A business that sells time – salon chairs, consultancy hours, therapy sessions, training slots – needs a booking system that actually prevents double-booking, not just displays availability. Amelia handles the entire appointment flow on your WordPress site: customers pick a service, choose from genuinely available time slots, pay through Stripe or PayPal, and receive automatic confirmations and reminders. Staff see their schedules fill in real time, with buffer times between appointments handled automatically. It is a booking engine, not a calendar – a different job than event listing plugins like The Events Calendar Pro, which publish event schedules rather than manage individual appointments.
What makes it work for teams, not just solo providers: each employee gets their own schedule, services, and working hours, and the calendar blocks booked slots across all of them instantly. Customers get their own dashboard to reschedule or cancel without calling you – which, if you have ever run a service business by phone, is the feature you will wonder how you lived without.
Competitive Features
- Real-time availability – booked slots disappear from the calendar instantly across all providers
- Complete payment coverage – Stripe, PayPal, Mollie, Square, Razorpay, and WooCommerce methods out of the box
- Two-way Google Calendar sync – provider calendars stay accurate even when bookings come from outside the site
- Zoom integration – unique meeting links generated per booking for online consultations
- Employee-level scheduling – per-staff hours, services, and buffer times in one system
- Customer self-service panel – clients view, reschedule, or cancel bookings without contacting you
- SMS and email notifications – templated messages with placeholders, triggered on every status change
Key Features
- Multi-step booking form – embed anywhere with the
[amelia]shortcode: service, time, and payment in one flow - Recurring appointments – weekly or monthly series booked once, generated automatically
- Packages and events – prepaid appointment bundles and one-off events alongside standard bookings
- Custom fields – per-service form fields including file uploads and dropdowns
- Coupon system – percentage or fixed discounts with usage limits and expiry dates
- REST API – full CRUD endpoints for appointments, employees, services, and customers
- GDPR tooling – consent checkboxes, retention policies, and customer data export
Comparison with Competitors
Amelia Premium vs The Events Calendar Pro
| Aspect | Amelia Premium | The Events Calendar Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Primary focus | Appointment booking | Event publishing |
| Booking workflow | Service, time, and payment in one flow | Listing first, tickets via add-on |
| Payment processing | Stripe, PayPal, WooCommerce built in | Via tickets add-on |
| Employee schedules | Yes, per-staff | No |
| Customer dashboard | Front-end self-service | No |
| Recurring bookings | Appointment series | Event series |
| Best for | Service businesses | Event listings and ticketing |
Bottom line: They solve different problems. Amelia books time with a provider; The Events Calendar publishes what is happening when. A wellness studio runs Amelia; a community festival runs The Events Calendar.
Amelia Premium vs Modern Events Calendar Pro
| Aspect | Amelia Premium | Modern Events Calendar Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Booking engine | Appointment-first | Event-first with slots |
| Employee calendar | Per-staff schedules | No |
| Front-end submission | No | Yes – users submit events |
| Zoom integration | Automatic per booking | Via add-on |
| Customer dashboard | Yes | Limited |
| Best for | Booking-driven services | Community event directories |
Bottom line: Modern Events Calendar Pro shines where visitors submit their own events – community calendars, local directories. Amelia is the choice when your business model depends on customers booking your team’s time.
Recommended stack – if you sell service packages or memberships alongside one-off appointments, connect Amelia to WooCommerce and let the shop handle prepaid bundles while Amelia manages the calendar side.
Official Changelog
Version 9.8
Release Date: August 21, 2026
- New: Package appointments now support employee reassignment mid-package.
- Enhancement: Google Calendar two-way sync handles rescheduled events without duplicates.
- Enhancement: SMS notification templates gain per-service overrides.
- Fix: Buffer times correctly applied when back-to-back bookings cross midnight.
- Fix: Customer panel date picker localization for non-English formats.
Version 9.7
Release Date: July 2, 2026
- New: Waiting list for fully booked time slots.
- Enhancement: Coupon usage limits report per service.
- Fix: Zoom meeting links no longer expire for bookings rescheduled within 48 hours.
- Fix: Dashboard revenue widget timezone handling.
Version 9.6.2
Release Date: May 14, 2026
- Fix: Payment webhook retries for Stripe on slow host responses.
- Fix: Employee day-off entries reflected immediately in the booking form.
- Fix: Custom field file uploads for bookings made through the catalog view.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can customers reschedule their own appointments?
Yes. The front-end customer panel lets clients view, reschedule, or cancel bookings according to the rules you set – including minimum notice periods. Every change triggers your notification templates automatically.
Does Amelia work for a business with multiple employees?
That is its core design. Each staff member has individual working hours, services, and buffer times, and the calendar prevents double-booking across the whole team in real time.
Which payment methods are supported?
Stripe, PayPal, Mollie, Square, Razorpay, on-site payments, and WooCommerce payment methods. Deposits and partial payments are configurable per service.
Does it integrate with Google Calendar and Zoom?
Yes to both. Google Calendar syncs two ways, so external appointments block slots on your site too. Zoom meetings are created automatically with unique links per booking – standard for consultation businesses.
Can I sell packages of appointments?
Yes. Prepaid packages let customers buy a bundle – say ten sessions – and book them over time. For membership-style recurring access, pair Amelia with WooCommerce and sell the packages as shop products.
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