If you want to build a vacation rental website and manage all your bookings without relying on third-party platforms like Booking.com or Airbnb, choosing the right booking system can make or break the project. I recently worked on upgrading an existing hotel & resort website by adding a proper booking system to replace their Google Forms setup.
YITH Booking and Appointment for WooCommerce is a WordPress booking plugin designed for rental properties and accommodation providers. It offers a straightforward rental setup that’s flexible enough for real bookings without unnecessary complexity.
Actually, before trying it, I thought setup would be complicated, especially with availability calendars, pricing rules, and booking confirmations. But once I started working with the plugin, it turned out to be more flexible and beginner-friendly than I expected.
To be fair, you’ll still need some time to understand how the plugin works and how to make it fit your specific business process.
In this post, I’ll walk you through what the plugin offers and why I think it’s a solid choice if you’re planning to build a vacation rental website without relying on a full marketplace platform, though it does support syncing with third-party services like Airbnb. This quick introduction should help you understand what to expect, if you’re considering this plugin for creating a booking website.
The Original Plan
Okay, just a bit of context. At first, I recommended a simpler booking plugin for them called WP Booking System. It worked fine, but after a while, we realized it didn’t really fit what my client needed. So we decided to switch to something more advanced.
Here’s why we made the switch:
The first plugin (WP Booking System) could only handle one room per booking. So if a guest wanted two different rooms (like one for a couple and another for their friends), they had to make separate bookings. And that’s not ideal for a property with multiple rooms, right?
So the goal this time was simple: let guests add multiple rooms or accommodations, check out once, and get one confirmation email.
Why I Used YITH Booking & Appointment to Build a Vacation Rental Website
I’ve tried a few booking plugins before, like the one from MotoPress and WooCommerce Bookings. But the one from YITH really stood out. Honestly, it started with the reviews. Whenever I’m researching plugins, I always check first what people are saying and how many businesses actually use it. The Booking & Appointment plugin of YITH just seemed like the one that delivers, and it’s used by over 20,000 businesses.
This booking plugin comes with a wide range of features, and covering all of them would make this post much longer than necessary (you can explore the full list on their website). Instead, I want to focus on the main reason I chose it for my project.
1. It Works Really Well with WooCommerce.
Since WooCommerce is the eCommerce plugin for WordPress and YITH Booking & Appointment is built on top of it, the integration is seamless and works right out of the box. Which also means I can use the same cart and checkout system. This solved our main goal of adding that “shopping cart” style booking feature. The plugin gave me exactly what my client wanted without building everything from scratch.
2. Flexible Payment Gateway Options
Because it supports WooCommerce, the plugin works seamlessly with a wide range of payment gateways. This means you can easily connect Stripe, accept payments via PayPal, or use other WooCommerce-compatible options.
For this project, we’re planning to integrate PayMongo to enable credit card payments. PayMongo is one of the leading payment gateways in the Philippines, and it also offers solid developer support, which makes future customization much easier.
3. Managing Bookings from the Backend is Super Easy
The Booking Calendar feature is really well organized. You can see upcoming bookings, paid ones, unpaid, cancelled, pending… all in one view. It makes tracking everything so much faster.
4. You Get a Lot of Flexibility when Creating Your Bookable Products
For example, you can set person types like adults and kids, and give them different prices. That’s super useful if your rooms have different rates depending on the guests.
You can also add extra services or resources to each booking. So if the resort offers breakfast, cleaning, or maybe some gear like kayaks or tents, you can add those as options.
Another useful feature is the ability to set advanced pricing rules. You can define different rates for peak and off-season periods, giving you more control over pricing. In our case, we added a global discount for specific dates, such as a 20% promo during the lean season.
The booking duration options are also flexible. You’re not limited to a single format, as bookings can be set by month, day, hour, or even by the minute, which helps accommodate different use cases without additional setup.
So let’s say you have a vacation rental or a resort like my client. Maybe you also offer extra services like a spa, massage, or other short activities that only take an hour or two. You can easily create separate bookable products for those using the same plugin. No need to buy extra add-ons or install anything new. It’s already built in.
And it’s not just for resorts. You can use this for personal training sessions, dental checkups, or other appointment services. It’s flexible enough to handle all that.
All of this gives you a lot of control. You can make each room or accommodation work exactly the way your client wants, without needing custom code or extra plugins.
An Area That Could Be Improved
After using it in a real project, I noticed one area where the plugin could be improved, something that could meaningfully enhance the overall business process.
A Detailed Breakdown of Booking Cost
The YITH Booking & Appointment plugin has a lot of options when it comes to pricing your bookable products. You can create custom costs based on how many guests are staying, add discounts, charge for extra services (like breakfast or pet fees), and set different price rules for each product or apply them globally. You really have a lot of flexibility.
But here’s the thing: the more complex your booking rules get, the harder it is to track what actually changed in the pricing. You only see an overview, not the details. Honestly, the front end is fine. Guests can see what they selected and the prices are all listed there.
The backend, though, could be a bit more detailed. When you receive an order or booking, the admin gets some quick info. But if the guest added several services, you only see a total instead of individual amounts for each one.
It’s not a major issue, but having that breakdown visible would be helpful for accounting and the front desk team. It would make tracking bookings easier without needing to dig through additional details.
Wrapping-Up
Anyway, that’s what I went with for this project. We launched it recently and it’s been working really well. Still keeping an eye on things, but so far I’m really happy with the results.
If you’re working on something similar (like a hotel, resort, or rental property), I’d say check out YITH Booking & Appointment for Woocommerce. Especially if you already have a WordPress website, it fits right in.
It’s not the only option out there, but it’s honestly one of the best I’ve found for handling multi-room bookings.
That’s pretty much it. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. And if you’d like to see more content like this, just let me know, I’m always happy to share what I’m working on.