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Core Bookings

Core Bookings 0.8.0: overlapping services, FluentCart checkout and Brevo reminders

I've released Core Bookings 0.8.0 with more control over scheduling, checkout and reminder emails.

The biggest change is optional overlap between services. You can allow a full-day service and a short consultation to share the same staff member's time. The rule works in either booking order, while bookings within each service still follow their capacity limits. External calendar events continue to block availability.

Here's what else is included:

  • Native FluentCart checkout: a booking and selected extras can share a single order. FluentCart works on its own; GT Extensions for FluentCart is optional and can enhance the checkout.
  • Embedded Stripe payments: customers can pay inside the booking view using Stripe's Payment Element. Hosted Stripe Checkout remains available.
  • Brevo reminder templates: schedule up to 5 reminders and choose a different Brevo template for each step. For example, you could send different messages 48 hours, 24 hours and 2 hours before an appointment. WordPress mail remains the default.
  • Turnstile protection: optional security checks cover new bookings, waitlist requests and email sign-in requests.
  • Developer extensions: registered customer metadata, REST access and booking lifecycle hooks give you more room to build a custom frontend or connect another system.

Core Bookings continues to support guest bookings and optional Core Forms intake. FluentCart's own account-creation settings apply when you use its checkout.

A couple of limits to keep in mind: FluentCart bookings currently collect full payment; deposits and session packs continue through Stripe. Partial refunds on orders containing bookings and other items need manual allocation review.

You can update from WordPress Dashboard > Updates with your Core Bookings license active. Core Bookings is still in beta, so I recommend testing your payment and email connections on staging first.

The hosted demo is available for trying the scheduling and admin workflow. Payments and outbound email are disabled there.

If something breaks after updating, reply here with the steps that led to it and I'll look into it.