Set up BoardingWP with confidence.

Step 1

Prepare WooCommerce

BoardingWP depends on WooCommerce for checkout, orders, coupons, taxes, and refunds, so it is worth confirming the store basics before you build the boarding flow.

1. Install and activate WooCommerce before taking live bookings.
2. Go to WooCommerce > Settings > General and set your store currency, selling location, and tax settings.
3. Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Payments and enable the payment gateways you want to offer.
4. Place a small test order in WooCommerce so you can confirm checkout and email delivery are working before testing BoardingWP bookings.

Step 2

Install BoardingWP

1. Upload and activate the BoardingWP plugin ZIP.
2. Confirm WooCommerce is active. BoardingWP uses it for checkout, payments, coupons, taxes, and refunds.
3. If prompted, activate your BoardingWP licence from the account or licence screen.

Step 3

Create pet types

1. Go to BoardingWP > Pet Types.
2. Create each pet type you board, such as dogs or cats.
3. Set the description, nightly price, default nightly capacity, and enabled state.
4. Add the intake fields you need, such as age, breed, medication, feeding notes, vaccination dates, or temperament notes.
5. Use custom field ordering to keep customer forms clear and easy to complete.
6. Optionally add a reduced nightly rate that applies once a minimum pet quantity is reached.

Step 4

Configure availability

1. Go to BoardingWP > Availability.
2. Add recurring weekday closures for days you never accept check-ins or stays for a pet type.
3. Add date-range closures for holidays, staff breaks, renovations, or fully closed periods.
4. Add capacity overrides for special periods. Overrides replace the pet type’s default capacity for each date in the selected range.

Step 5

Create public booking pages

Step 6

Configure optional extras

1. Create a simple WooCommerce product for each optional extra.
2. Open the product’s Pet Booking Extra tab.
3. Enable the product as a booking extra.
4. Choose the charge basis: per booking, per night, per selected pet per booking, or per selected pet per night.
5. Choose applicable pet types, or leave the pet type selection empty if the extra should be available for all pets.

Booking extras are hidden from the normal WooCommerce shop and are selected during the BoardingWP booking flow.

Step 7

Review emails

1. Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Emails.
2. Review the BoardingWP email templates for confirmations, cancellations, refund failures, and manual payment requests.
3. Set the staff recipient globally under BoardingWP > Settings, or override recipients inside WooCommerce email settings where needed.
4. Preview or send each email type before launch.

Step 8

Test before launch

1. Create a test pet type and availability rule.
2. Complete a guest booking and confirm the WooCommerce order is created correctly.
3. Complete a logged-in booking and confirm saved pet profiles can be reused.
4. Test optional extras and coupon codes.
5. Confirm booking confirmation emails reach staff and customer inboxes.
6. Test cancellation with a refundable gateway if available.
7. Test offline or manual-payment cancellation and confirm staff handle any refund outside BoardingWP where required.

Step 9

Licence and updates

If your licence expires, installed booking functionality continues to operate, while updates and support are limited until renewal.