XOLA is amazing for many reasons, but they need to speed up their process for fixing bugs

XOLA excels in many ways at many things, especially customer service, helping you learn, and ease of use. However, when there are things that don't work well for you, it feels like you are up against a wall and you just have to deal with bugs, and they give the impression that these things won't be changed for a long time, and maybe never. You just have to love it for the awesome things it does and accept the frustrating things it doesn't do.

Pros

The best part about XOLA is their customer service. You can instantly chat with somebody at all times, and if you need to call and talk to a real person that is easy too. I cannot stress how amazing this is, as we have all spent hours going around in circles with customer service with other companies countless times. Sometimes for me to the point of frustrated tears. XOLA sets the standard for how reachable and friendly and helpful all customer service should be! XOLA also makes certain things incredibly fast and easy to do. You can tell a lot of thought has gone into functionality and usability, such as navigating through the site.

Cons

My biggest complaint is also about customer service. You can easily talk to somebody and they will help you figure something out or teach you how to do something. However, sometimes I need to do things that XOLA is not capable of, and I feel that being able to do them is extremely important. In this case they simply say they will forward your request to their development team, and maybe someday there will be a meeting about it and it might get changed in the future. Sometimes when you tell them what you need to be able to do they disagree with you, which is odd, because they are not the ones actually using the software to run a business! One example is I need to be able to remove credit card numbers attached to people's accounts. This is very important for many reason, one of which is sometimes they belong to an ex-spouse, have been cancelled due to fraud, are cards they don't want you to charge any more, etc etc, and when collecting a balance it adds tons of time and correspondence with clients to figure this out. This is one example of many things that you can DO on XOLA, but you can't UNDO. Like when you accidentally enter a person on the questionnaire, you can't delete that person. I just think when you tell them things like this that seem really logical and practical they should be able to change them, or at least make you believe they understand it is important to your daily functioning and that they will try to change it.

Smooth operator, but there's definitely room for improvement and new features

Overall the experience has been transformative. However, we're coming from basically no booking software at all - before XOLA we had just implemented an extremely rudimentary home-grown solution in an effort to organize our burgeoning business and a significant shift in our business model that was producing a much higher level of traffic (and revenue.) As a result, we've been able to capitalize on these new channels and really bring our business to another level. There's hiccups, as with anything, but we've seen the software maturing and changing to accommodate and scale up, and we're very happy with the results. I recommend this software for any small to medium-sized business that is looking for a solid, smooth booking experience. As the software improves, I believe there's a very good chance that it will become a best-of-breed app and is absolutely worthy of consideration.

Pros

Without a doubt this is a smooth app that knows what silk feels like. The UI has gone through some great improvements that have improved the silkiness to a degree even silkworms would be jealous of, but it's clear that they're taking the time to listen to their users in the development process and that's important. Performance is more than just good, it's Tony-the-tiger great. Smooth and well executed interface. It's missing features - some of them might be important to you, it's hard to say - but the devs do a great job of listening to feature requests and we've seen real, significant improvements all around. That's the sign of a maturing application.

Is it best-of-breed? Hard to say, and I'm sure there's arguments for and against, but I'll give them this: their support is out-freaking-standing. That alone is worth a few awkwardly implemented features or some gaps in how things are executed. If there's a problem, you connect to a staff that takes their support work seriously. I'm surprised they don't hop in a plane and come to your computer and help you out - they legitimately take every step just shy of that in an effort to find a solution. It's impressive and it outshines any downsides you might find in the app itself. Is there always a solution? No, that's unrealistic. But they often find a workaround and if they can't they'll make sure the devs know there's a gap that's been discovered and that needs to be looked at. Great, great support team.

Cons

There's feature gaps. Depending on any number of factors the software just doesn't quite fit - but it's close. Usually close enough - there's often a workaround that is... well, good enough. And you hope the devs close up the gap or shore it up and it won't get any worse. For the most part that happens, but when there's a 'feature release' you hold your breath and a lot of times you're left thinking to yourself "what? there's so much better things to have spent man-hours on than that..." To be fair, I've often found the implemented features to be useful once I've worked with them but there's still features - things I would consider fundamentally necessary - that haven't been implemented. It's a fail, but a relatively minor one. At least, for us - ymmv.

My experience with Xola has been outstanding. I've used two other systems - PeekPro and Bookeo.

Pros

I love the platform's ease of use, for both the customer and the user. When using previous platforms, we had customers calling continually because they were unable to complete transactions because they were confused with the setup. And, for the back-end user, it is a breeze! In fact, we never even had to train our employees to use Xola. The backend is extremely intuitive.

And, I can't say enough about Xola's customer support. It's the best of any platform I've used. If I have a problem, Xola's chat is ALWAYS available. I also appreciate the backend functionality of being able to refund customers with store credit. The system automatically emails the customer a promo code for future use and stores the information within our system. Rebooking previous customers is also a breeze!

And, what's BEST for me, is Xola's pricing model. We live in an area with a very high sales tax and I did not want to have to charge our customers an additional 6%. With Xola, we get an incredible platform (that more than pays for itself with the "abandoned shopping cart" feature) for a flat monthly rate.

Xola is also continually tweaking the platform, making it better. The most recent backend mobile update is incredible -- giving me near full functionality from the ease of my iPad.

Cons

As for cons, yikes. I really can't think of anything. When I do come across functionality features that I would like to see, I have easy access to suggest my solutions. What's even better? Xola actually listens.

Generally good - but not the very best

-- Online Ticket Booking Platform -- Online Scheduling System

Pros

-- 24 hour customer support available by chat
-- Clients stay on my website while booking tickets for my escape rooms using Xola
-- Automated reminder e-mails
-- Ability to customize questionnaire and booking requirements
-- A salesperson quoted me a price and stuck to it
-- Report Features
-- Great Credit Card processing rate (through Stripe)
-- Ability to integrate with Google Cal so staff can see when they are scheduled to work
-- Instigation with Smartwaiver (limited, would like more)

Cons

LIMITED CLOSING OPT:
You can set sessions to have cut off times. This is important but when I used FareHarbor it allowed me to keep sessions open if the session was partially sold. I would like this feature on Xola. Currently there has to be a hard cut off time -- or I have to keep the session open until it's start time.

LIMITED INTEGRATIONS//NO CRM CAPABILITIES:
The system doesn't integrate with MailChimp, it integrates with Smartwaiver but on a limited basis. For example if Joe books 6 tickets Xola captures Joes information. His 5 friends information is added on Smartwaiver but then I have to dig into Smartwaiver to find their info. I doesn't turn them into a customer profile even through Smartwaiver waiver is connected to Xola. It doesn't integrate with Trip Advisor Review Express -- so I have to manually enter each customer e-mail between Smartwaiver and Xola.

BUGS & UPDATES:
They are constantly making changes. Sometimes I log on and have to look for something in a new place (updates are always accompanied by e-mails) however, I would prefer to choose if I want to update features or not. Sometimes these updates and improvements cause bugs -- At one point a bug was impacting my settings. It took them over a week to solve the problem and I didn't get any kind of update. I always had to ask for it.

I feel like complaints and requests go into a long report that no one reads. They have come out with lots of updates but none that I have requested.

Xola is the best reservation service. Some bigger, others less expensive. So what? I want the best!

My entire 6-figure income business (not bad for only 3 years in the ultimate boutique of astronomy tourism) is powered by Xola. I would not be nearly as successful as am, if not for Xola. My customers find it as easy and enjoyable to use as I do. I'm constantly referring others to Xola -- everybody except my closest competitors of course. I don't want everybody to wield the might power of Xola as I do. :-)

Pros

The software is easy to use and yet still has a lot of capability. Indeed Xola has allowed me to add capability and service (gift certificates, rain-check coupons, equipment rental, etc) to my business that I would not have thought of implementing if not for Xola showing me how easy and profitable it would be.

The absolute best part about Xola is their customer support. I don't need much help, but occasionally a client's credit card company gets obnoxious when the guest asks me to add another person to their bill, but a quick online-chat with Xola folks (even if 3am as it usually is for me because my business is astronomy tourism) and problem resolved. Some reservation companies brag about how they assign specific agents to each client but that's not as great as it sounds. At Xola everybody knows my name and my business model which means I literally get 24-hr support.

About twice a month one of Xola's so-called competitors try to woo me away. I sat through about 6 or so of these pitches just to confirm that Xola was the best, and now I turn the table on these poor interlopers. When they say "You should switch your business to us!" I argue, "You should switch your career to Xola!" And I follow through by providing a link to Xola's employment page and their excellent reviews at Glassdoor.

Cons

Xola's phone app has some limitations compared their html software, but they are steadily improving that too. I don't see this as a real problem because running a business is serious and complicated matter and nobody does serious stuff on their phone right?

For example when I first tried to make this review for capterra on my phone, it crashed when the captcha failed to load correctly. Then I couldn't go back and lost everything. So I fired up my laptop and rewrote this review from scratch. Phones are silly.

Responsive to needs and continually improving the software from my feedback.

All booking info in one place and so easy to keep on track of what is coming up for both myself and my employees. Also, easy reporting to see trends, end of month reports, etc. I can access the info from anywhere - even when away on vacation. Also, I believe more customers will book, when it is right there with a "book now" button - they don't need to call, or email and so they do more impulse scheduling. I even use the feature to be able to contact those that don't complete a booking and it almost always results in a booking, once I've had the chance to contact them and answer the questions that may have stopped them from booking on their first impulse. Without Xola, I would never have even known they were considering booking....that results in more bookings and more satisfied customers. My customers all rave about the ease of booking - Happy Customers means repeat customers.

Pros

Ease of Use and Customer Support -- I looked at many companies and did demos prior to making my decision to go with Xola. Xola is, by far, the easiest to use of all the companies that I demoed. Inputting product, making changes, updating info is all easy and very intuitive to use. When I can't easily figure something out, Xola's 'chat' feature is AWESOME! There is always someone there to quickly guide me through with very little or no wait time. They walk me through the process via chat and once even offered to call me, instead, so they could more easily guide me through how to do something. If I have a need that Xola can't fulfill, they immediately send that to their development team and in most cases, I get an email or call saying the feature (or a similar one) is now available.
I've had offers from other companies that may be less expensive - but am so impressed by Xola's customer responsiveness, that it would take a LOT before I would make a change. VERY happy overall with my choice to go with Xola!

Cons

Calendar does not show multi-day events (only the first day shows). Also - only allows for 'group' or bulk discounts on same item. I would like a way to have the system give "Xth purchase free" - for example - so once someone has booked 2 items, it could prompt them with a "Buy one more and you get a free one". I saw other companies with this capacity, BUT then they had other things that I did not like. Overall - Xola has more Positives for me, than negatives.

Easy to learn/train/use, responsive to tech support needs, and good variety of features.

Xola has greatly enhanced our ability to make the sales process easy to use for the customer, as well as robust and easy to use for our sales and accounting team.

Pros

The ability to sell gift cards at discounts (and then to properly manage the accounting on the backend) is one of the great new features that we really like. This is quite a simple checkout process, but the underlying logic is quite complex. Xola did a great job on this rollout, which speaks more in general to their quality control with new releases. We find that as Xola rolls out new features, they are really well supported, with very limited "bugs" right out of the gate. This has been reassuring, as they have demonstrated the discipline to thoroughly vet updates prior to release, so that there are limited problems caused for their clients with the updates. This allows us to enjoy the new features without the headaches of "unintended consequences" that can sometimes come with feature releases.
Also, more in general, Xola has done a good job in making their product use intuitive, This aids the ease of the booking process, makes sales quick, training quick, and even helps in troublshooting.
Lastly, the existence of an API is nice, as we have been able to build a few integrations with other software that we also use.

Cons

The ability to export data to excel is nice, but it would be great to have more customizable reporting capability within the software, and/or the ability to create report templates. It would also be nice to do more with packaging of products, rather than just have the ability to sale individually. Lastly, it would be nice to be able to manage Lodging accommodations (i.e. multi-day bookings) a bit more cleanly. They have a workaround for Lodging, but it is a bit cumbersome to use.

C'MON features!

Pros

I started with Xola back when the booking software genre was almost nonexistent. Back then there was Bookeo and that was about it. Now I get a sales call every week from competitors. Peek Pro seems to be the only software that is more feature rich but they are pushy and spam your customers if they get ahold of your data base so beware about them. Xola has an easy and beautiful interface. Non-pushy sales people. Help when you need it. Great ability to manage customers IF you never have to reschedule. The cost is lower than other companies if your doing volume greater than 5K a month. A good choice but you need a dedicated reservationist if you are offering an experience were rescheduling is common.

Cons

When pricing out a booking software company for your business consider the cost of an employee to manually have to reschedule your customers if your experience is prone to cancellation i.e. rain, wind, snow etc. and add it to the monthly cost of Xola to get an accurate idea of the true cost. The point of having a booking software is so you can concentrate on running your business and making it grow. Playing secretary is part of owning a small business but when it takes from R&D, marketing, quality of life it can kill you. Xola only allows your customer to book and reschedule themselves prior to their scheduled date. If you cancel the day of the adventure the customer has NO ability to reschedule if your experience is cancelled due to weather. If you are in a tourist area where you don't have an option to reschedule people because they are on vacation or the experience that you provide is indoor and cancellations rarely occur Xola is a great choice. If your experience is subject to weather and you take the entirety of the experience cost in advance, Xola has fallen behind severely compared to the the other big name in booking software. I provide Hot Air Balloon rides in an area that is prone to strong winds and rain during the season. My demographic is local and I sell my experience to customers that can and know that rescheduling is normal. I leave a recorded message the day of the flight and if the flight is cancelled there is no way in Xola to email the passengers a link to reschedule! Xola allows the customer to select another date prior to the experience and you can set those perimeters but after the customers first date choice, if it is cancelled, that is where you are left back in the 80's. In order to get your customers rescheduled on another date you need to do it over the phone and manually move them in Xola and online for it to move in real time. Xola has completely missed the boat for the experience provider that has to cancel for environmental reasons. I have submitted this feature request for two years now and it has shown no movement. They said it is not a common feature request and told us we could give the customer a "store credit". A credit sounded good until we realized that the customer would have to put al their personal detail starting with their name again to go that route. That is just not an appropriate thing to have your customers who are paying good money have to do and it looks unprofessional. I know for a fact two other operations left Xola for a booking company that offers a solution to the common problem of rescheduling for us outdoor providers. I think that they perhaps specialize in the hiking tours, or biking tour company that goes wind, rain, or shine and just refunds their customer if they cancel. Perhaps most of Xola's merchants operate in tourist areas where the customer does not reschedule because they are going home from vacation. The irony is that they offer our customers a great option to reschedule themselves prior to their first date. Why not extend that availability to after the date in case the experience is cancelled and the customer doesn't want a refund or via policy has to reschedule.

For customers booking online, selecting a date and paying is seamless. The merchant can customize a checklist for the customer i.e. what to bring, what's included, a map the meeting point. We receive just the odd phone call asking for clarification and payment is quick. On the other hand we need to hire staff to answer the phones just to rebook our customers on days it is raining or too windy to fly. On average another 40 hours of phone calls and talk time is added to our expense because of the lack of a customizable reschedule link we could send our customers so they could reschedule themselves. Customers like not having to leave voicemails if we are on the other line and %95 of customers would rather NOT wait to speak to a reservationist to go over dates that may or may not be filled. It's really frustrating and I do not believe we are the only one or one of the few merchants that need or would find a simple reschedule feature useful as they have implied to us.

The only other con is that they now leave the price on the gift certificates when a customer buys one. This was not always the case. Xola has a mailable and printable gift certificate option which we utilize heavily and you can now offer experiences at a discount but they for some reason notify the recipient of the price. We have been told and agree with several of our customers that leaving the price on the gift certificate is tacky. It has not always been that way, just with the recent update. I understand if you are giving a cash card to someone, you would need and want the recipient to know the price to avoid an embarrassing moment at a store or restaurant but who leaves the price tag on a gift? Xola gives the recipient a code so the recipient can book only and that process is easy but it's clear how much nanny spent and loves them the moment they get the printed gift certificate or email.

We went from chasing a couple hundred bucks a week to help pay for a hobby we love and turned it in to a serious 2 person small business with gross income in the six digits, well 3 person and income in the 5 digits because we need someone to handle all the manual reschedules. Feature requests do get noticed but at about 1.5 year turn around. It's been two years since we have been asking for this. We have grown and enjoyed Xola, we just for their sake since the booking software market is so competitive now want to see them be #1 and have the client base Peek Pro does as they are a lot more ethical but we fear they won't if this feature isn't added and if the feature turnaround isn't quicker.

Our review may appear negative even though we enjoy most of Xola. We understand all businesses have their little intricacies but we have been an experience provider for over ten years now and have offered many activities, rescheduling is a part of booking management no matter what adventure you provide, we and we are certain most other experience providers agree, just understand you will NOT have that option with Xola. Xola could be the best by far with just a couple more features.

I recently moved 4 tour companies onto Xola from other options and I am happy to never look back!

Slicker guest interface as well as a more intuitive and cleaner user interface for staff.

Pros

My favorite thing about Xola has been the extremely knowledgeable and speedy support staff always being at the ready via email, phone or 24hrs a dang day via chat. I can not tell you how key it is to understand that hours of need to not happen between 9-5 somestandardtime but can happen at anytime. To me, having someone there to bounce questions and issues or even just log a feature request is key compared to the many other software companies that offer lame "help/knowledge bases" or "video tutorials" you can search forever and still not find what you need.

I also appreciate that they are not resting on their laurels when it comes to updates and feature additions. Since I have been using Xola since Jan 2017 they have released many updates that actually have workflow function compared to "Wow.. we made it so you can add emoji's to your email signature" type of stuff I have suffered through as "function upgrades" on other platforms.

Lastly I really like that the software has the ability to be cross platform and mobile and you can still have full functionality. It is helpful that they are working towards upgrading the app as they go so more actions can be tackled through there as well.

Cons

The mobile app for android at least could really use a "refresh" feature like on the web so I can swap between company accounts easier than restarting the app.

The guide management is a growing feature so I hope more develops there sooner than later which is more about my personal workflow needs than anything else.

Lastly, it is not something that has as much to do with Xola as it does with Google in that the subscribed calendar feature Xola offers does not work well with the way google imports them so I would love to see a push style calendar notification instead so those not on apple products are not left with inaccurate calendars. Again more a Google screw up than Xola but I really really want xola to rework the calendar notification option so it can integrate better cross-platform.