Want to launch a hotel booking website using MotoPress Hotel Booking? Don’t know where to start?
Managing booking availability, accepting payments, and handling bookings is a lot of work. To make things easier, MotoPress Hotel Booking came to the rescue!
It’s a complete WordPress plugin built to make property rental websites actually work. Even if you’re running a hotel, B&B, resort, vacation rental, or hostel.
You can accept direct bookings, sync with platforms like Airbnb or Booking.com, manage rates and availability, and even customize the booking process.
But is it suitable for your hospitality business? Don’t worry, we’ve tested it!
This MotoPress Hotel Booking review highlights its features, working, and reasons for being the ideal hotel booking plugin for running your rental websites.
So, let’s jump right into it!
Overall Rating
MotoPress Hotel Booking is the ultimate hotel booking plugin for hospitality businesses. Impressively, the free plugin has 10K+ active installations.
Currently, it scores a remarkable 3.8 out of 5 stars according to 50+ user reviews on WordPress.org.
In fact, we’ll also give it a perfect 4.5 out of 5 stars. The 0.5 rating is deducted because it doesn’t have a money-back policy and can have some learning curve.
Despite some limitations, we recommend using it for your hotel booking site if it suits your needs. You can use the free plugin or check out the demos with access to premium features on the free trial for 7 days.
With that, check out the pros and cons of MotoPress!
Pros and Cons of MotoPress Hotel Booking
Go through the pros and cons of the plugin before making any further decisions:
Pros of MotoPress Hotel Booking
- Manage unlimited accommodations and services right from the dashboard.
- Seamlessly accept bookings and payments.
- Easily set seasonal rates, variable pricing, and discounts.
- Control check-in/out days, minimum stays, and guest restrictions.
- Customize booking forms to match your site and improve user experience.
- Auto-sync availability with platforms like Airbnb, Booking.com, etc.
- Add more features through premium extensions and pick suitable themes.
- Fully compatible with WPML and other translation WordPress plugins.
Cons of MotoPress Hotel Booking
- Challenging initial configuration without a free setup wizard.
- Lacks a refund policy, so you won’t get a refund after purchase if you stop using it.
- Improvements are required in terms of offering better support experiences.
With that, let’s go in-depth with the review!
A. What is MotoPress Hotel Booking? – An Overview
MotoPress Hotel Booking is a powerful all-rounder WordPress plugin that converts your website into a fully functional accommodation booking platform.
Moreover, this plugin brings all the tools you need under a roof to manage your hotel, guesthouse, B&B, vacation rental, or multiple accommodations.
Further, you can accept direct online bookings and sync availability with OTAs like Airbnb and Booking.com. Plus, managing payments securely is easy peasy.
In fact, you can add unlimited properties and services. It lets you set flexible rates, add custom booking rules, and show real-time availability across your listings.
Need global reach? The plugin is multilingual-ready and supports a multitude of currencies and payment gateways out of the box.
In addition, if you want to expand functions, then there’s a growing set of add-ons. That ranges from WooCommerce payment integrations to event-driven emails.
In short, MotoPress Hotel Booking is the most suitable plugin if you’re serious about building a professional, fully automated hotel booking website.
B. Key Features and Highlights of MotoPress Hotel Booking
Since we’re now aware of the basics, let’s dive deep into the features. Here we go!
1. Effortless Rental Property Management
Manage all your rental properties from a single, user-friendly dashboard. Add unlimited accommodations, set custom details, and streamline daily operations.
Find some notable features that make managing your hotel booking process easy:
- Every booking request and its status are shown in a color-coded calendar view. Sort, search, and manage them easily.
- Configure minimum and maximum stay requirements along with available check-in and check-out dates.
- Hide booking options for accommodations when they are renovated.
- Provides admin and client email notifications about booking confirmations and cancellations.
- It offers a built-in stats chart to analyze sales and bookings over time.
- Generate booking reports in a CSV file format with filtering options.
To access the booking calendar and easily manage the bookings, navigate to ‘Bookings > Calendar’ on your WordPress dashboard.
The calendar includes visualization based on accommodation type separated by status, such as booked, pending, external, and blocked.
2. Direct Online Bookings with Secure Payments
Handling online bookings is easy with MotoPress Hotel Bookings. You’ll get many configuration options and secure payment integrations. Check them out!
- Accepts booking payments through PayPal, Stripe, 2Checkout, etc.
- Confirm booking requests in the dashboard or via email.
- Extend the plugin for local payment gateways with WooCommerce.
- Provide an instant or manual booking confirmation.
- Your hotel staff can also manually add or edit bookings from the dashboard.
- Guests get a dashboard to check and handle their bookings and processes.
In fact, you can find all of the payment integration settings in one place. Just go to ‘Accommodation > Settings > Payment Gateways’ and find general and gateway-specific settings to enable secure payments for the bookings.
3. Smart Rates & Real-Time Inventory Control
MotoPress lets you easily manage your room rates and availability in one place. Check out the features on how you can control the rates for managed inventory:
- Add seasonal property rates within any period in a preferred currency. There can be high and low seasons to the holiday period too.
- Separate rates for the same accommodation types based on different facilities, like exclusive amenities.
- Set the property rates based on the number of guests, whether adult or child.
- Rate your accommodation based on stay length. Offer a discounted price for a longer stay.
- Create percentage, per-stay, or per-day discount coupons with all the details.
- Specify pricing, mandatory fees, accommodation taxes, and service taxes.
- Showcase free services and additional services like spa, childcare, etc.
All of these configurations are present inside the ‘Accommodation > Rates’ menu of your dashboard. There, you can add new rates or manage the existing ones.
4. Smooth & Hassle-Free Booking Journey
Give your guests a smooth and enjoyable booking experience from the moment they land on your site. MotoPress makes it easy for them without any confusion.
- Beautifully present your accommodations with amenities, images, and rates.
- The search form lets users find properties based on dates and number of guests.
- Offers advanced property search filters like location, type, price range, etc.
- Guests can check the property availability via calendars with status colors.
- One booking placement can have multiple reservations for several guests.
When a guest opens a specific accommodation, they’ll get every minor to major detail about it. In fact, every accommodation’s availability can also be checked in the calendar for ease in making the right decision.
5. Seamless OTA Synchronization with iCal
Want to boost your hotel by listing it on platforms like Airbnb, TripAdvisor, or Booking.com?
MotoPress Hotel Booking syncs your website’s bookings and accommodation availability with OTAs (Online Travel Agencies) via iCal integration.
Most of all, this plugin automatically generates unique calendars for every property that you can export to those platforms. Meanwhile, you can also import bookings from OTAs back to your website.
Every 15 minutes, the sync auto-runs to keep everything up-to-date. Accepting bookings from multiple channels has never been this easy.
To sync with calendars, go to ‘Bookings > Sync Calendars’ on your dashboard. There, you can import calendars and sync external calendars. Plus, it allows the downloading of calendars as well.
Ultimately, you can sync your bookings across the channels via iCal file format.
6. Powerful Booking System Add-ons
Along with the core features, the plugin also offers 13 premium and free add-ons. You can use them to add exclusive features you want on your site.
Find the extensions and add them to your site from ‘Bookings > Extensions’.
The table below points out all the top-notch add-ons it provides. Stay amazed!
Add-ons | What does it offer? | Pricing |
Hotel Booking Plugin Initial Configuration | Setup wizard to configure the plugin for you. | $99 |
Hotel Booking WooCommerce Payments | Integration with WooCommerce payment gateways. | $99 |
Hotel Booking Payment Request | Auto-collect payments or request an upfront amount. | $99 |
Hotel Booking & Mailchimp Integration | Subscribe guests to your Mailchimp lists after a booking is made. | $59 |
Hotel Booking & Elementor Integration | Integration with Elementor. | Free |
Hotel Booking & Divi Integration | Integration with Divi theme. | Free |
Hotel Booking PriceLabs Integration | Automatically update property rates with prices from PriceLabs. | $89 |
Hotel Booking Notifier – Event-Driven Emails | Send and receive automated emails that are triggered by the arrival or departure dates. | $69 |
Hotel Booking Checkout Fields | Insert custom checkout fields or edit default ones for your hotel booking and checkout forms. | $79 |
Hotel Booking PDF Invoices | Send or receive automated PDF invoices. | $89 |
Hotel Booking Multi-Currency | Let the travelers switch currencies when viewing your accommodations on the website. | $69 |
Hotel Booking Reviews | Let guests rate your hotel’s accommodations and services through a five-star property rating system. | $49 |
Find details of all of these add-ons on its website through this link.
7. Professional Hotel Booking Themes
Instead of starting from scratch, using a WordPress theme specialized for a hotel booking website is a smart decision. This plugin naturally fits in your active theme.
If you’re using MotoPress, then it’s best to go with one of the 11 free and premium themes it offers. Some of them are:
- Booklium: Bed and Breakfast WordPress theme (Costs $89)
- Luviana: Hotel website template (Costs $89)
- Albatross: WordPress hotel theme (Completely free)
- Oceanica: Hotel website theme (Costs $89)
- Alpenhouse: WordPress apartment booking theme (Costs $89)
- Villagio: Real estate WordPress theme (Costs $89)
Find details of all the recommended themes by MotoPress on this link.
Each of these themes is professionally designed for different hospitality businesses, including hotels, villas, apartments, etc. Moreover, their theme styles and layouts perfectly match with the MotoPress Hotel Booking plugin.
The cherry on top. These themes support the visual customization capabilities of Elementor and Getwid Gutenberg Blocks builders.
8. Additional Features
The features list doesn’t end here. Check out extra functionalities left to explore:
- Supports multilingual plugins like WPML to translate the frontend and backend into 18 languages.
- Offers shortcodes and widgets to quickly add sections on any page you like.
- Provides 10 WordPress blocks for search form, calendar, listing, etc.
- Roles like hotel manager, worker, and customer with their set of tasks.
- Developers get access to actions, filters, and instructions to customize fully.
- Built on top of the WordPress REST API for a robust and secure code.
- Includes a hotel booking mobile app for managing bookings from any device.
- Get the configuration service to let the MotoPress team configure the plugin.
With that, you may already want to start using this plugin, isn’t it? So, why not try it yourself by following the setup guide below?
C. How to Create a Hotel Booking Website Using MotoPress?
Now, let’s dive deep into the working process of MotoPress Hotel Booking. Follow the steps to install, configure, and use it to launch and run your hotel booking site.
Here we go!
Step 1: Install and Activate MotoPress Hotel Booking and Luviana
First of all, install the plugin and a suitable theme for your website. Here, we’ll go with the Luviana theme by MotoPress for hotels.
1. Install and Activate MotoPress
To install the free version, log into your WordPress dashboard and go to the ‘Plugins > Add New Plugin’ menu.
There, search for ‘MotoPress Hotel Booking Lite’ and click ‘Install Now’.
After the installation, press ‘Activate’.
In case the plugin wants to install any must-have free add-on, then activate it.
If you want to use the premium version, then here’s a quick guide.
Open the MotoPress Hotel Booking website and pick one of the given pricing options. Now, click the ‘Purchase’ button, followed by ‘Proceed to Checkout’.
Next, enter your personal and payment details and complete the order process.
Once you get the premium plugin, click the ‘Upload Plugin’ button on your WordPress dashboard. Then, upload the file, install it, and activate it.
Check out the detailed steps on how to install a WordPress plugin here.
2. Install and Activate Luviana
Luviana is a WordPress hotel site template for hotels of all kinds and sizes. You can build a complete hotel management system with it along with the plugin.
Installing a hotel booking theme by MotoPress is simple. Go to the theme’s product page, pick a pricing scheme, and click ‘Purchase’.
Once you buy the theme and download the file, go to the ‘Appearance > Themes > Add New Theme’ menu option on your dashboard. There, upload the theme file and press ‘Install Now,’ followed by ‘Activate’.
If the theme asks you to install some recommended plugins, then do that only if required.
Check out the step-by-step guide on how to install a theme here!
Step 2: Configure the Accommodation Settings
Moving forward, configure the accommodations settings. MotoPress requires a manual setup, so navigate to the ‘Accommodation > Settings’ menu.
There, you’ll find these tabs with the following options:
I. General
- Pick the pages for search results, checkout, my account, terms and conditions, etc.
- Choose the booking confirmation mode (manual, email, or payment) and page.
- Select the booking cancellation and canceled pages.
- Configure the search and display options.
- Pick the preferred default currency with the way the prices will be shown.
- Manage the calendar synchronization settings.
II. Admin Emails
Set the admin email for these situations:
- Pending booking
- Approved booking
- Cancelled booking.
III. Customer Emails
Adjust the subject and header to be sent to customers during these situations:
- New booking confirmation by admin and customer
- Approved booking
- Customer registration
IV. Email Settings
- Customize the email style, like the color of the background and text.
- Adjust email sender details like logo and name.
V. Payment Gateway
- General settings for payment, like default gateway, reservation received page, failed transaction page, etc.
- Gateway-specific settings for PayPal, Stripe, Braintree, etc. Ensure the reservation confirmation mode in the general settings is set to be after payment.
VI. Extensions
Here, you can find the installation option for Hotel Booking add-ons. If you use any of them, then it lets you manage their settings.
VII. Advanced
On this tab, you can add a REST API with user and permission details.
After configuring each settings tab, please remember to hit ‘Save Changes.’
Step 3: Add New Accommodation Types with Services
Now, the plugin is ready to use. So, navigate to ‘Accommodation > Add Accommodation Type.’ There, create a new accommodation type by:
- Specifying the title, description, category, and tags.
- Adjusting the accommodation count and its capacity for adults and kids.
- Adding and selecting the amenities and attributes of the accommodation.
- Setting the room size, bed size, and window view.
- Inserting and defining the additional services like restaurants.
- Providing a photo gallery of the property and a featured image too.
Here, adding new amenities, attributes, categories, and tags can be done in the same interface. However, inserting services involves more effort.
So, adding a new service involves specifying the name, description, price, periodicity, and charge.
Once all of these details are provided, ‘Publish’ the service and the accommodation type.
Automatically, the new accommodations will be added to the website based on the number provided for this type. You can further adjust the offerings of each accommodation in the ‘Accommodations’ sub-menu.
Step 4: Insert Seasons and Rates as Needed
Following that, you can add seasons so that you can offer different prices during that period. Hence, go to ‘Accommodation > Seasons’ and press ‘Add New.’
There, provide the season details, like the start date, end date, and days applied. Further, choose to repeat the season annually or not. If yes, then add until when.
Lastly, click ‘Publish’.
Once you add all the seasons, go to ‘Accommodation > Rates’ and click ‘Add New’. On that interface, add the rate title, select the accommodation type, and add a description. Next, press ‘Create Rate’.
After that, click the ‘Add New Season Price’ button. There, pick a season and set the occupancy and price for adults and children.
Once you complete, click ‘Update Rate.’
This completes the major actions related to your hotel’s accommodations.
Step 5: Manage Bookings and Payment History
Moving forward, MotoPress Hotel Booking automatically saves the new booking details that your guests have filled. You can manage them from the ‘Bookings > All Bookings’ menu.
Similarly, you or your staff can also add bookings by clicking ‘New Bookings.’
All you have to do is mention the check-in date, check-out date, accommodation type, and the number of adults and children. By searching based on these criteria, the plugin lists suitable accommodations that can be reserved.
Similarly, you can manage the payment details of your guests automatically saved from the ‘Bookings > Payment History’ menu.
On the other hand, you and your staff can add the payment details manually by clicking ‘Add New.’
There, insert the billing details, like gateway used, amount, currency, etc. Further, include billing details, like name, email, address, and more. That’s all for creating payment information.
Step 6: Set Up Coupons, Booking Rules, Taxes, and Fees
Other than the rates and prices of properties, you can offer more payment criteria. Let’s go through them.
Go to ‘Bookings > Coupons’ and click ‘Add New.’ Now, add the coupon code and the coupon description. Further, pick the accommodation type.
Along with that, perform these actions:
- Configure the discount for accommodation and/or service.
- Also, specify the discount amount and type (percentage or fixed).
- Set user restrictions, like expiration date and usage limit.
Once you’re done, click ‘Publish.’
Next, go to the ‘Booking Rules’ menu. There, you can add rules for:
- Check-in and check-out days
- Minimum and maximum days
- Minimum and maximum advance reservations, etc.
For example, let’s add a booking rule for minimum advance reservations. Click ‘Add rule’ and configure the given options. Here, the minimum nights, accommodation types, and seasons are chosen.
Last but not least. Navigate to the ‘Taxes & Fees’ menu. There, you can add new fees and taxes for accommodation, services, and fees.
For example, let’s add a tax for a service by clicking ‘Add New.’ So, you can add the label, tax type, amount, and limit for the service tax. And you’re done!
Ensure you click ‘Save Changes’ before moving to different steps.
Step 7: Walk Through to Your New Hotel Booking Site
With that, building the hotel booking website using the MotoPress plugin ends here. You can customize the front end according to your brand needs.
Once you’re done, check your website to ensure an accurate booking process. Let’s walk through the website as a guest.
On the homepage, guests can search for accommodation availability.
A list of suitable options shows up, among which guests can book their choice and confirm reservations.
Now, they can add or pick the booking details, including guest name, rate choice, additional services, etc. Following that, guests can add a coupon code and then fill out their personal information.
With that, the reservation confirmation email gets sent to the guest. By confirming the reservation in the mail, you’ll see the booking confirmed message on the site.
Simple but comprehensive at the same time, isn’t it?
Here’s a complete guide on how to create a booking website from scratch.
D. Pricing Plans of MotoPress Hotel Booking
MotoPress Hotel Booking is a freemium WordPress plugin with both free and premium pricing options.
You can download the free plugin from the WordPress.org plugin repository and add it to your site. Another way is to install the plugin right on your dashboard.
If you want to grow your hotel booking business, then pick among the following premium pricing schemes and bundles:
- 1 Site: $139/year and all premium features.
- Up to 25 Sites: $249/year and all premium features.
- 1 Site – Lifetime: $549/year and all premium features.
- 1 Site Bundle: $199/year, premium features, and 9 add-ons.
- 1 Site Lifetime Bundle: $799/year, premium features, and 9 add-ons.
- Up to 25 Sites Bundle: $299/year, premium features, and 9 add-ons.
- Up to 25 Sites – Lifetime Bundle: $1199/year, premium features, and 9 add-ons.
Moreover, you can check out their demo and begin the 7-day free trial instantly.
Find the pricing plan details of MotoPress Hotel Booking on its product page.
E. Customer Support Options for MotoPress Hotel Booking
Checking out the customer support options, using the free MotoPress Hotel Booking plugin offers support on the Support Forum of WordPress.org. Just post your question, and the team will guide you.
Meanwhile, other support options are available on its website on the Support page. The following are all of the options that are worth using to address your concerns:
- Live chat to send messages and files to get quick responses via Zendesk.
- Submit a ticket regarding your question on any of its products.
- Contact the team by submitting your message in the contact form.
- An easy-to-use forum on its website, too, for discussing plugin queries.
- Get quick video tutorials on using the plugin and its add-ons.
- Access the detailed documentation to understand the plugin in depth.
- Read the articles related to the most asked questions about the plugin.
We have tried these support options and found them quick, in-depth, and helpful.
F. Comparing MotoPress Hotel Booking with its Top Alternatives
Before making the final decision, are you comparing MotoPress Hotel Booking with its top alternatives? Then, here’s what you’re exactly looking for.
The table below compares this incredible plugin with the following alternatives:
Feature/Plugin | MotoPress Hotel Booking | VikBooking | Travelpayouts | WP Hotel Booking |
Active Installations | 10K+ active installations on WordPress sites for hospitality businesses. [1] | 9K+ active installations on WordPress sites with reservation systems. [2] | 8K+ active installations on WordPress sites for promoting travel deals. [3] | 8K+ active installations on WordPress sites for hotel owners and accommodation providers. [4] |
Launched In | 2021 | 2021 | 2011 | 2022 |
What It Is | Hotel booking plugin for different property rental businesses. | A plugin that works as a hotel booking engine and property management system. | Affiliate marketing platform or plugin for hotels, tours, and flights. | Hotel booking plugin for a management system to handle all booking aspects. |
Free Version | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Price | Starts at $139/year for 1 website and includes all premium features. | One-time payment of 149€ to access all the premium features. | Free to join. You must pay a certain commission according to your earnings. | Completely free plugin with 5 free add-ons. Offers premium themes for hotel booking. |
Our Rating | 4.9/5 | 4.8/5 | 4.7/5 | 4.6/5 |
Learn More! | Visit the MotoPress Hotel Booking website. | Visit the VikBooking website. | Visit the Travelpayouts website. | Visit the WP Hotel Booking website. |
Overall, MotoPress Hotel remains one of the best WordPress booking plugins if you’re looking for a comprehensive solution for hotels.
G. Final Verdict – Is it the Best WP Hotel Booking Plugin?
By going through this review, you should now have a solid understanding of what the MotoPress Hotel Booking plugin brings to the table.
Hopefully, this guide has helped you decide if it’s the most suitable plugin for handling your hotel business online.
In short, MotoPress Hotel Booking is a feature-rich, reliable, and user-friendly plugin. It lets you handle everything from reservations to payments.
If you’re curious to see how it works in action, then explore the plugin’s live demos. You can start by trying the 7-day free trial for the premium version. Meanwhile, use the free version on your website, too.
Depending on your needs, decide to go with the free version or purchase a premium plan. Later, scale up with add-ons as your business grows.
H. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Here are the answers to some FAQs that you may be wondering:
1. How can I configure multiple prices according to the number of guests?
You can set up variable pricing according to the number of guests in MotoPress by creating specific rates for occupancy levels within the accommodation settings.
2. Can MotoPress let me define minimum and maximum stay periods for seasons?
Yes, you can define minimum and maximum stay periods for seasons in MotoPress. Just specify the conditions for each season in the booking rules.
3. Does MotoPress Hotel Booking allow adding or removing form fields?
Yes, MotoPress allows form field customizations to tailor the booking process to your specific needs.
4. How can MotoPress add a mandatory fee, like a cleaning fee, to bookings?
MotoPress lets you add required fees by adjusting them in taxes and fees. This allows you to include additional charges like cleaning fees in the booking total.
5. How does MotoPress Hotel Booking handle booking cancellations?
MotoPress offers booking cancellation options through policies and issuing refunds. Configure these settings in the booking rules and payment options.
References for MotoPress Hotel Booking Review
- [1] https://wordpress.org/plugins/motopress-hotel-booking-lite/
- [2] https://wordpress.org/plugins/vikbooking/
- [3] https://wordpress.org/plugins/travelpayouts/
- [4] https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-hotel-booking/
Conclusion
That’s a wrap for our MotoPress Hotel Booking review! Hopefully, you now have a clear picture of its offerings and how simply it manages your hotel booking site.
In conclusion, this plugin shines as a trustworthy and efficient solution for hotels, vacation rentals, and property managers. It’s feature-packed to handle your booking operations and maximize conversion rates.
If you have any questions or need further help, then feel free to drop your thoughts in the comments. We’re always here to help!
Check out our related posts on WP Travel Engine review, Amelia plugin review, and the best travel booking WP plugins.
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