Luxa Booking — User Guide

Last updated on August 3, 2026 · 5 min read

Who this guide is for

This guide covers day-to-day usage of Luxa Booking once it’s installed and configured. For installation and license activation, see the Installation & License Setup Guide instead.

1. Getting started

Luxa Booking lets your customers book appointments with your staff directly from your website — they pick a service, a staff member, and an available time slot, then confirm with their contact details. You manage everything (services, staff, working hours, and the bookings themselves) from Luxa Booking in your wp-admin sidebar.

First things to check after activation

  • Go to Luxa Booking → Services and add at least one service (name, duration, price if applicable).
  • Go to Luxa Booking → Staff and add at least one staff member.
  • Go to Luxa Booking → Availability and set that staff member’s working hours.
  • Add the [luxa_booking] shortcode to any page — this is the booking form your customers will use.
  • Go to Luxa Booking → Settings and check the GDPR consent text and data-retention period match your privacy policy.

2. Core features (Free)

Services & Staff

Set up unlimited services and staff members, with no artificial cap on the number of bookings you can take. Each staff member has their own availability schedule, so a customer only ever sees real open slots for the specific person/service combination they picked.

Availability management

Working hours are set per staff member. Luxa Booking automatically excludes any time that’s already booked (plus an optional buffer time between appointments, configurable in Settings) when showing available slots to a customer.

The [luxa_booking] shortcode renders a 3-step form (service + staff → date/time → contact details), with a configurable GDPR consent checkbox before submission. Data retention rules live under Settings → GDPR.

Email confirmations & admin dashboard

Every booking sends a confirmation email to the customer and a notification to the site admin. The Luxa Booking dashboard gives you an at-a-glance view of upcoming and recent bookings, with full management (view, edit, cancel) under Luxa Booking → Bookings.

Every confirmation email includes a one-click cancellation link, secured with a unique token — no login required for the customer to cancel their own booking.

Unpaid bookings don’t block your calendar

If a customer starts checkout for a paid service (via the Stripe add-on) and doesn’t complete payment, that booking is automatically cancelled after a short grace period (default: 30 minutes, adjustable under Settings → General → “Auto-cancel unpaid bookings after”) — so the time slot frees up for the next customer instead of staying blocked indefinitely.

Stripe Payments (free add-on)

Accept payment at time of booking via Stripe’s Payment Element — supports SCA/3DS (required for EU cards), Apple Pay, and Google Pay. This add-on is free and doesn’t require a Pro license; install it like any other plugin.

3. Pro features

Everything in this section requires an active Luxa Booking Pro license (see Installation & License Setup Guide).

Luxa Booking Pro itself doesn’t add new booking-flow features on its own — its role is to unlock the three official add-ons below. Once your Pro license is active, install any of them and it activates automatically, no separate purchase or key required per add-on.

Google Calendar

Two-way sync between Luxa Booking and a connected Google Calendar — a confirmed booking creates a calendar event automatically, and cancelling the booking removes it.

SMS Reminders

Sends an SMS reminder (via Twilio) ahead of a confirmed appointment, with a customisable message template.

Zoom Meetings

Automatically generates a unique Zoom meeting link for each confirmed booking and includes it in the confirmation details — useful for remote/online appointments.

4. Add-ons

All three add-ons below are separate plugins you install like any other, but they only activate their functionality once a Luxa Booking Pro license is active on the site — there’s no separate purchase or license key per add-on.

Google Calendar

See §3 above. Install and activate Luxa Booking — Google Calendar, then connect your Google account under its settings screen.

SMS Reminders

See §3 above. Install and activate Luxa Booking — SMS Reminders, then enter your Twilio credentials under its settings screen.

Zoom Meetings

See §3 above. Install and activate Luxa Booking — Zoom Meetings, then connect your Zoom account under its settings screen.

5. Common workflows

“I want to accept paid, EU-compliant bookings”

  1. Install and activate the Stripe Payments add-on (free, no license needed).
  2. Under its settings, add your Stripe publishable/secret keys and webhook secret.
  3. Set a price on any service under Luxa Booking → Services.
  4. When a customer books that service, they’ll be prompted for payment (with 3DS/SCA handled automatically) before the booking is confirmed.
  1. Make sure your Luxa Booking Pro license is active.
  2. Install and activate the Zoom Meetings add-on.
  3. Connect your Zoom account under its settings screen.
  4. Every new confirmed booking will now include a unique Zoom link in its confirmation email automatically — no manual step per booking.

“I want customers reminded by text the day before”

  1. Make sure your Luxa Booking Pro license is active.
  2. Install and activate the SMS Reminders add-on, and enter your Twilio Account SID/Auth Token/From number.
  3. Customise the reminder message template if desired.
  4. Reminders send automatically ahead of each confirmed booking with a phone number on file — no manual step per booking.

6. Getting help

Last updated: 2026-08-03. Written for Luxa Booking version 1.1.6.

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