5. When customers book, they’ll select a location from the available options, and only relevant time slots will show.

Set Booking Assets with WooCommerce Bookings and Appointments

How can I configure PluginHive WooCommerce Bookings and the Recurring Add-On to create a recurring 4-week course where the admin can track attendance and session capacity?

To set up a 4-week recurring course:

1. Ensure you have both the WooCommerce Bookings plugin and the Recurring Bookings Add-On installed and activated.
2. Configure your product as a Bookable Product in WooCommerce.
3. Set up availability so that the starting dates for your sessions are available in the calendar.
4. Enable the recurrence option in the booking settings, configuring it for 4 consecutive weeks on the same weekday and time.
5. Set the participant capacity for each session (e.g., 10 students per class).
6. When customers select their preferred start date, they will be booked into all 4 sessions as part of one recurring order, charged once.
7. The admin can monitor the number of participants in each session, view order numbers, and see participant counts per date.

How can I configure the WooCommerce Bookings & Appointments plugin so that a booking on one product (such as a Society Green Fee) completely blocks out the same time slot for another product (such as a regular Green Fee), even if there are remaining slots available?

The core WooCommerce Bookings & Appointments plugin cannot fully block a timeslot on one product when a booking is made for another product with a different booking capacity, using just the Asset feature. To achieve your requirement—making a time slot unavailable for both products regardless of remaining capacity when a Society Green Fee is booked—you will need the "Block Product Availability Based on Other Bookings" addon in addition to the main plugin. Here are the steps:

1. Install the WooCommerce Bookings & Appointments plugin and create both your products.
2. Install and activate the "Block Product Availability Based on Other Bookings" addon.
3. Set up a shared Asset (e.g., "Golf Course Availability") if needed and link it to both products.
4. Configure the addon to block the availability of one product based on bookings made in another product. When a Society Green Fee is booked, the corresponding timeslot will be automatically blocked for the regular Green Fee product, and vice versa (if required).
5. For full setup instructions, refer to PluginHive’s guide: https://www.pluginhive.com/knowledge-base/woocommerce-bookings-addons-block-product-availability/

How can I increase the booking capacity for a course in WooCommerce so that during peak times I can accommodate more people by adding an extra instructor, with customers still seeing it as the same event?

To increase booking capacity for a course while keeping the event seamless for customers, follow these steps using the WooCommerce Bookings & Appointment plugin:

1. Add an extra instructor as an Asset in the plugin by navigating to the "Global Assets" section.
2. Set the availability of the additional instructor asset to the specific dates when you want to increase capacity.
3. Link this asset to the relevant Bookable product (the course).
4. Increase the "Maximum Bookings per slot" value for the Bookable product to reflect the new capacity (for example, change it from 8 to 16).
5. This setup lets you expand the group size on specific dates by adding an instructor while customers still book the same event as usual.

How can I make only one product option (asset) bookable on Friday, while all other options are only bookable from Monday to Thursday?

To set different booking availabilities for each asset (product option), you can use the Asset Availability settings in the PluginHive WooCommerce Bookings and Appointments plugin. Follow these steps:

1. Go to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Bookings → Settings → Global Assets.
2. Locate the assets related to your product. For each asset, you can specify its individual availability based on days of the week.
3. For the asset that should be bookable on Friday (e.g., the "3 hours course"), include Friday in its availability settings in addition to Monday to Thursday.
4. For all other assets, set their availability to only Monday through Thursday and exclude Friday.
5. Save the changes.

How can I make specific Mondays (every 7th Monday, e.g., 1/6, 2/17, 3/31) bookable for a recurring 6-week class using the PluginHive WooCommerce Booking & Appointments plugin?

To make specific Mondays bookable for your 6-week recurring class in PluginHive’s WooCommerce Booking & Appointments plugin, follow these steps:

1. Create a separate Bookable Product for your 6-week class.
2. Set the Booking Period to “Fixed Block of 1 Day.”
3. In the product settings, make all dates unavailable by default.
4. Enable bookings only on your required dates (e.g., January 6, 2025; February 17, 2025; and March 31, 2025).
5. Set “Bookings open from” to “First Available Date” to ensure bookings start on the specified dates.
6. Disable the options under Booking → Setting → Calendar Display as needed for your setup.

How can I prevent all times from showing as available after disabling the "Mark all dates/blocks unavailable" option?

Disabling the “Mark all dates/blocks unavailable” option opens up availability for all slots, which may not match your class/course schedule. To restrict availability to only specific days and times, make sure to define your available slots explicitly in the Booking Availability section. Configure your availability blocks to match the exact days and times your classes are offered. This way, only your intended slots will show as available for booking. If you require users to select multiple non-consecutive sessions, refer to using the Multiple Non-Adjacent Bookings add-on for enhanced flexibility.

How can I schedule a course to occur only on specific days, such as every Saturday in September, so that selecting one Saturday automatically includes the following Saturdays?

To schedule a course on specific days like every Saturday in September, you will need both the WooCommerce Recurring Bookings and Appointments plugin along with the Bookings plugin from PluginHive. With these plugins, you can enable recurring booking for your bookable products and set the repetition pattern to Weekly. This allows you to specify bookings only on Saturdays, so if a user selects the 7th of September, the booking can automatically include the 14th, 21st, and 28th as recurring sessions. For detailed setup instructions, you can refer to the PluginHive knowledge base article on WooCommerce recurring bookings: https://www.pluginhive.com/knowledge-base/woocommerce-recurring-bookings/. Additionally, you can view a demo of this setup for weekly classes here: https://woocommercebookings.pluginhive.com/product/weekly-online-chemistry-classes-recurring-bookings.

How can I set up booking options like term-based group classes, casual group classes, and package bookings combining private and group lessons using the PluginHive Bookings and Appointments plugin?

To accommodate these different booking types, you can create three separate bookable products within the PluginHive Bookings and Appointments plugin:

1. For term-based group classes: Create a bookable product specifically for group classes with term-based pricing, allowing parents to enroll students at a reduced cost for the entire term.
2. For casual group class bookings: Set up another product where parents can book students into available group class slots on a per-session basis if spots are open.
3. For package bookings (private lesson + group class): Design a product package that includes both a specific private lesson time and a choice from available group classes.

How can I set up fixed 2-day event blocks for bookings in the calendar, so that users cannot select overlapping or arbitrary days, and availability ranges act as single multi-day events?

To achieve bookings for fixed 2-day blocks that act as single events and prevent users from selecting overlapping or arbitrary days, configure availability rules for the specific dates you want to accept bookings. Use the following approach:

1. Set up single-day slots for each starting day of the 2-day event.
2. Add a display message at the top of the booking calendar to inform users that each booking is for a 2-day course.
3. This ensures users can only book on the dates you specify, and they understand their booking reserves both days as a package.

How can I troubleshoot Google Calendar sync issues when new WooCommerce bookings are not appearing in my selected calendar, even though the sync connection appears active and manual sync reports no errors?

To troubleshoot Google Calendar sync issues in Bookings and Appointments for WooCommerce Premium, follow these steps:

1. Confirm you are using the latest version of the plugin (5.1.7). Update if necessary.
2. Verify that your Google Calendar sync status is shown as "successful" in the plugin settings.
3. Ensure you have selected the correct Google Calendar (e.g., "STSW Courses") for bookings to sync to.
4. Go to the "All Bookings" page, select a booking, and use Bulk Actions to trigger a manual sync. Take note of any error messages.
5. Check your selected Google Calendar ("STSW Courses") for the relevant booking dates to see if the bookings appear.
6. If bookings still do not show up and no errors are reported, review any recent changes to site settings or connected Google accounts that could impact sync.
7. If the issue persists, gather details on your configuration and provide screenshots or error messages to support for further analysis.

How do I cancel my PluginHive plugin subscription to avoid automatic renewal?

PluginHive plugins do not renew automatically. You are not enrolled in an automatic renewal system, so you do not need to take any action to cancel. To continue using the plugin after your current license expires, you would need to manually purchase a new license. No further steps are required to prevent renewal.

If products are appearing as available/bookable when they should not be, how can I restrict course availability in the PluginHive Bookings plugin?

To restrict course availability and prevent unintended bookings:

1. Ensure that booking slots for courses that should not be booked are removed or marked as unavailable in the product's booking settings.
2. Double-check the product's booking calendar and availability configuration to ensure no unwanted slots are open.
3. When providing access to support for troubleshooting, make sure only test slots are available (or provide alternative product links with safe test slots) to avoid accidental client bookings.
4. Monitor for any changes or updates that might re-enable slots and routinely review your booking schedules after updates or support interventions.

Is it possible for the customer to select multiple different time slots in a single week for a course before adding the booking to the cart?

With the core WooCommerce Bookings & Appointments plugin, customers can select a single slot per week that will repeat for the month. To allow for the selection of multiple different slots within a week (e.g., for a 12-hour course where the customer needs to book 3 separate one-hour slots each week), you would need the WooCommerce Multiple Non-Adjacent Bookings add-on. This enables customers to select multiple, random (non-adjacent) date and time slots within a booking period.

Is it possible to assign different time slots and seat capacities to each course by setting up every session as a separate product in the PluginHive Bookings plugin?

Yes, if you create each course session as a separate product (for example, "Surf Safety – A" and "Surf Safety – B"), you can assign distinct time slots and seat capacities to each session using only the core PluginHive Bookings plugin. In this configuration, you do not require any additional add-ons. Simply set up each session as its own product, then configure the specific date, time, and maximum seat availability for each.

Is it possible to customize the Google Calendar event to display the booking (course) name first and move the order number to the details section when using the "Customize Calendar Event Title" and "Customize Calendar Event Details" options?

While you can display the product (course) name in the Google Calendar event title and details using the customization options, it is not possible to change the default order of fields. The Order ID and Order Item ID are mandatory for syncing booking information to Google Calendar; their position in the event title/details is fixed and cannot be modified. The product name can be added, but it will not appear before the order ID in the event title.

Is it possible to display all bookable events or products in a single calendar widget so users can see an overview of all available courses to purchase?

Displaying all bookable products in a single calendar view is not feasible with the default functionality. However, PluginHive offers a custom, paid add-on called the "Availability Search Widget." This add-on allows customers to filter bookable products based on criteria such as availability within a specific date range, number of participants, asset name, or time range. The widget can be displayed on your website’s Home Page, Shop Page, and Category Pages, providing users an overview and filtering options for all available bookings. For more details and setup instructions, visit the documentation at https://www.pluginhive.com/knowledge-base/woocommerce-bookings-availability-search-widget/. The add-on is priced at $200 and is non-refundable, so please ensure it meets your requirements before purchasing.

Is it possible to display different bookings (courses) available in one single calendar for users, similar to the site https://www.save1cpr.com/, instead of managing individual product booking calendars?

Currently, the PluginHive Bookings plugin displays the booking calendar on each individual product page. There is no option to display all bookings across different products in a single calendar accessible to users. The available functionality is limited to showing the booking calendar for each specific product, and a combined calendar view for users is not supported at this time.

Is it possible to display the booking availability for all courses in a single calendar using the WooCommerce Bookings and Appointments plugin?

Displaying booking availability for multiple courses in a single, combined calendar is not supported by the WooCommerce Bookings and Appointments plugin. The plugin's standard functionality is designed to show availability on a per-product (course) basis, and combining multiple products’ availabilities in one unified calendar is not feasible due to potential conflicts with core booking features. If you need to see how the plugin manages bookings, you can explore the live demo at: https://woocommercebookings.pluginhive.com/custom-shop

Is it possible to send a follow-up email after the booking date, such as a feedback request, using the WooCommerce Bookings & Appointment plugin?

Yes, the plugin offers a "Follow emails" option that lets you send follow-up emails to customers after their booking date has concluded. These emails can be used to request feedback or ask for reviews about the course. Detailed setup instructions are available in the plugin documentation: https://www.pluginhive.com/knowledge-base/setup-guide-woocommerce-bookings-and-appointments-plugin/#emails

Is it possible to set up a WooCommerce Bookings product that allows customers to select a course variation using only a dropdown (without displaying a calendar), automatically enroll them in a 4-week recurring course, and track all session enrollments in the admin – all without the customer interacting with calendar or booking options?

No, it is not feasible to set up a bookings product with only a dropdown for course selection and without displaying a calendar. The PluginHive Bookings plugin is designed to work with a calendar-based booking interface, which cannot be hidden. Customers will need to interact with the calendar to select their preferred start dates. However, you can configure availability rules to allow selection of specific dates and enable recurring bookings, provided the required consecutive dates are available in the calendar for the recurrence to function properly.

Is there a way to automatically update the database table (ph_bookings_availability_calculation_data) with current bookings, or can PluginHive assist in restoring the correct availability?

PluginHive is unable to directly manage or update your website database on your behalf. In cases where data is missing from plugin-specific tables, the best course of action is to consult your web hosting provider regarding any recent changes or backups that could restore lost data. For missing availability, you will need to manually add the affected bookings via the backend or create specific availability rules to block booked slots. Currently, there is no automated function in the plugin to repopulate the table from existing orders if the booking data is lost from that table.

Is there documentation or a setup guide that explains how to configure recurring bookings for courses using PluginHive and its Recurring Add-On?

Yes, you can refer to PluginHive’s knowledge base article on WooCommerce Recurring Bookings for step-by-step guidance:

Recurring Bookings – How to set up using WooCommerce Bookings and Appointments plugin?

What should I do before allowing PluginHive support to test and troubleshoot booking price issues on my site?

Before PluginHive support tests booking issues on your site:

1. Ensure there are available booking slots on the specific product that requires troubleshooting, or provide a link to an alternative product with test slots to avoid accidentally enabling real bookings.
2. Remove or disable all slots that should not be available to clients, especially for live courses, to prevent accidental bookings during the troubleshooting process.
3. Inform support about the current state of slot availability so that they can proceed without disrupting your actual offerings.

Why are the available slots for a two-day course displaying different numbers for each day, even though bookings should match across both days?

This issue may be related to recent changes in your website's server or a migration, as booking details are stored in custom database tables that could be affected during this process. The inconsistency in slot numbers (e.g., showing a different number of available slots for day one and day two of the same course) typically indicates a data mismatch resulting from the migration. For future bookings, the system should display slot availability correctly, but it's recommended to monitor your bookings closely and report any recurring inconsistencies so further investigation can be conducted.