BoatBookingPro Docs ← boatbookingpro.com

Getting set up

From a fresh account to taking real bookings — most operators finish this page in under an hour.

1. Fleet

Under Fleet, create a boat type for each thing you rent (24' Pontoon, Jet Ski, Houseboat…), set its durations and prices, then add the individual boats. Customers book a type; the system assigns the best boat and staff can drag it to another on the grid.

2. Payments

Under Settings → Payments, connect your Stripe account (a couple of minutes, guided by Stripe). Booking money goes straight to you — BoatBookingPro never holds it. Use test mode first: Stripe's card 4242 4242 4242 4242 books without charging anybody.

3. Your website

You already have a hosted booking page at boatbookingpro.com/book/your-name — link any "Book Now" button to it. To take bookings inside your own site, paste the embed anywhere HTML goes:

<script src="https://boatbookingpro.com/embed.js" data-key="YOUR_PUBLIC_KEY"></script>

Your key is on the dashboard. Sold-out days automatically offer the next openings and a waitlist.

4. Waivers

Under Settings → Waivers, edit the starter agreement (have a lawyer read it — it's a starting point, not legal advice). Customers sign from their confirmation email; the dock flags anyone who hasn't. Signed waivers are hashed and archived as PDFs.

5. Texting

Connect a Twilio number under Settings and every confirmation can go by text too. Replies land in Messages for the whole crew. STOP/START are handled for you and always honoured.

6. The staff app

Dock staff sign into the BBP Staff app (iOS/Android) with their normal login. Today's arrivals, the board, the message inbox, and QR check-in — including offline: check-ins queue and sync when signal returns.

7. Importing old bookings

Coming from the Custom Elements Booking plugin or a spreadsheet? Export a CSV with columns service, start, end, name, email, phone, party_size, status, total, notes and send it to support — we run the import for you. History comes in as history; future bookings claim real boats, and anything that no longer fits is flagged for the grid instead of double-booked.