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We developed our custom hotel room/property booking plugin (MotoPress Hotel Booking plugin) and integrated it with the Luviana WordPress theme. When installing the theme, you’ll be offered to install and activate the Hotel Booking plugin.
The plugin fulfills several functions: with its help, you will present all accommodations, services, details of each accommodation as well as turn on online reservation of the properties. With Luviana, you can rent out multiple rentals as single items or a complex condo bookable by a room/apartment.
Note! This is just a quick guide of how to create accommodations listing with booking service enabled. When you need a step-by-step guide, check out the detailed Hotel Booking plugin documentation.
Accommodation
If the MotoPress Hotel Booking plugin is activated, two menus should appear: Accommodation and Bookings. You’ll need to add apartments available in your property / all properties via Accommodation → Accommodation types → Add New. By default, the property reservation option is enabled (Accommodation → Settings → Disable Booking). If you imported demo data, you should see sample accommodation types which you can customize.
To make it even easier, firstly add the list of available categorized items: Amenities, all Services available (paid or free, e.g. parking, luggage storage, spa service), and Bed types (under Settings → Bed types). Once these are added, you can head over to adding/customizing accommodation types.
The difference between Accommodations and Accommodation Types is the following: accommodations are physical bookable apartments, while Accommodation Types are just the catchall term for the same accommodations. For example, you may have 3 physical bookable Accommodations under a “Standard double room” Accommodation Type. The number of real rooms is added from the same Accommodation Types screen.
If you rent out multiple vacation rentals as single items, add them all as different Accommodation Types (e.g. villa #1, villa #2).
If you rent out only one rental unit as a single item, add it as one Accommodation Type and set the “number of accommodations” to 1.
Rates
Add Rates to present the same rental units with different conditions:
- Pricing based on specific dates – “Seasons”.
- Any price for any custom length of stay: feel free to set short and long-term boarding rates.
- Any rate based on the specific conditions: extra amenities, including food or services.
The plugin also allows for setting different prices depending on the number of guests, but only when you use “adults” and “children” values (they are directly connected with the pricing system).
Guests will be able to choose rates when booking a property. From the same screen, you can add variable pricing if you need different pricing options depending on the number of guests or the length of stay.
Pages
Create all needed pages (if you used demo data, these pages are already installed automatically): Search Results, Search Availability, Complete Booking, Booking Confirmation, Booking Cancellation pages. Go to Pages to check these system pages.
Since the Hotel Booking plugin is optimized for Gutenberg, you can add any content (e.g. bookable units, availability calendars, etc. as blocks).
Read more about Gutenberg blocks for Hotel Booking.
Please note: there are different rooms directory layout examples under ‘Rooms & Suites”. You can set the preferable layout by adding the ‘Accommodation types listing’ block in Gutenberg and choosing the needed layout style (make sure to preview the result on the frontend).
Settings and Payment Gateways
5. Navigate to configure general plugin Settings and Payment gateways. For more payment gateways that you can add and enable without tech help, use our custom-crafted WooCommerce Integration extension for Hotel Booking.
Language Settings
The plugin is translated into 14 languages. By default it’s in the language set in your WordPress global language settings (Settings → General).
Booking Rules
Create your booking rules to manage all or individual accommodations: go to Bookings → Booking rules. These rules allow you to set minimum and maximum check-in and check-out dates, minimum and maximum stay-in days for all or individual accommodations. Also, using this menu you’ll be able to block the booking option for chosen accommodations at specific periods of time.
Taxes and Fees
Apply taxes and fees under Bookings → Taxes & Fees.
Search Form
Customize the search form. The plugin by default features the check-in and check-out search form fields, which are necessary. The rest of the fields depend on your needs.
Additionally, the plugin by default also uses “adults” and “children” search field values. If you use demo data, these fields will be hidden in the search form automatically.
But if you need to hide them manually, you just need to untick several boxes in the plugin settings under “Guest Management”:
If you operate multiple accommodation, with different room categories, rates, etc., you can easily create a custom room search form using Accommodation menu → Attributes → Add New. In this menu, you need:
- Add the attribute type (e.g. room type)
- Add its values (e.g. double room, single room)
- Assign the needed values to the needed “accommodation types”.
You can add as many custom attributes as you wish. Attributes can be used:
- As advanced search form sorting options
- For displaying extra details in the directory of rooms.
Sync Bookings
Optionally sync bookings with external calendars via iCal (under Bookings → Sync calendars).
Bookings
To view, add or delete your real booking requests, go to Bookings menu.
This is just a quick guide! For more details and hints take a look at the Hotel Booking plugin documentation.
Once all rental units data are added and the settings are configured, you can customize the website.