How do I create multiple booking calendars for different rooms/services?
WP Booking System lets you create multiple booking calendars, with each calendar managing its own availability, prices and bookings.
For most rental businesses, the simplest setup is to create one calendar for each independently bookable resource.
For example:
- Apartment A → one calendar
- Apartment B → one calendar
- Villa → one calendar
- Car 1 → one calendar
- Car 2 → one calendar
You can use the same booking form with several calendars or create different forms when individual resources require different fields, emails, restrictions or extras.
WP Booking System is date-based, so “services” in this context means services booked by day or date range rather than hourly appointment slots.
Create one calendar for each resource
Go to:
WP Booking System → Calendars
and click:
Add New Calendar
Enter a clear name for the resource.
For example:
- Apartment A
- Apartment B
- Family Room
- Villa with Pool
- Boat 1
If pricing is enabled, you can also set the calendar’s Default Price.
When creating additional calendars, WP Booking System can copy the Legend Items from one of your existing calendars, which makes it easier to keep availability statuses consistent.
Repeat this process for every independently bookable resource.
Why should each resource have its own calendar?
Each WP Booking System calendar has its own availability.
A booking made for Apartment A should therefore affect Apartment A without changing the availability of Apartment B.
For example:
Apartment A
July 10–15 → Booked
Apartment B
July 10–15 → Available
Because the apartments use separate calendars, Apartment B can still be booked for those dates.
This setup is suitable when customers are booking a specific resource.
When should I use Inventory instead?
If several units are identical and customers do not need to choose a specific one, the Inventory add-on may be a better solution than creating many calendars.
For example, suppose you have:
5 identical rooms
If customers simply book “Double Room” and you decide which physical room they receive, you could use:
Double Room Calendar → Inventory 5
Each booking reduces the available inventory until all five rooms are booked.
Use separate calendars when customers book:
- Room 101;
- Room 102;
- Room 103.
Use Inventory when customers book:
- Double Room;
- 5 identical units available.
Inventory is also useful for interchangeable equipment such as bicycles, kayaks or rental items.
Remember that the Inventory add-on is not compatible with iCalendar feeds. If each unit needs to synchronize independently with Airbnb, Booking.com or another external platform, separate calendars are generally the more appropriate structure.
Duplicate a calendar for similar resources
If several resources use similar availability, pricing and legend items, you do not need to create every calendar from scratch.
Go to:
WP Booking System → Calendars
hover over the calendar you want to copy and click:
Duplicate Calendar
The duplicated calendar includes the original calendar’s:
- Legend Items;
- events;
- availability;
- prices;
- inventory.
It does not copy:
- bookings;
- iCalendar feeds.
This makes duplication especially useful when setting up several similar rental units.
Example
Suppose Apartment A already contains:
- your Available and Booked legend items;
- seasonal prices;
- future availability;
- calendar settings.
Duplicate Apartment A and rename the copy:
Apartment B
You can then adjust only the dates, prices or settings that differ.
Because bookings and iCalendar feeds are not copied, you can configure Apartment B’s reservations and external synchronization separately.
Can several calendars use the same booking form?
Yes.
Calendars and forms are selected separately when you embed WP Booking System.
For example:
Apartment A:
Apartment B:
Both calendars use:
Form 1
but their availability remains separate.
This is useful when all resources ask customers for the same information.
For example:
- Name;
- Email;
- Phone;
- Number of Guests;
- Message;
- Payment Method.
Using one shared form also means you only need to maintain one set of form fields and email notifications.
When should I create separate forms?
Use separate forms when the booking process differs significantly between resources.
For example:
Apartment form
- Number of Guests
- Cot Required
- Airport Transfer
Boat rental form
- Number of Passengers
- Boating Experience
- Life Jacket Requirements
Forms can also have their own:
- Email Notifications;
- Form Options;
- Booking Restrictions;
- pricing fields;
- confirmation settings.
If several forms are almost identical, you can duplicate an existing form and modify the copy rather than rebuilding it.
Embed each calendar on its resource page
For most rental websites, we recommend creating a dedicated page for each important resource.
For example:
/apartments/apartment-a/
/apartments/apartment-b/
/villas/villa-sea-view/
Add the appropriate calendar and booking form to each page.
Apartment A:
Apartment B:
The id identifies the calendar.
The form_id identifies the booking form attached to it.
Always check that you use the correct calendar ID when copying a booking section from one page to another.
Can I show availability without a booking form?
Yes.
Leave out the form_id.
For example:
This displays the calendar’s availability without allowing customers to submit a booking.
You can use this when bookings are handled through:
- phone;
- email;
- an external booking platform;
- another booking process.
Can I display several calendars together?
Yes.
WP Booking System includes an Overview Calendar that combines the availability of multiple calendars into one display.
You can choose:
- all calendars;
- selected calendar IDs.
This is useful when visitors want to compare the availability of several properties or resources.
For example, an Overview Calendar could display:
- Apartment A
- Apartment B
- Apartment C
- Villa
in one availability overview.
The Overview Calendar is availability-only. Customers cannot make a booking directly from it.
Instead, you can link each calendar to its individual resource page.
Link each calendar to its booking page
Open the calendar and go to its Calendar Options.
Use the Link Calendar setting to associate the calendar with:
- a WordPress page or post;
- an external URL.
For example:
Apartment A Calendar → Apartment A page
Apartment B Calendar → Apartment B page
This is particularly useful with the Overview Calendar and Search Widget.
The calendar title in the Overview Calendar can link to the assigned page, allowing the customer to move from comparing availability to making a booking.
Let visitors search all calendars for available dates
If you manage many resources, the Search Widget add-on provides a better customer experience than asking visitors to open every property page individually.
The Search Widget lets visitors select dates and search availability across:
- all calendars;
- a selected group of calendars.
For example, a customer can search:
July 10 → July 15
and see which apartments are available for that period.
Search results can display information such as:
- calendar title;
- featured image;
- starting price.
Results can be displayed as a:
- list;
- grid.
When the calendar is linked to its resource page, customers can open the result and continue to the booking calendar.
WP Booking System can also automatically mark the dates they searched for when they arrive on the resource page.
Organize a large number of calendars in WordPress
If you manage many resources, the Calendar Organiser add-on lets you group calendars into categories.
For example:
Apartments
- Apartment A
- Apartment B
- Apartment C
Villas
- Villa Blue
- Villa Green
Equipment
- Boat 1
- Boat 2
After creating categories, assign them from the calendar’s Calendar Options.
Calendars without a category appear under Uncategorized.
The same categories are also used in the Calendar View of the Booking Manager add-on.
This can make a large booking setup considerably easier to manage.
Manage bookings from all calendars in one place
Without the Booking Manager add-on, you can manage bookings by opening their individual calendars.
If you manage many calendars, the Booking Manager add-on provides a centralized view.
It lists bookings from all calendars and lets you switch between:
- List View;
- Calendar View.
You can also:
- search bookings;
- filter bookings by date;
- hide past bookings;
- export bookings as CSV.
This does not combine the availability of your calendars. Each calendar remains an independent resource; Booking Manager simply makes their bookings easier to manage from one screen.
Can each calendar synchronize with Airbnb or Booking.com?
Yes.
Each calendar has its own iCalendar Import/Export settings.
For example:
Apartment A WPBS Calendar
↔ Apartment A Airbnb listing
Apartment B WPBS Calendar
↔ Apartment B Airbnb listing
Make sure you connect each external listing to the corresponding WP Booking System calendar.
Do not use Apartment A’s feed for Apartment B.
Keeping one calendar per externally listed resource makes it much easier to understand and troubleshoot synchronization.
Can multiple calendars share the same external iCalendar feed?
You technically configure feeds per calendar, but normally each independently bookable resource should use the external feed that belongs specifically to that resource.
If several calendars import the same reservation feed, the same external bookings can appear unavailable across all of them.
Only do this when that behaviour is intentional.
Can I create calendars for hourly services?
No.
WP Booking System manages availability by date, not by hour or appointment slot.
You can create separate calendars for date-based services such as:
- equipment hire by day;
- activity reservations by day;
- venue rental by day.
It is not designed for services where customers choose:
- 09:00;
- 10:30;
- 14:00.
For those bookings, use an appointment system that supports time slots.
Example: three holiday apartments
Suppose you rent three separate apartments:
- Apartment A;
- Apartment B;
- Apartment C.
A good WP Booking System setup would be:
Calendars
Create:
- Apartment A Calendar;
- Apartment B Calendar;
- Apartment C Calendar.
Form
If the booking process is identical, create one:
Apartment Booking Form
and use it with all three calendars.
Pages
Create:
- Apartment A page;
- Apartment B page;
- Apartment C page.
Embed the correct calendar on each page.
Availability search
Optionally add:
- an Overview Calendar to show availability across all apartments;
- the Search Widget so visitors can search for an available apartment by date.
Administration
If you manage many bookings, add Booking Manager so reservations from all three calendars can be managed together.
This keeps each property’s availability independent while still providing a centralized booking experience.
Example: five identical rooms
Suppose you have five identical rooms and customers do not care which room number they receive.
Instead of creating:
- Room 1 Calendar;
- Room 2 Calendar;
- Room 3 Calendar;
- Room 4 Calendar;
- Room 5 Calendar;
you could create:
Double Room Calendar
with:
Inventory → 5
Each booking reduces the available inventory.
This setup is simpler when the units are genuinely interchangeable.
However, if each room is also listed separately on external platforms and needs its own iCalendar synchronization, individual calendars are generally more appropriate.
Test every resource after setup
After creating several calendars, make a test booking for each one.
Check that:
- The correct calendar appears on each page.
- The booking is created under the correct calendar.
- Automatically Block Dates affects only the intended resource.
- The correct form and pricing are used.
- The correct notification emails are sent.
- External iCalendar feeds belong to the correct resource.
This is especially important when pages or calendars have been duplicated, because it is easy to accidentally leave an old calendar ID in a copied shortcode.
Which setup should I choose?
Use one calendar per resource when:
- the customer chooses a specific room, property or item;
- resources have separate availability;
- resources need independent iCalendar feeds;
- prices or availability differ substantially.
Use Inventory when:
- several units are interchangeable;
- customers do not need to choose the specific physical unit;
- you simply need to track how many units remain available per date.
Use an Overview Calendar when:
- you want to show availability from several calendars together.
Use the Search Widget when:
- customers should enter dates and find which resources are available.
Use the Booking Manager when:
- administrators need to manage bookings from many calendars in one place.
Summary
WP Booking System is designed to manage multiple independently bookable resources.
For most businesses, create one calendar per resource and embed the correct calendar on that resource’s page.
You can reuse one booking form across several calendars, duplicate calendars to speed up setup, combine availability with the Overview Calendar, let customers search all resources with the Search Widget, and manage all bookings centrally with Booking Manager.
If several units are identical and interchangeable, consider using the Inventory add-on instead of creating a separate calendar for every unit.
