With Jimdo Bookings, you can offer appointments or events that your customers can book directly through your website. You can define when you're available, create different types of events and manage your upcoming bookings from your Jimdo account. This article shows you where to find Bookings, how to set it up and how to add it to your Creator website.
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Where can I find Bookings in Creator?
Unlike most Creator features, you don't set up Bookings in your website editor. Instead, you manage Bookings directly from your Jimdo dashboard.
To get started:
- Log in to your Jimdo account
- Select the website you want to manage.
- Click Bookings in the menu on the left.
From here, you can create events, manage your availability and view your bookings. You can do all of this separately from editing the pages and content of your website.
Note: If you manage more than one website in your Jimdo account, Bookings is set up separately for each website. Make sure you select the correct website before opening Bookings.
Bookings Lite and Bookings Essentials in Creator
There are two versions of Jimdo Bookings: Bookings Lite and Bookings Essentials.
Bookings Lite is available with all paid Creator plans and gives you access to the basic Bookings features.
Bookings Essentials is a paid add on that provides additional functionality. It isn't included with a Creator plan by default.
For a detailed overview of what's included in each version, see Bookings Lite vs. Essentials.
Add Bookings to your Creator website
Setting up your events and availability in the dashboard is the first step. To allow visitors to book an appointment or event, you'll also need to add the Bookings element to your website.
Open your website in the Creator website editor and add the Bookings element to the page where you want visitors to be able to make a booking.
Once you've added the element, visitors can see your available booking options directly on your website.
Set your timezone
Your timezone determines how the availability you enter in Bookings is interpreted.
You can manage your timezone under Bookings > Settings.
For new users, the timezone is automatically determined based on the timezone set in their browser. If necessary, you can select the correct local timezone manually.
When you change your timezone, your availability hours remain the same. For example, if you've set your availability from 9:00 to 17:00, these hours will remain 9:00 to 17:00 after changing the timezone.
Note: Existing bookings aren't changed when you update your timezone. They're simply displayed according to the newly selected timezone.
Your customers will always see available time slots in their own local timezone. Their booking confirmation will also show the booking time in their timezone. This means customers in different locations may see different times for the same availability. This is expected and helps ensure that everyone sees the correct local time.
Manage absences
If you're unavailable for a specific period, you can create an absence to prevent customers from booking during that time.
To add an absence:
- Go to Dashboard > Bookings > Settings.
- Create a new absence.
- Select the period when you're unavailable.
- Save the absence.
Customers won't be able to make bookings during the period you've blocked.
This can be useful for holidays, personal appointments or any other time when you don't want to accept bookings.
Create your first event
Events determine what your customers can book. You can create and manage them directly from the Bookings section of your Jimdo dashboard.
To create an event:
- Go to Bookings and click + Create event.
- Enter the details of your event, such as its description, price, location and number of participants.
- Choose the type of event you want to offer.
- Set the timing and availability for the event.
- Choose whether customers should pay online or in person.
- Click Create event to publish your event.
There are two event types to choose from:
Fixed session: Choose this option for an event that takes place at a specific date and time. Customers can sign up for that particular session.
Open slot: Choose this option when you want customers to select a time based on your general availability.
Choose the event type that best matches the service or appointment you want to offer.
Accept payments for bookings in Creator
You can decide how customers pay when they make a booking.
Depending on the options available to you, customers can pay online as part of the booking process or you can arrange for them to pay in person.
Online payments may not be available in every country where Jimdo Bookings is offered.
For more information about setting up payments, see Accept payments with Jimdo Bookings.
Note: Bookings is initially available in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain.
Manage your bookings in Creator
Once you've published your events and customers start booking them, you can manage your appointments from the Bookings section of your Jimdo dashboard.
Here you can keep track of upcoming bookings and make changes when necessary.
For more information about viewing, rescheduling and cancelling appointments, see Manage your bookings.