Synopsis
This project is a great example of how Zoho Bookings and other Zoho applications can be leveraged to provide more than just online meetings.
An Irish village community group turned an old hardware store into a café, meeting space, and tennis court. With just a few volunteers, they wanted to offer seamless booking of the Tennis Court without adding to their workload.
The result was a fully automated, zero-admin system that let members and visitors book and access the court easily, without staff involvement.
The Challenges
- Members need free access and non-members needed to pay.
- Every booking required a unique gate unlock code tied to time & date.
- The system had to regenerate new codes on rescheduling.
- Budget was tight, so the solution needed to be low cost and maintainable.
- A key or padlock could be lost
Technology Used
- Zoho Bookings
- Zoho Bookings Stripe Integration
- Zoho Flow
- WordPress
- WP-Members Membership Plugin
- Codelocks API integration
- Codelocks Smart Lock
About The Implementation
Booking Automation via Zoho Bookings
The customer’s website was first prepared by creating a members only page to locate the free booking form, using a free WordPress membership plugin. The Zoho Bookings pages were then embedded on the website. This provided a facility for members to book for free and non-members to pay a fee.
Unlocking Code Automation via Zoho Flow
Using Zoho Flow we created an automation which runs every time the tennis court is booked. It uses an API integration with the lock manufacturer to get a gate code based on the data and time of the booking.
A confirmation email with the code and a link to the booking summary is then sent to the person who made the booking.
Zoho Bookings also has a reschedule feature, so we included a second automation, which requests new code when a booking is rescheduled, followed by a variation of the booking code confirmation email.
Booking Log via Zoho Flow and Zoho Sheet
To simplify admin work and ensure transparency, we added an automation that records every gate code request in a Zoho Sheet spreadsheet. This allows administrators to quickly look up any code if a customer doesn’t receive theirs, eliminating the need for manual tracking or guesswork.
The Results
- Manual gate management is not required.
- No need to manage physical keys or padlocks.
- Members and non-members enjoy seamless access.
- Bookings are managed effortlessly through Zoho Bookings automation.
- Customers instantly receive their unique access codes.
- Admins have access to a list of all bookings and codes.
- Volunteers don’t have to chase bookings or manage codes.
- The community group can focus on their mission, not operations.
Takeaways
We found that small, affordable tools can deliver big results. By combining Zoho’s automation with a simple WordPress setup, we gave the community a solution that feels high-tech without the price tag.
Looking for ways to automate your own bookings or customer processes? Explore our Zoho Setup Services or Zoho Support Plans.