Can I do hourly bookings with a WordPress booking calendar?
It depends on the plugin you use. Hourly bookings require time slots (for example: 10:00–11:00), slot availability, and often staff/resource scheduling. WP Booking System is a date-based booking calendar and does not support hourly or time-slot bookings, so you cannot offer hour-by-hour selection with it. If you need hourly bookings, use a WordPress appointment plugin built specifically for time slots, and use WP Booking System for day-based or date-range bookings.
On this page
- What “hourly booking” means
- Why date-based calendars cannot do time slots
- Hourly bookings in WP Booking System
- What to use instead (time-slot plugins)
- Workarounds (if you only need “part of a day”)
- Common issues (and quick fixes)
- Best practices
- Mini FAQ
What “hourly booking” means
- Visitors choose a date and a specific time slot (for example: 10:00, 11:00, 12:00).
- Each slot can have its own capacity (for example: 1 appointment per slot or 3 seats per slot).
- Slots can have rules like buffers, breaks, staff schedules, and different durations.
Why date-based calendars cannot do time slots
A date-based booking calendar focuses on whether a date is available or unavailable (and sometimes how many bookings are allowed per date). Hourly booking requires managing availability inside a day, which means the system needs a time-slot engine, slot duration rules, and slot-level conflict prevention. Without that, the calendar cannot reliably prevent overlaps at the hour level.
Hourly bookings in WP Booking System
No. WP Booking System is designed for day-based and date-range bookings and does not support hourly/time-slot selection. You can still use it for rentals, accommodation bookings, events that are “per day”, and availability calendars where visitors choose dates rather than hours.
What to use instead (time-slot plugins)
If your business requires hourly appointments, use a plugin built for time slots. The right tool should support slot creation, capacity per slot, staff/resources, and automatic conflict prevention.
- Examples of use cases: salons, clinics, consultations, hourly rentals, service appointments.
- Minimum requirement: visitors can choose a time, not only a date.
- Recommended requirement: supports buffers, working hours, and different durations.
Tip: If you already rely on WP Booking System for rentals, keep it for date-based bookings and add a separate appointment plugin only for time-slot services.
Workarounds (if you only need “part of a day”)
If you do not need true time slots but still want to separate “morning” and “afternoon” or similar blocks, you can approximate hourly bookings with date-based calendars, but it is not the same as real hour selection.
- Create separate calendars for “Morning” and “Afternoon” and treat them as separate resources.
- Use a custom form field where users pick a preferred time, then manually confirm availability.
- Use per-day capacity (for example: 10 bookings per day) if your business can handle flexible scheduling.
Warning: These workarounds do not prevent time overlaps automatically and usually require manual confirmation.
Common issues (and quick fixes)
I only see a date picker, not time slots
- This is normal for date-based booking calendars; they do not include hour selection.
- If you need time slots, switch to a time-slot appointment plugin.
Customers keep requesting times that are already taken
- Do not rely on a free-text “preferred time” field if you need strict scheduling.
- Use a time-slot appointment system so times are selectable and conflicts are prevented automatically.
I want hourly bookings but also multi-day rentals
- Use a time-slot plugin for hourly services and WP Booking System for multi-day bookings.
- Keep the two booking flows separate so visitors are not confused.
Best practices
- Choose a booking tool that matches your real scheduling model: dates for rentals and stays, time slots for appointments.
- Avoid “fake time slots” using a text field if you need automatic conflict prevention.
- If you run both rentals and appointments, build separate booking pages and use clear labels for each service type.
Mini FAQ
Can I collect a preferred time inside the booking form?
You can, but it does not prevent conflicts automatically. It works only if you manually confirm availability and communicate the final time to the customer.
Can I create two bookings per day at specific hours using WP Booking System?
Not as true time slots. You can allow multiple bookings per day using capacity, but you cannot enforce hour-level scheduling without a time-slot engine.
What should I use if I need 30-minute or 60-minute appointments?
Use a WordPress appointment/time-slot plugin that supports slot durations, working hours, and conflict prevention. WP Booking System is designed for date-based bookings, not time-slot scheduling.
