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Need to add booking functionality to a new or existing WordPress site? See what to look for in great booking plugins and which ones WPML team recommends.

What to look for in a booking plugin

When looking for a plugin to handle appointments and reservations, check for three things:

A straightforward front-end

Look for a plugin that makes it easy to add a simple calendar or a reservation form to your website. This will allow your customers to do the work of making and editing their reservations.

Check that it looks great and provides full functionality on both desktops and mobile devices.

Default language booking form
Simple reservation form on a website

A customizable backend

You’ll need to be sure you can easily customize the booking system to fit your business needs. This includes setting working days and hours, showing available time slots, and blocking vacation days.

Look for features like the ability to filter, search for, confirm, and cancel bookings.

If you run a business that has more than one service provider (such as a salon with multiple stylists), look for a plugin that allows users to set their own calendars and manage reservations.

Setting open days and times in WordPress backend
Setting open days and times in WordPress backend

Integration with other software

Email confirmations, reminders, and automatic Google Calendar holds will ensure neither customers nor service providers forget an appointment.

If you plan to charge a reservation fee, be sure your booking plugin integrates with your payment gateway of choice, such as PayPal or Stripe.

Make sure all your customers can navigate the booking process by translating it into their language with WPML.

Google Calendar settings
Google Calendar integration in WordPress admin view

Some of our top recommendations

Here’s how they stack up on some key features:

Customize booking rulesManage bookingsEmail notificationsSync to Google CalendarPayment gatewaysSupport for multi-service providersYearly pricing
WooCommerce BookingsYesYesYesYesAvailable as an add-onAvailable as an add-on$249
Team BookingYesYesYesYesYesYes$28
Salon BookingYes – Free versionYes – Free versionYes – Free versionYes – Free versionYes – Paid versionYes – Free versionFree version or upgrade starting at €69
WooCommerce Bookings & Appointments PremiumYesYesYesYesYesAvailable as an addonFree version or upgrade for $99
SagendaYes – Free versionYes – Free versionYes – Free versionNoYes – Paid versionNoFree version or upgrade for $99
MotoPress Hotel BookingYesYesYesNoYesYes$79

How do booking plugins work on multilingual sites?

WPML makes it easy to cater to all your customers, no matter which language they speak. Use one of the booking plugins above to:

  • Translate all the text on the site’s booking page, including the booking calendar and booking forms
  • Synchronize free and reserved slots across the different language versions
  • Send confirmation emails in the user’s language

For an example on how this works, check out our tutorial for translating Salon Booking with WPML.

Adding the ability to book reservations and appointments through your website doesn’t have to be complicated. Use a plugin to easily add online booking to your site and streamline the process for both yourself and your customers.

How can we make WPML better for you?

Share your thoughts and comments about our plugin, documentation, or videos by booking a Zoom call with Agnes, our Client Advocate. Your feedback matters and helps us improve.

Book a call with Agnes

24 Responses to “6 Booking Plugins for Multilingual WordPress Sites”

  1. Hi guys;

    Thank you for this review but why advise a plugin like Booki when it is no longer updated since December 9, 2018 on Envato?

    Thanks

    • Hi Jonathan. Thanks for your question. Booki is one of the first booking plugins that became compatible with WPML. Many of our clients are still using it without reporting any compatibility issues.

  2. Hi,
    why you did not list wpbookingcalendar.com? It is a really powerful plugin with regular support within minutes.
    Best regards
    Rolf

  3. Thank you for this overview of booking plugins. In times like these, when many appointments and bookings are for online sessions and meetings with participants from all over the world, the most essential aspect of a booking plugin are time zones. Does the plugin show the times in the time zone of the host and/or of the client (host AND client is the best). Otherwise the booking of online appointments, conferences etc. creates way too much work.
    Is there any chance you can add a time zone column? Thank you!

    • Thanks for your comment! It appears that WooCommerce Bookings and Team Booking offer time zone conversion.

  4. Is WPML compatible with AcuityScheduling? It’s an outstanding client self-scheduling solution. It offers a clean and brandable front-end, extremely customizable backend and more integrations than most users will know what to do with. In addition to that, it can support a range of users, from single professionals to multiple, distributed teams. It comes with email reminders (and text reminders with more advanced plans). They offer a very valuable free plan and all plans come with detailed documentation and super-responsive support. I’ve been a delighted customer of AS for 4 years and I’ve never looked back.

    • Very nice endorsement. Compatibility between AcuityScheduling and WPML has not been tested yet. We’ll reach out to them to join our Go Global program.

      • Sounds good, Allison. Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance in reaching out to them, testing compatibility once established, or otherwise. Cheers!

  5. Hi,

    For a small B&B i compared motopress with Hbook from Maestrel. Hbook was the clear winner. The support is second to none, fast and accurate.

  6. I have used Modern Events Calendar, which I tested with WPML on my sites, and works just fine with plenty of options, for directories that don’t have events it is pretty useful since it has separate interface for people that might be event promoters or a musician that use different locales for events

    • Hi, Victor. Thanks for your comment! It looks like our Compatibility team is currently in the testing process with Modern Events Calendar. We’ll hopefully be adding them to our Plugins Compatibility page soon!

  7. Hi,
    Is Modern Event Calendar supported or will it be supported in the near future?

  8. Hi there,

    For better #UIDesign and #UXDesign, we suggest @WPAmeliaBooking #MobileFriendly #OnlineBooking with 40+ enterprise-level features, multiple employee & locations, and WooCommerce integration. However, it is not fully compatible with @wpml plugin.

    BR,
    Sonny

    • Thanks for your comment, Sonny. If you’re a client of theirs, we encourage you to see if they’re interested in becoming WPML compatible! They can connect with our Compatibility team through our Go Global program.

  9. Hi Allison!

    What about Amelia? Is it compatible with WPML? Is a very good plugin with lots of functionaities 🙂

    • Hi Julia. Sorry for the late reply. Thank you for the recommendation! It doesn’t look like that one has been confirmed as compatible with WPML yet. We’ll have our compatibility team reach out.