If you run a hotel, vacation rental, or B&B, you’re probably tired of paying 15-20% commissions on every reservation to Airbnb and Booking.com.
What if you could take direct bookings instead? Through your own website? And without any middleman taking a cut?
With MotoPress Hotel Booking, that’s exactly what you get. This WordPress plugin turns your WordPress site into a commission-free booking engine that syncs with OTAs in real-time.
But is MotoPress easy to use? Can you handle complex pricing and seasonal rates? What about payment processing?
In this hands-on review of MotoPress Hotel Booking, I’ll answer these questions and show you how to set it up on your WordPress site.
MotoPress Hotel Booking: Overview and Key Features
MotoPress Hotel Booking is a WordPress plugin that handles reservations for your property.
Basically, it lets guests book directly through your website and handles everything from availability checks to payment processing.
You can also sync it with platforms like Airbnb and Booking.com to prevent double bookings, plus extend its functionality with add-ons for things like guest reviews and more.
MotoPress’s notable features include:
- Real-time availability search – A search form on your site lets guests check open dates and book instantly.
- OTA synchronization – Syncs with Airbnb and Booking.com via iCal to prevent double bookings.
- Multiple payment options – Accepts PayPal, Stripe, Braintree, and offline payments.
- Unlimited accommodations – Create multiple room types with photos, descriptions, and amenities for each one.
- Flexible pricing – Set seasonal rates, deposits, or full upfront payments based on your needs.
- Mobile app – Free iOS and Android apps for managing bookings on the go.
Hands-On with MotoPress Hotel Booking
In this section, I’ll show you how to use MotoPress to set up bookings for your property and start accepting reservations.
Installing MotoPress Hotel Booking
To install, first buy your license from the MotoPress website. I got the premium version to test all the features.
Once you have your license, open your WordPress dashboard and follow these steps:
- Go to Plugins and click Add New
- Search for “MotoPress Hotel Booking”
- Click Install Now and then Activate
- After activation, you’ll see a notification asking you to set up some pages. Click it to automatically create your Search Results, Checkout, and Booking Confirmation pages.
- Go to Settings > License and paste in your license key to unlock the premium features
You’ll now see two new menu items: Accommodation and Bookings.
Adding Your First Property
The first step to using MotoPress is to create your accommodation. For this, head over to Accommodation > Add New Accommodation Type in your WordPress dashboard.
A text editor will pop up. When it does, write the following details:
- A title for your property (like “Ocean View Suite” or “Two-Bedroom Cabin”)
- A full description of the accommodation
- Upload photos to show what it looks like
You can also add additional settings like capacity (how many guests), amenities (Wi-Fi, breakfast, parking), and bed types.
Side note: If you run a hotel with multiple identical rooms, there’s a Generate Accommodations feature. With it, you can create multiple rooms under one type automatically instead of adding each one separately.
After you’ve filled everything out, click Publish.
Creating a Season
After setting up your accommodation, the next step is to create a season.
Basically, seasons define when different pricing applies throughout the year.
Go to Rates > Seasons and click Add New Season. Then fill out the following fields:
- Title: Write the season name such as “Summer Peak” or “Off-Season”
- Start and end dates: Choose when this pricing period runs
- Applied for days: Select which days this season applies to
- Repeat: Set whether it repeats annually
Doing this is important because your rates need to be connected to a season. Without seasons, you can’t set up different pricing for different times of the year.
Once finished, click Publish.
Setting Up Rates
Moving on, you should create a rate that you want to charge to each guest.
Click on Rates and then Add New Rate. On the page that appears, fill out the following:
- Title: Write a custom name for the rate (something like “Summer 2025 Rates”)
- Accommodation type: It will be the accommodation you created in the first step
- Season: The dropdown will also show the season you created earlier
- Price per night: Write the rate you want to charge (e.g., $150)
- Price per extra adult/child: Add extra charges for additional guests if you want (e.g., $30 per person)
There’s also a checkbox for variable pricing. Check it if you want to adjust rates based on guest count or stay length.
Once you’re done with everything, click Update Rate to implement your pricing.
Setting Up Payments
So how do you start getting paid for your bookings? By setting up payment methods via the Payment Gateways settings.
Navigate to Settings and then click on the Payment Gateways tab. Here, you’ll be able to select how guests can pay you.
The “User Pays” option lets you choose whether guests pay everything upfront or make a deposit. Choose “Full Amount” if you want to collect the complete payment upfront, and “Percent” if you’d rather collect a certain sum to hold the booking.
If you want online payment options like PayPal or Stripe, you’ll need to enable them and connect your account with API keys. These let guests pay with credit cards directly on your site.
MotorPress also gives you the option to activate “Pay on Arrival,” which lets guests pay cash when they check in at your property.
Once you’ve enabled your preferred methods, click Save Changes.
Booking Settings
After setting up payments, you can customize how bookings work on your site.
MotoPress gives you loads of ways to control their availability and pricing. For example, you can:
Set Booking Rules
With booking rules, you can define how and when guests can book your accommodation. Maybe you want them to have minimum stay requirements during peak season, or perhaps you need to have buffer days between bookings to allow for cleaning. This setting lets you do all that and more based on your preferences.
Create Discount Coupons
If you want to offer discounts to potential guests, you can create coupons via the MotoPress bookings menu. It lets you create fixed and percentage-based coupons, set an expiration date, and decide which accommodations they apply to. This makes it easy to offer early bird discounts or last-minute deals to attract more people.
Add Taxes and Fees
Use this if you want to charge extras like cleaning and local taxes. Once you set them up in WordPress, these apply automatically. Guests will see the breakdown upfront when they’re about to book your accommodation.
Sync with OTA Calendars
Calendar sync prevents double bookings when you list your property on multiple platforms. Connect your Airbnb and Booking.com calendars via iCal, and MotoPress will update availability across all channels automatically.
All of these settings are under the Bookings menu in your WordPress dashboard. They’re optional, but they give you more control over how your property operates.
How It Works On The Frontend
After you’ve set everything up, you can see how it works from a guest’s perspective.
Open the accommodation page you just created. You’ll see the property details, amenities, and a reservation form right on the page.
Choose a check-in and check-out date and enter a random number for adults and children. Then click “Check Availability” and MotoPress will open an availability calendar that shows which dates are booked and which are free.
Choose from the available dates, and the plugin will show you the room with the total price. Click “Reserve” to proceed with the booking.
The checkout page will show:
- Booking details: Confirmed check-in and check-out dates with times.
- Accommodation section: Shows the room type you selected.
- Guest information: You select the number of adults and children, then enter your full name.
- Additional services: If you added services like meal catering or baby sitter, check these boxes here.
- Price breakdown: Shows the room cost, subtotal, taxes, and total price.
Below that, there’s a Your Information section where guests can enter their first name, last name, email, phone number, country of residence, and any notes.
Once you click “Book Now,” the booking is complete.
The default booking forms work fine, but if you want a more professional look for your property site, MotoPress offers premium hotel and vacation rental themes designed specifically for the Hotel Booking plugin.
These themes come with the premium Hotel Booking plugin included for free, so you get both the design and functionality in one package. They’re built for different property types: hotels, vacation rentals, B&Bs, and more.One popular option is Booklium, which comes with seven premium design skins you can choose from. It’s a top seller and gives you an intuitive, professional appearance right out of the box.
You can browse all the hotel and rental themes here.
MotoPress Hotel Booking Pricing
MotoPress Hotel Booking offers two versions: a free version and a premium version.
The free version lets you add unlimited properties, manage availability in real-time, and accept PayPal payments.
The premium version comes in two options:
- Single site license: This costs $139 per year and includes channel syncing and multiple payment gateways.
- 25 site license: This one is $199 per year and works well for agencies managing multiple client websites.
If you want premium add-ons bundled with the plugin, MotoPress offers annual bundles at $199 per year or lifetime bundles at $799 one-time.
Final Verdict
That’s it from my hands-on testing of MotoPress Hotel Booking.
As you can see, it works like a professional booking system without the enterprise price tag.
I also like that you can set up seasonal pricing and require deposits without needing separate tools or plugins.
Personally, I’d recommend it to any property owner who’s tired of OTA commissions and wants their own direct booking system.
Ready to keep 100% of your booking money?
