Xola Software

Great booking software for small business

Xola takes a ton of the work load from the booking process and streamlined it so people are ready to go as soon as possible. It makes it mischief easier for us to track and keep up with our customers and prospective customers and even makes marketing and promotion more effective. The support is great and the interface is easy for us and our customers.

Pros

The set up and user interface is really easy for the most part. The customer service is fast and responsive, anytime I have a problem it’s answer d in minutes over the phone. The pricing option are really good for small business/new start ups and the booking fees are very reasonable. The best part is Xola is geared towards the outdoor industry and the software easily integrates into your existing website. It also has automated features like abaindon cart as well as custom coupons and discounts which I really like. We use this software for our SUP/Kayak rental business and it has been fantastic so far.

Cons

There could be more customization on the backend of the booking parameters, for instance selecting availability dates for a rental unit takes some time. I think it would be nice if Xola offered it’s own credit card terminal. It is difficult to add two separate “experiences” to one purchase, meaning if a customer of mine wanted to rent one kayak and one SUP they would have to do separate transactions.

Good but could be better

Pros

The customer service is what I liked the most

Cons

That I’ve had to contact customer service for issues booking customers via Xola

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.

Xola Booking and Marketing System Review

Easy to receive information

Pros

The roster that is available the night / day before

Cons

The constant input of the password
Th writing is too small

Excellent customer service

We are able to efficiently book reservations for our park.

Pros

Very easy to use and service reps are quick to help and make changes as needed

Cons

Not much negative to say. Overall very happy

Need some extra features - Great App

We have been working for years with Xola and everything goes great, we love it! If only we can have this extra info in the booking detail it would be cool.

Pros

Is easy to use, my customers find it useful and the best feature for our business is to get Google Analytics data and the new Xola custom reports.

Cons

We really need to show more info in the booking detail not just day picker. Maybe some custom fields like a map, conditional inputs, description, etc. I know we can get this info in the questionnaire after booking, but we believe that displaying questions like "you need pick up?" "are you arriving in airplane or cruiser?"

Can't recommend Xola enough

Pros

Everything about Xola is great - their service, feature set, support, and total value. We've been using them for a few years now. I can't imagine doing business without them.

Cons

Their mobile app hasn't been updated in a bit and it would be nice to have that working a little more fluidly.

Best yet

Always a good one. easy to use and helpful staff make it awesome.

Pros

I like that it is internet based. I can make changes on the fly, check on sign up and control inventory from anywhere. very user friendly and easy to learn.

Cons

id like to be able to link certain classes to their own trip advisor. we use multiple locations. the tech's have submitted my request recently.

Xola's Support Team is Awesome!

Customers can book online and I receive immediate notification. I don't have to do a thing!

Pros

They set up everything for me; no worries with that end of things at all. I would have never figured it out myself. Also, they are ALWAYS available in the chat window. I've never had a problem they didn't help me with immediately.

Cons

Well, I've been hounded by some other companies to switch at a lesser price. I'm loyal, though, and will not switch. But in comparison, they may be a bit more expensive.

Easy to use and navigate

wonderful!

Pros

The software is easy to use, and if you make a mistake during the booking process it's easy to fix

Cons

the app runs pretty slow, and sometimes the browser takes a second to load

Great if you use it right the first time

It's been good but I definitely had to learn to work around some limitations.

Pros

I like the look. It's clean and modern with an intuitive feel.

Cons

I dislike that actions aren't tracked enough. Anyone is able to modify events and there is no record or accountability.

Xola Booking software is great

Without a great online booking platform you loose a huge portion of business! Xola helps create an online business infrastructure! They are great at handling the customer payment and provide quick money transfers as well!

Pros

The software is very easy to use, and has fantastic customer engagement emails; reminders, and followup etc

Cons

It does have some customization limitations, but if you are patient you can find acceptable workarounds!

Xola for Escape Room

Overall it has made our booking process much faster for both our team members and our guests.

Pros

I liked that it is easy to use for both our team members are for our guests. I love that it saves guest and CC information, so it makes it very easy to reserve returning guests.

Cons

I really dislike that when a guest is reserving online it does not hold the spots for them. We have had many upset guests because the game they were about to pay filled up! I also really hate the integrations with 3rd parties, because we can not move or change anything to those reservations.

Xola Use

We used to use bookeo, and customers had so much trouble. Xola is very clear for customer use, and that's very important.

Pros

I would recommend Xola to anyone! It's very easy for users, and the admin side is pretty easy to navigate!

Cons

Sometimes you have to scroll all the way down the page just to check the names of all of the waivers.

Easy to Use, Great Customer Service, Could Improve on Reporting Tools

Overall, we've been very happy as a Xola client!

Pros

Xola features a great online dashboard and an open API for easy integration. Customer service is fantastic; I've always gotten very quick responses via online chat and opening tickets with the company's IT team.

Cons

The reporting and analytics tools have lots of room for improvement. Xola has a lot of data to work with, but clients can only see a limited amount of it via the online dashboard. Luckily the API is a great resource for retrieving data, but obviously not as easy to use as an improved reporting dashboard would be.

Goldilocks Booking Software

After using a half dozen alternatives, I settled on Xola because they offer the features I need at an affordable, flat monthly price. Hence, Goldilocks. They haven't succumbed to the money-grab of taking a percentage of operators sales like other companies. Overall, my experience with Xola for the past four years have been excellent. I highly recommend them for tours and activities businesses.

Pros

-Reasonable fixed pricing per location rather than pass-through costs to customer
-Responsive support
-New features regularly
-Great back end functionality and ease of use

Cons

-Still missing some features specific to my industry (robust resource management and better guide assignment)

XOLA Review

It was easy to learn and makes booking very easy and quick.

Pros

How easy it is to use and utilize from different platforms (computer, iPad, mobile.)

Cons

Occasionally, it does not function properly from iPad.

Xola works fine, but is kinda clunky

Pros

It works to get people booked. It takes money and signs them up.

Cons

Difficult to make changes and there isn't a good help or tutorial button. I also have trouble getting all the roster data exported correctly sometimes. Inputting roster questions is not user friendly, because once inputted I cannot drag and drop the order

A singular experience

Xola manages my entire booking process for my escape room. They also handle all of my payments.

Pros

As an escape room owner, I am always looking for a solution that does absolutely everything I want it to do. That solution does not exist, and many booking vendors fall significantly short. Xola is way beyond where any other vendor is in this space. The ease of use, GUI, functionality, and development plan that Xola offers is unmatched.

But the product is only part of the experience you get when you sign up for Xola. As a business owner, I NEVER know when I will be able to scratch out a few hours of work. Sometimes it is Sunday afternoon, some days it is Tuesday at 10:00pm. Xola has 24/7 chat support. I have never not been responded to in longer than 90 seconds (it is almost always 25 seconds or less). Their service reps always answer my question, and if I suggest a feature that is not currently active, they send it to the devs to look at.

At the end of the day, the software just works. And when I don't know how to work it right, there is someone there to literally hold my hand through the learning process.

Cons

The things that I dislike about Xola are so nuanced and esoteric that I don't think I could fairly list them here. It is more like there are things that I would do differently, but that is because I have a different approach to things than they do - and they offer services to companies that are not Escape Rooms like I am, so their solution needs to work across a wider breath of business than I own.

good product

good product

Pros

works well need fewer steps on back end

Cons

not seasonal can't edit emails by customer