"Availability" date range would be a great addition

I've just started using Gravity Forms. Brilliant!!

I'm working on a small hotel website at the moment, and would love people to book directly on the various room pages using PHPurchase, rather than just making an enquiry via the form.

The problem is that I don't see a way to show current availability, or lack of availability. So, adding the option to pay would most likely lead to double bookings.

Would it be possible to expand the date picker & the schedule form dates functionality into an "availability" section/component, so that the form was not present if certain dates were no longer available and replaced by an editable message instead.

It seems like most of this functionality is already in place, with the exception of various date ranges. I think this would work really well for other events too, such as band gigs, etc.

Thanks for such a quick response Kevin!

The thing about "availability' is that it would benefit massively from being a visible section (rather than a role over). Maybe 2 calendars visible side by side, as bookings can often span the start or end of a month. Possibly with a time input for flexibility in other scenarios (not necessarily relevant to this project).

I'm thinking here of user experience & the ease of use for my (non-tech) client to use GF for bookings management. Coupled with a payment solution like PHPurchase I think it would be very powerful.

Having to rollover a pop-up calendar to check availability is bound to result in less conversion and just feels a bit clumsy compared to the elegance of the form.

I'll check out your links though too.

Thanks.

Hi Kevin

I checked out the link above, and I can see a possible work around, but not one that's user friendly for the person managing the site, as date ranges would have to be manually added to the JS every time a booking was made.

On the other hand, a GUI to manage the input of these dates would be a winner. =)

But thanks for the link 'cause it's pretty useful anyway.

I just want to throw my vote in to support this. I run a small business and want to give my clients the ability to book appointments based on an availability calendar and then pay for the time slot immediately (or put a deposit on it to hold it). You guys should have a page on your site where you list these ideas and let people donate to the ideas they want most. Incentive for you, incentive for us.

I agree. I've been researching available options and can hardly get past their own poorly presented websites, let alone the messy look and feel and clumsy usability of their solutions. And I *hate* the fact they all pull your customers off your site and onto theirs, giving you no control over the branding, styles, or process. Fingers crossed you guys consider this sooner than later. It is a huge industry. One solution boasts it booked 35 million appointments in its first year.

We too could use this. I just bought Gravity Forms and it seems to do everything I need except show date availability. Any progress on this front?

I do consulting and would love an availability option....

Is there already any proces on this front?

Anything like this maybe (and yes, it is my own): http://codecanyon.net/item/gravity-forms-connect-to-google-calendar/3598271