What is an online booking system? A guide for activity businesses

If your bookings arrive by phone, email, Instagram messages and people walking in, you’ll know how much time goes into keeping track of them. Someone writes it in the diary, someone else checks there’s space, and on the day the group is still filling in forms by the door.

An online booking system puts all of that in one place. Here’s what it is, how it works for you and your customers, and what to look for.

What an online booking system is

An online booking system is software that lets customers see what’s available, book and pay online, at any time. It’s sometimes called a reservation system, booking software or ticketing software.

Behind the scenes, it gives you one calendar for every booking, wherever it came from. For activity businesses it usually also handles the things a hotel or restaurant system doesn’t: waivers, instructors, kit, group sizes and age limits.

How it works for your customers

1. They select Book now on your website and choose an activity, a date and how many people are coming.
2. They pay online by card, or Apple Pay or Google Pay on their phone.
3. They get a confirmation email straight away.
4. Before the day, they sign your waiver and answer your questions online, and get a reminder.
5. After their visit, they can be asked to leave a review.

How it works for you

Every booking lands in the same calendar, so your team can see who’s coming, which instructor is on and what kit is out. The system stops selling a session when it’s full, so you don’t double-book.

Walk-ins and phone bookings should go through the same system too. That way your availability is always right, and your reports show every sale, however it was paid.

Why activity businesses use one

• Bookings at any hour: people plan trips in the evening and at weekends, when your phone is off.
• Less admin: no back-and-forth emails to agree a date, and no chasing payments by hand.
• Faster check-in: waivers and questionnaires are done before customers arrive.
• No double-booking: capacity, instructors and kit are checked as each booking comes in.
• Knowing your customers: reports show what sells, when, and who comes back.

What to look for

Systems vary a lot. The main things to check are how easy booking is on a phone, whether it handles everything you sell (activities, rentals, memberships, vouchers or stays), how payments and fees work, and whether waivers, staff and kit are built in. Our checklist of what to look for in a booking system goes through each one, and our guide to how a booking system protects your data covers security and GDPR.

How eola works

eola is a booking system made for activity businesses: watersports and outdoor centres, tours, courses, rentals and sites with accommodation. Bookings come from your own website through the eola booking widget, from your front desk, and from the eola marketplace, all into one dashboard.

Online waivers and questionnaires, card, cash and invoice payments, unlimited instructors and the marketplace are included on every plan. Rentals, customer check-in and automated resource management are on Pro.

Getting started with eola

1. Create your account. You don’t need to enter payment details to start exploring.
2. Connect to Stripe, eola’s payment provider, so you can get paid. Your bank details go straight to Stripe.
3. Add your activities under Products > Activities, with schedules, prices and add-ons.
4. Create your disclaimers and question packs, and assign them to each activity.
5. Add the booking widget to your website. Go to Toolset > Widget > My Widgets and copy one line of code into your site, or send it to your web designer.

If you’re moving from another system and have a lot of customer data, let our team know and we’ll help you bring it across.

What it costs

Starter is £0 a month and Pro is £249 a month. Card payments have a 1.7% + 30p processing fee, and customers pay a 5% booking fee at checkout. See our pricing page for what each plan includes.

See eola in action

Want to see how this could work for your business? Book a demo or get in touch with our team.