Smoobu has three tools for taking direct bookings on your own website, and each does a different job: the Booking Engine takes the booking and the payment, the Website Builder creates a complete website with the Booking Engine already inside, and the Calendar iFrame only shows your availability. Here is what each one is for and how they fit together.
The Booking Engine turns any website into a booking channel
The Booking Engine is the tool that lets a guest pick dates, book, and pay. It can sit on any website: Smoobu gives you a small piece of code to paste into the site you already have (WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, or any site where you can add HTML), and every account also has a ready-made standalone booking page with its own web address. You can link a "Book now" button to that page, or share the link in marketing material and social media with no website of your own at all. You open it with the Preview button on the Booking Engine page.
When a guest books through the Booking Engine, the booking lands in Smoobu under the Website channel, next to your Booking.com and Airbnb bookings. So the Booking Engine itself is not the channel: it is the tool that turns your website into one. You configure it (payment methods, cleaning fee, prepayment, the booking form) under Configuration > Booking Engine.
The Website Builder creates the website around it
The Website Builder is for hosts who want Smoobu to build the whole site for them (typically hosts without a website yet). It generates a complete site for your rental business, with your branding, one page per property, and the Booking Engine already embedded on the property pages, so guests can book as soon as the site is live.
The Website Builder and the Booking Engine are separate tools with separate settings pages. You build and design the site under Configuration > Website Builder, and you configure payments, fees, and the booking form under Configuration > Booking Engine. Bookings made on a Website Builder site arrive under the same Website channel.
The Calendar iFrame shows availability, nothing more
The Calendar iFrame is a display-only widget for a website you already have. Guests see which dates are free and which are taken, straight from your Smoobu Calendar, but they cannot select dates, see prices, or book through it. It suits hosts who take bookings through their own inquiry form or by email and just want visitors to see availability. You find it under Advanced > Calendar iFrame; the setup is in calendar-iframe-availability-widget.
Your standalone booking page takes its logo and heading from the Website Builder
One connection between the tools is easy to miss: the standalone booking page shows a logo at the top and a heading above the search form, and both come from Configuration > Website Builder > Basics, not from the Booking Engine settings. This applies even when you never publish a Website Builder site. Fill in the logo and heading there anyway; without them, your booking page shows no logo and a placeholder text instead of your name.
Common questions
Do I need the Website Builder to take direct bookings?
No. The Website Builder is one option. You can also paste the Booking Engine into the website you already have, or share your standalone booking page. All three record the guest's booking under the Website channel.
Can I use more than one of these at the same time?
Yes. The tools combine freely: for example, a Website Builder site as your main booking surface plus a Calendar iFrame on a separate page that should only show availability. Most hosts pick one primary place where guests book and add the Calendar iFrame as a secondary display.
Related articles
- what-is-a-direct-booking
- set-up-your-booking-engine
- create-your-website
- simple-embed-booking-engine
- calendar-iframe-availability-widget
Still stuck?
If this didn't answer your question, the Smoobu team is happy to help. In Smoobu, open the Help menu to open a ticket or book a call slot, or use the chat bubble in the bottom-right corner for a quick question during business hours.
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