A few days ago we released an important update for the Directory theme. The update makes it possible to use Directory alongside the Booking plugin. With the Booking plugin you’ll be able manage bookings for rooms and houses added to the site. In this blog post I’ll try to explain how to get started with the Booking plugin and how it can be useful for your directory. How Can The Booking Plugin Be Useful? This plugin will be useful if your directory contains vacation homes or other establishments available for rent. Instead of just forwarding visitors to Booking.com or similar website you’ll be able to process the booking yourself and earn a commission. One thing worth noting is that listing owners won’t be able to setup booking themselves, it will have to be done by you. I’ll explain the easiest way to do this later in the post. Installing The Plugin Assuming you don’t already own the plugin, purchase it from here. Skip this step if you’re a Club member, Booking plugin is included inside the Club membership. Open the member area and download the plugin. Connect to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Plugins ⇨ Add New ⇨ Upload Plugin. Click on “Browse…”, select the zip file downloaded a moment ago and hit “Upload Now”. Activate the plugin once it’s finished uploading. Navigate to the wp-admin ⇨ Booking System area (if it doesn’t open immediately after activation). Click on the sample data button at the top of the page to add a few sample houses and rooms to your site. Open the Booking guide for details on how to use the plugins various features. Add A House After installing the plugin proceed to House ⇨ Add a House and add your first rental. Here’s a list of fields/options you must fill while adding a house… Total Guests – set the total number of guests that can book a room (for a single booking) Charge Tax – should tax be automatically applied for this rental? Go to Booking System ⇨ General Settings (tab) to set the tax amount and type. Minimum Stay – enter the number of days necessary to complete the booking Price Settings – enter the price for each number of person and time-frame (day, week, month). Category, title, images and description – every post in WordPress needs a category, name and some content. Your house is no... Read more »
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