How to add bookings to an existing project

To add bookings to a TeleportHQ project you already have, click Plugins in the editor's left sidebar, click Bookings, then switch on Bookings enabled. In the Activate Bookings window, choose what people book, your business's timezone, your currency and where the link to the booking page goes, then click Activate Bookings. TeleportHQ then builds everything bookings need: the booking pages, two sample items, opening hours, the booking emails, customer sign-in and the admin panel.

Before you start#

• Your project becomes a web app. Bookings always runs in a web app, so a Presentation Website asks to become one first. Its code can no longer be downloaded, and TeleportHQ saves a backup named Before Web App features Enabled before it changes anything. A project that still holds nothing but an empty home page gets no backup, as there is nothing in it to restore. See How to turn a website into a web app.
• A web app needs a Web App slot to stay online after its first 7 days. See Why does my web app need a slot, and what is the 7-day window?.
• Bookings uses the TeleportHQ database. If the project has no database for its features yet, the window creates one. A project whose features already use another database can't take bookings. See How to set up the built-in TeleportHQ database.
• Starting from scratch? The AI can build a whole booking site. See How to create a booking site with AI or a template.

Steps#

1. Switch Bookings on#

1. In the editor's left sidebar, click Plugins (below the plugin icons, above Growth).
2. In the Plugins panel, click the Bookings row ("Bookable items, their calendars and the bookings visitors make."). Its pill says Off. A drawer titled Bookings opens beside the list.
3. In the drawer, under Feature, switch on Bookings enabled.

4. If your project is still a Presentation Website, the Enable Web App features? window opens. Read it, then click Enable Web App features. To stop here, click Keep as a Presentation Website.

2. Fill in the Activate Bookings window#

The Activate Bookings window opens with "Let your customers book online: rooms, tables, appointments, rentals." Open What Bookings adds to your project to read the full list. Then fill in:

• What do people book? Click By time (appointments, classes, tables), By night (rooms and holiday homes) or By day (bikes, cars, equipment). For example, a bed and breakfast clicks By night. Bookings starts with two sample items of this kind. You can add items of any kind later.
• Your business's timezone: your browser's timezone is picked at first. Pick another if your business is elsewhere, for example Europe/Lisbon. Opening hours and booking times use this timezone, wherever your customers are.
• Currency: TeleportHQ picks the one used in your timezone ("Set from your timezone: pick another if your prices are in another currency."). If your project has a store, bookings use the store's currency and there's nothing to pick.
• Use my existing pages (only when your pages already show things people could book, such as a list of rooms or services): switched on. TeleportHQ's AI reads your pages: the rooms, services or rentals they show become your bookable items, and your own page that lists them becomes the booking page. It uses about 2,500 AI tokens. Switch it off to start with the sample items instead.
• Link to your booking page: Add it to your navigation and Add it to your footer are both on. Each adds a Book online link to the page that lists your items. A switch only shows when your project has that navigation or footer.

Then:

1. Click Activate Bookings. If the button reads Continue, the database step comes next.
2. On the database step, keep TeleportHQ database (Managed by TeleportHQ) selected and click Continue.

3. Wait for the setup#

1. Keep the browser tab open while the Setting up your bookings checklist runs. Each step is saved as it completes.
2. When it says Your bookings are ready, click Open the booking page. The page that lists your items opens on the canvas.
3. In the Bookings are Ready! window, click Show Me for a short tour of where you manage your bookings, or Maybe Later.

Other ways to switch on TeleportHQ Bookings#

• Bookings panel: in Plugins → Bookings, under Panel, click Open next to Bookings panel. The panel says "Bookings is off for this project." Click Switch on Bookings.
• Pages list: with Show proposed plugins on (Project settings → Editor → Preferences → Editing), the Pages list shows a dashed bookings folder. Click its Activate button.
• Project Menu: open the Project Menu (the TeleportHQ logo at the top left), point to Edit and click Enable Plugins…. In the Choose your plugins window, tick Bookings. Its card says what comes with it, for example "Comes with Accounts and Admin panel", and the button counts every plugin it switches on, for example Enable 3 plugins. Click it. On a Presentation Website, the Enable Web App features? window opens first. A message then says "Enabling Accounts, Admin panel and Bookings. This can take a minute."
• AI Assistant: ask it, for example, "Add online bookings for our three holiday apartments". It can switch Bookings on with your own first items and rules.

All of them open the same Activate Bookings window, except Enable Plugins… and the AI Assistant, which set Bookings up for you. Enable Plugins… chooses for you: items booked By time, starting with the samples Consultation and Group session, your browser's timezone and the currency used there (your store's currency if the project has a store), the TeleportHQ database, and a Book online link in your navigation and footer. It doesn't read your pages. Change the items, opening hours and settings afterwards in the Bookings panel.

What TeleportHQ creates#

• The booking pages, in a new bookings folder in the Pages list: book-online (/book), book-online-item (/book/<item>), booking-details and my-bookings. See Which pages does Bookings add, and what do customers do on them?.
• Two sample items of the kind you picked, in your site's main language: Consultation and Group session (by time), Double room and Family suite (by night), or City bike and Compact car (by day). If Use my existing pages worked, the items from your pages take their place.
• Opening hours for items booked by time: Monday to Friday 09:00–17:00, Saturday 10:00–14:00, closed on Sunday. See How to set opening hours, start times and closed days for bookings.
• The booking emails, and the invoice design for bookings paid online. See Which emails does Bookings send, and how do I set them up?.
• Sign-up and login for your visitors, and the admin panel if it was off.
• A Book online link in your navigation and footer, and an account menu so signed-in customers reach My Bookings. A message says what was added, for example "Added an account menu and a “Book online” link to your navigation and footer."

Check that it worked#

The Bookings row in Plugins now says On, and the left sidebar has a Bookings button that opens the Bookings panel with your items. In Growth, a Bookings group appears. On your dashboard, the project card shows a Bookings badge. Publish your site to take bookings on it. See How to publish a web app.

Troubleshooting#

"Bookings run on the TeleportHQ database, and the features of this project use another database. Connect the features to the TeleportHQ database to use bookings." Your project's sign-in, store or blog use another database, and Bookings works with the TeleportHQ database only. The Activate Bookings button stays greyed out. Connect those features to the TeleportHQ database, then try again.

"You have reached the maximum number of bookings activations for this project." A project can switch Bookings on up to 10 times. To switch it on again, write to hello@teleporthq.io.

"Your bookings could not be set up" Something failed during the setup. The checklist says "Something went wrong. Nothing was left half-done." and "You can try again from the bookings folder in your pages."

"Bookings are ready, but we could not read your pages, so they were left as they are." Use my existing pages didn't work, so Bookings started with the sample items and your pages didn't change. The message can also say "reading your pages took too long" or "there were not enough AI tokens to read your pages". Add your own items in the Bookings panel. See How to add a bookable item.

Use my existing pages is greyed out: "Not enough AI tokens to read your pages" Reading your pages needs about 2,500 AI tokens. Add tokens, or activate without it and add your items yourself.

Good to know#

• Customers can book without an account at first. Guest Bookings is on, bookings are confirmed at once, and customers can cancel online up to 24 hours before. Until you add a payment provider, customers pay when they arrive. Change all of it in Booking Settings. See What can I change in Booking Settings?.
• No second link. If your site already has a link such as "Book now" or "Reservations", TeleportHQ doesn't add another Book online link.
• Tables stay as they are. Use my existing pages never turns a list drawn as a table, such as a rate sheet or a timetable under a row of column headings, into bookable items, and never makes its page the booking page.
• A multi-language site gets the sample items in all its languages.
• Switched Bookings off before? The window then says your booking pages were deleted but your items, bookings, opening hours and booking settings were kept, and activating builds the pages again. Each activation counts toward the 10.
• Changes go live when you publish.