Checkfront Software

It's very easy to integrate Checkfront with a WordPress site, add the plugin and embed a link. The bulk of the work is on the Checkfront side where you'll design the layout of i.e., tour packages you're offering online from images to copy, the rules (example, guests had the opportunity to select a 2, 3 or 5 day walking tour and received an overall package discount after X days.) Recommendations when you're looking at options for online reservations is to consider how many bookings you expect per year and look at how many you're allowed at X price point from other vendor solutions. The lowest pricing package with Checkfront is $49/month with 1200 bookings maximum in a year. My client's tour program operates seasonally so this fit her criteria and price point.

Pros

What stood out to me with Checkfront was the features + Support team. I chose Checkfront on behalf of a client after reviewing a bunch of solutions for booking travel tours online.

I was really impressed with the responsiveness of the Checkfront support team when answering my technical questions. My client had a WordPress site and I chose Checkfront as the tool to integrate her online booking requirements.

I tested out free trials of Checkfront and a few other online booking solutions and between the responsiveness of the support team and the actual functionality, Checkfront was it. You can do quite a lot to customize Checkfront from the rules to how the online booking feature looks on your website. The support team was always responsive, before and after we decided to sign up.

Cons

From a business owner perspective, you'll want to bring someone on board to configure the tool if you're not tech savvy. It's not a bad thing for folks like me, because I do this work on behalf of clients. If you're curious you can download a free trial and play around with it. To be successful with this or any other online booking tool, you'll want to be clear on what you're needs are i.e., what you're offering for bookings, availability, discounts after X days. The back-end administrative area is as important as setting up the guest facing side. Again, as a business owner if you're not tech savvy, you may want someone to handle the administrative side of bookings depending on your volume.

We use CheckFront for all our booking needs. From RV, Cabins, to Birthday, CheckFront handles it all.

Pros

Easy to use
Great versatility
Affordable software
Zero downtime
Plenty of built-in integrations

Cons

The calendar grid doesn't allow you to book a reservation by clicking to add.

We are in general very happy with Checkfront. It has allowed us to manage our tours and events in a more efficient way.

Pros

It's ability to let our attendees register events and school tours; invoicing capability; I'm able to manage my events easily.

Cons

It's not always intuitive when you can't figure something out and you can only email the company with issues. There are no direct customer service numbers to call if you need immediate assistance.

Has saved a lot of time (once setup), customer support has been helpful

Pros

A lot of different features for customization to suit your business

Cons

Doesn't integrate smoothly with Vend (yet)

System is always performing well and very helpful Tech Support Team!!

Pros

Easy to navigate and make necessary adjustments

Cons

None so far. I really like Checkfornt.

Pros

The homepage option I chose is absolutely beautiful since it showcases pictures front and centre. It's also mobile-friendly, which is a huge plus. It shows you if people are using mobile or desktop and it's about 50/50 for us, so it's definitely crucial that this is a mobile-friendly experience. It's also easy for most of our users to use, which is great.

Cons

There are some features that don't exist, like charging a hold to the credit card. I'm using the product for a condo amenities booking system, and it would be ideal to be able to put an amount hold on the user's credit card as a security deposit. Instead, we have to actually charge the client and then process a refund manually, which is tedious and time-consuming. Luckily the software is detailed enough that I have been able to work around most of the issues so far, but some of the workarounds have been ridiculous. For example, for one amenity we have a per hour fee. Instead of being able to input a maximum daily fee, I have to input the fees individually.

Pros

The customer service and help center is invaluable. The assistants are very helpful, knowledgeable and cheerful .

Cons

Sometimes is difficult to find the right tutorial you need. There are too many and not necessarily perfectly categorized. Therefore, Help center comes into play.

Great customer service

Pros

Great App
Clean interface
No need to customers to leave my site to pay
Great integration with many apps

Cons

Not really geared to accomodation industry

I use checkfront to manage my calendar for tours. My life is made much easier allowing clients to book their own tours on their own time and having all tours located on one calendar in real time.

Pros

I like the fixed costs, the ability to customize, and the ability to make quick changes on my own.

Cons

The many layers of customization make it difficult at times to figure out why a tour is open or not open for booking. Many times I can't get the software to do exactly what I'd like but rarely is it impossible to approximate.

Excellent

Pros

Integrates easily to website. first class customer service, instinctive easy to use systems

Cons

System does not recognise when minimum group size has been booked and wont allow 1 person to book from that point on.

Pros

Pretty much any type of reservations can be designed with the SW
Good support to get started
Easy to integrate in Wordpress

Cons

Graphic interface for end user isn't good looking
It's possible to start a group booking, then the system will realize there s a single booking already made at the same time and block the process. Not ideal for customer workflow
Quite complex concepts exist that make it hard to grasp

Positive

Pros

ease of use and smooth processes. Easy overview if all booking

Cons

no EU real-time support. We only receive overnight replies

Overall its a great product with amazing customer service!

Pros

I like the functionality and how seamless it integrates into our website and payment gateway. Our customers find it easy to use. The reporting features are also a big plus.

Cons

I wish I could customize a couple things, but overall it works really well.

It's been really easy from my first training session to my most recent set of reports that made my boss smile!

Pros

Ease of use on my lap top, iPad and mobile phone. Brilliant support - It's quick, it's clear and it's useful. Easily generated reports that gives me the information I need.

Cons

There's not much I don't like!

There are some things I'd like to be able to customise and as yet, I haven't been able to BUT they are little things and don't in anyway affect the usability of the overall system.

Great

Pros

I don’t have to spend time on phone booking customers.

Cons

It’s a little bit confusing when I give a refund.

Really positive - very easy to work with

Pros

Ease of use in terms of product build - very user-friendly

Cons

Back end API integrations - getting there though

I love checkfront. Customer service is great. Responses are quick. The app is user friendly and easy to use.

Pros

I love how easy this software is to use. Setting up tours, packages, classes and hire options has been a breeze with easy shortcodes to include booking links on my website. Also love that if a class requires certain hire equipment, with each booking the hire equipment also books out - meaning I can't overbook our standard equipment hire. The app is super easy to use and love that it all syncs with my phone's calendar.

Cons

Would like a "membership" option for those that frequent our business. I know there's a workaround but it's not really the easiest way. The upgrade to using liability waivers is a pretty big price difference! Would love a smaller pricepoint option for single option upgrades as I don't need all features on the next tier.

Best in class still!

Pros

Great core features, rock-solid stability, and ease of setup and integration to our systems. And they have a fantastic support team.

Cons

Odd occasional niggles with the API (though support usually solves it quite quickly), missing some big data integrations (we're very demanding clients).

It's pretty easy to work with once you get used to the terminology used in the setup.

Pros

The pricing is great. Their support is great.

Cons

Lack of commissionable rate pricing for travel trade. Lack of proper accounting audit trail.

Few benefits since we have had challenges implementing it for what we wanted to do

Pros

Highly cost effective and fast support when needed

Cons

Control functionality is complicated to understand