In this blog post, we will explore how a tour booking system can simplify both online and in-person bookings, and become an invaluable tool for managing your bookings and attendees efficiently.
I recently had the pleasure of attending WordCamp Europe 2024 in Turin Italy. The conference was a great experience, and I enjoyed connecting with loads of new WordPress people. Being my first time in Italy, I also took the opportunity to explore some of Italy’s treasures. Two of the highlights were a walking food tour in Turin and a city tour in Rome. Both adventures were fantastic, and the booking process was fairly straightforward. What stood out to me, though, was that both tour companies were fully dependent on third-party tour booking systems and neither offered the ability to book a tour on their own websites. Naturally, this got me thinking about how FooEvents could have been used to cut out the middleman, increase conversions, reduce fees, and improve the experience for both the operators and customers.
So with that in mind, lets take a look at how we can use FooEvents and WordPress to create a complete tour booking system. Here is what we will cover:
- What to Look for in a Good Tour Booking System
- How to Set Up Your Tour Booking System
- Managing Your Bookings
- Validating Attendee Tickets
What to Look for in a Good Tour Booking System #
When selecting a tour booking system, several key features and factors should be considered to ensure it meets the needs of a tour company. Here are the important aspects to look for:
- Online Booking Capabilities: It should enable customers to book tours online effortlessly. This includes a responsive design that works well on both desktop and mobile devices, providing a seamless booking experience across all platforms.
- Real-Time Availability Management: The system should provide real-time updates on tour availability to prevent overbooking and ensure accurate information is displayed to customers.
- Automated Confirmation and Communication: Automated email confirmations, reminders, and updates about bookings should be standard features. This reduces manual communication tasks and keeps customers well-informed.
- Payment Processing: Secure and flexible payment options are crucial. The system should support multiple payment methods and currencies, offer secure transactions, and integrate with popular payment gateways.
- Mobile Accessibility: A system with a mobile app or a mobile-friendly design allows you to manage bookings and resources on the go, ensuring flexibility and accessibility.
- Integration Capabilities: Ensure the system can integrate with other tools and platforms you use, such as accounting software, email marketing services, and customer management systems.
- Data Analytics and Reporting: Robust reporting tools that provide insights into sales, customer behavior, and booking trends are essential for making informed business decisions and optimizing operations.
- Ticket check-in/validation: Tickets should include a QR code that can be scanned to validate the attendee’s ticket.
How to Set Up Your Tour Booking System #
We are going to use FooEvents to setup our tour booking system. If you are not already familiar with FooEvents, it is an event, ticketing, and booking platform built for WooCommerce that runs on WordPress. FooEvents includes everything needed to create a powerful tour booking system and will run on your own WordPress website and is available in a number of languages. This means you will have full ownership of your platform and can customize it based on your unique requirements. Because we are using WooCommerce as the eCommerce platform, you will be able to leverage hundreds of payment processors, analytics, mobile compatibility, and much more.
Getting Started with FooEvents #
FooEvents runs on WordPress websites that have WooCommerce installed, so in order to use FooEvents, you will need to purchase a hosting package with a web host. FooEvents works flawlessly with the majority of web hosting providers that support WordPress and WooCommerce, however if you are new to WordPress, we have curated a list of popular web hosts that we have tested with FooEvents to give you added peace of mind.
FooEvents consists of a core plugin called FooEvents for WooCommerce. This plugin includes all the essential functionality that makes it possible to sell tickets for single-day events. We then offer various other extensions that add additional functionality that are not required by every event. In this article, we are going to set up a tour booking system that uses the following plugins which are all included in the FooEvents Bookings Bundle:
- FooEvents for WooCommerce: Core event and ticketing functionality to WooCommerce.
- FooEvents Bookings: Adds ability to create bookable time slots that your attendees can choose from when purchasing a ticket.
- FooEvents Custom Attendee Fields: Capture customized attendee details such as dietary preferences, accessibility requirements, etc.
- FooEvents Calendar: Add a calendar view of all your bookable slots to your website.
We are also going to install the FooEvents Point of Sale extension which will allow us to sell ticket at a venue or ticket stand. The FooEvents Point of Sale extensions can be purchased separately and is only needed if you intend to sell tickets in person.
Once your site is set up and WooCommerce is installed and configured, you will need to install the FooEvents extensions. As mentioned earlier in this article, we are going to install a number of extensions included in the FooEvents Bookings Bundle, so we recommend you purchase this bundle. Once you have purchased it and downloaded the plugins, log in to your WordPress website and navigate to Plugins > Add New and upload and activate the FooEvents plugins.
Out of the box FooEvents requires very little configuration and most of the FooEvents Settings are optional, however I recommend that you browse through the the main FooEvents Settings and configure FooEvents as needed. Once done, you are ready to set up your first tour.
Creating a Bookable Tour #
Now for the fun part, setting up ticket sales on your tour booking system. FooEvents essentially adds event and booking functionality to standard WooCommerce products. If you are already familiar with WooCommerce, this process should feel very familiar.
Standard Product Settings
First, go to Products > Add New and create a product. Complete the standard WooCommerce product fields such as title, featured images, categories, tags, description, etc.
Ticket Types
Next, we are going to use the built-in WooCommerce attributes and variations features to create three different ticket types called Standard, Child, and Senior, each sold at a different price. Start by going to the Product Data tabs and changing the product type to Variable Product. Then, go to the Attributes tab and create an attribute called Ticket Type. In the values field, enter the following three options: Standard|Child|Senior. Ensure the Visible on the product page and Used for variations options are checked, then press the Save attributes button.
Next, go to the Variations tab and press the Generate variations button. Edit the price of each variation and enable the Downloadable and Virtual options before pressing the Save Changes button. This process will set up your different ticket types with the appropriate prices and ensure they are correctly configured as virtual and downloadable products in WooCommerce.
Event Settings
We are now going to enable the FooEvents functionality. In the Product Data tabs, head over to the Event Settings tab and enable the product as an event. This will add various FooEvents tabs to the Product Data section and allow you to configure this product to sell tickets for a tour. Set the event type as Bookable, which will allow us to set up slots that attendees can choose from when booking a tour. Continue to complete the remaining Venue Details, Organizer Contact Details, Custom Messages, and Calendar Color options.
In the Attendee Details section, check the Capture attendee full name and Capture attendee email address options. You can check additional attendee fields options if needed. Later on, we will also create our own custom attendee field options. Scroll down to the Bookings Display options section and set the Bookings selection order option to Date > Slot and the Display booking slots and dates on option is set to Checkout Page and Product Page.
Booking Settings
Next, we are going to set up the available time slots that our attendees can select when purchasing a ticket. Our tour will occur twice a day, once in the morning at 10 am and again in the afternoon at 2 pm, and will be offered from Thursday through Sunday.
Navigate to the Bookings Settings tab and press the + New Slot button to add a new slot. Enter Morningย in the label field, check the Time option, and set the time to 10 am. Nextt, wee will specify what dates the slot should be available. Press the Add Dates button to use the Booking Wizard to generate the dates that the Morning slot will be available. Simply select the start date, end date, and days that the slot will be available (Thursday through Sunday). Set the number of tickets available in each slot using the Default Stock Availability, or leave it blank if unlimited. Once all fields have been set, press the Generate Multiple Dates button to create the available dates for the slot.
We now need to a second slot for the afternoon slot. To save time, we are simply going to copy the Morning slot and modify the details. On the morning slot, press the duplicate icon change the new slot’s label to Afternoon, and set the time to 2 pm. This approach ensures that both the morning and afternoon tours are accurately scheduled and available for booking, providing attendees with convenient options to choose from when purchasing their tickets.
Custom Attendee Fields
Now we are going to create two custom fields called Dietary requirementsย and Accessibility requirements. First, navigate to the Custom Attendee Fields tab and press the New Field button. For the first field, set the label to Dietary requirements and change the Type to Select. In the options field, enter a list of options separated by a pipe symbol (e.g., None|Vegan|Vegetarian|Halal).
Next, add another field called Accessibility requirements and set the Type to Textarea. This will allow attendees to provide detailed information about any accessibility needs they may have. By setting up these custom fields, you can ensure that you gather important information to accommodate your attendees’ needs effectively.
Automatically Expire Past Booking Slots
Now that we have set up our booking slots, let’s configure FooEvents to expire booking slots a set amount of time before the actual date and time. First, navigate to the Event Expiration tab and enable the Expire bookingsย option. Then, set the expiration time to 24 hours before the booking slot. This ensures that bookings close a day before the event, allowing you to manage your attendee list more effectively.
Customize the Ticket Email
One of the key features of FooEvents is the ability to customize the ticket design. You can customize the ticket/booking confirmation email by uploading a logo, header image, and selecting your color scheme, or you can use one of the many ticket theme designs available in the FooEvents Ticket Theme gallery.
Customizing your tickets not only enhances your brand’s image but also provides a professional and cohesive look that can impress your customers. Ensure that your tickets contain all necessary information such as event details, ticket type, and any terms and conditions.
Configure the ticket as needed, but make sure the Email Ticket, Display barcode on ticket, and Display booking details on ticket options are enabled.
Save and Test Your Bookable Product
Save the product and press the preview button. Complete the checkout process and make sure your tickets are generated, emailed, and can be viewed in the tickets section in your WordPress admin area.
Displaying Tours on Your Website #
Now that you have set up a tour, you will need to display the tour to the public, along with any other tours you create.
Default WooCommerce Store
By default, events and bookable products will display using the default WooCommerce store pages. This utilizes the built-in WooCommerce styling, so your products should look great out of the gate.
FooEvents Event Listing Block
Your next option is to use the FooEvents Event Listing Block. It is included in the main FooEvents for WooCommerce (v1.19.9) plugin and makes it easier than ever to display events on your WordPress website. Simply add the block, adjust the options, and publish. Within a minute, youโll be listing your events on any post or page using the built-in WordPress block editor.
FooEvents Calendar
Using the FooEvents Calendar extension, you can also display an interactive calendar of all available booking slots. The calendar can be embedded on a product page and set to only display slots for that specific tour.
FooEvents Shortcodes
Last but not least, FooEvents also supports a number of shortcodes that can be used to list events on your site.
Sell Ticket Using FooEvents Point of Sale #
FooEvents is unique in that it is the only WooCommerce booking system that offers a complete box office experience and allows you to sell tickets both online and in person using the FooEvents POS (Point of Sale) extension. FooEvents POS is a web-based point of sale plugin for WooCommerce and makes it possible to sell and print tickets.
FooEventsย POS fully integrates with WooCommerce and uses your existing products, variations, stock, customers, and tax settings in real-time. This means that in addition to selling access to your tours, you can also sell traditional physical products such as merchandise, food and beverages.
Managing Your Bookings #
Now that you are able to sell tickets online, you will need to manage bookings. This includes viewing bookings for a particular slot, viewing attendee information, modifying booking details, and exporting attendee information.
Booking Manager
You can view tickets for a particular date and/or time slot using the Booking Manager screen which is available in the WordPress admin area. Navigate to FooEvents > Bookings to open the Bookings Manager screen. Here you can view and filter bookings for a specific tour using the date and time fields. This is a great way to view the number of people booked for a specific slot as well as see critical attendee information such as their name, email, and check-in status.
Modifying Tickets
In the WordPress admin area, you can navigate to a specific ticket by going to the Booking Manager screen or Tickets screen and selecting a ticket. You can then modify the attendee’s details as well as the booking date and slot.
Attendees are not able to modify their own booking details and any requested changes to the bookings can only be applied by an administrator.
FooEvents Check-ins App
Not only is the FooEvents Check-ins app a great way to manage attendee check-ins and ticket validation, but itโs also one of the best ways for tour operators to keep track of bookings while on the go. The FooEvents Check-ins apps fully integrate with the FooEvents Bookings extensions and include a bookings calendar view. It highlights days that have bookings and neatly organizes bookings into time slots for each date.
Export Attendee Details
You might need to import attendee information into a third-party system or perhaps view it in a different format such as a spreadsheet. Each product includes an export option that allows you to export all attendee information for that particular product to a CSV file. That includes all attendee information, custom fields, and booking details.
Validating Attendee Tickets #
FooEvents offers four methods you can use to manage attendee check-ins with FooEvents.Using these methods, you can scan a ticket’s QR code or barcode to find and validate a ticket as your guests arrive.
Conclusion
By following these steps, you can set up a ticket sales website for your tours using WordPress, WooCommerce, and FooEvents. This setup allows you to manage your events seamlessly, provide a professional ticketing experience for your customers, and ultimately enhance your business operations. Embrace these tools to take your tours to the next level, ensuring a smooth and enjoyable process for both you and your customers.
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