Seat Allocation and Booking Capacity in WP Travel Engine (with FSD Plugin)

Overview

Use these settings to control how many people can book each trip, each date, and each time slot. You can also decide how seats are shared between packages, time slots, and pricing categories like Adults and Children.

You will do all of this in your WordPress dashboard. The dashboard is the main admin area you see after you log in. The menu is on the left sidebar.

If you are setting this up for the first time, start with the trip-wide seat limit. Once that part is clear, the package, time, and pricing rules make much more sense.

How Total Seat Capacity works

Total Traveller Seats in General Settings is your main trip limit. It tells WP Travel Engine the highest number of travelers who can book a trip for one day.

If you use packages on the same date, they all share that same overall limit. If you use time slots for a single-day activity, that limit applies to the time slot setup for that activity.

This setting matters because it protects you from selling more spaces than you actually have. If you only have one van, one guide team, or one daily departure limit, this is the setting that keeps bookings under control.

How to configure

Say you run a 12-seat van tour to a mountain viewpoint. You set Total Traveller Seats to 12. Once 12 people book for that day, that date is full. The next day starts fresh with 12 seats again.

Example

If Total Traveller Seats = 10, only 10 travelers can book that trip for a given day or time slot. Once all 10 seats are booked, no more bookings can be made for that date. The next day starts over with the same 10-seat capacity.

That is useful for things like a fixed-size jeep tour, a one-guide walking tour, or a rafting trip where you only have enough equipment for 10 guests. Once the limit is reached, booking stops for that date.

Old system vs. new system

Once this main limit is set, you can decide how to divide those seats between packages.

Booking seat capacity per package in the FSD plugin

The Trip Fixed Starting Dates (FSD) plugin lets you give each package its own dates. A package might be something like Standard, Deluxe, or Premium. This helps your traveler choose the departure that suits them.

The Maximum seat capacity you set in General Settings is now used automatically as Total Traveller Seats. That keeps the main seat count in one place.

How to configure

This setup helps when you want to split seats between packages without losing control of the total trip capacity.

How it works

• General Settings sets the highest number of seats allowed for the day.
• Package dates in FSD decide how those seats are split between packages for that date.
• Bookings continue until the allowed capacity for that date has been used up.

Here is a simple tour example. Say you run a one-day city food tour with two booking options on the same date. You offer Standard and Premium packages. The trip can take 10 travelers in total that day.

Example scenario - General Settings: 10 seats per day. Standard Package on 31 August: 4 seats. Premium Package on 31 August: 3 seats.

The total from packages is 4 + 3 = 7. That is less than the 10-seat general limit. So only 7 seats are available for booking on 31 August. Once those 7 seats are booked, the trip closes for that date even though the general setting allows 10.

This is useful when you want to keep some dates smaller on purpose. For example, you might only want 4 Standard spots and 3 Premium spots on a slower weekday departure.

When package totals exceed the general cap

If your package totals add up to more than Total Traveller Seats, the general cap still wins.

Example setup - General Settings: 10 seats. Standard Package: 8 seats. Premium Package: 6 seats. Total from packages: 14 seats. Only 10 seats can ever be booked, no matter how the 14 are split.

That overall ceiling stays in place when you start adding different departure times too.

Seat allocation by time in the FSD plugin

The Trip Fixed Starting Dates (FSD) plugin also lets you add times under a date. This is helpful if you run the same trip more than once in a day, like a morning rafting trip and an afternoon rafting trip.

This matters because time slots can behave like separate sessions. If you run multiple departures in one day, you need to know whether they share seats or keep their own seat counts.

• Seats per date - You set a seat limit for the date. That number is then used for every time slot created under that date.
• Seats per time - Each time slot gets that same seat number for itself. A booking in one time slot does not reduce seats in a different time slot.

Example 1: One Date, Multiple Times:

• Total Traveller Seats = 12.
• Date: 1 August, seat limit = 10.
• Times: Morning, Evening, Night.

Result: Each of the three time slots gets its own 10 seats, since each time slot works as a separate session.

A real example could be a short canyon tour that runs three times a day. Morning can take 10 guests. Evening can also take 10. Night can also take 10.

Example 2: Multiple Packages, Same Date and Time:

• Package A on 1 August (Morning) has 8 seats
• Package B on the same date and time also has 8 seats.
• A customer books 5 seats in Package A (Morning).

Result: Package A shows 3 seats left, and Package B also shows 3 seats left, because both packages share the same seat pool for that time slot.

You can think of it like this. Different times on the same date can act like separate departures. But if two packages use the same date and the same time, they are drawing from the same set of seats.

Now that dates and times are clear, the next step is setting the smallest booking you want to accept.

Minimum traveller seats

Minimum Traveller Seat sets the smallest number of travelers allowed in one booking. For example, if you set the minimum to 3, every booking must include at least 3 travelers. That could be 3 adults, 2 adults and 1 child, or another mix.

This is useful when a trip only works if a small group books together. Many tour operators use this for private day tours, guided treks, or trips where transport and guide costs only make sense above a certain group size.

Say you run a private group trek and need at least 4 people to cover guide and transport costs. You would set Minimum Travellers Per Booking to 4. No one can book fewer than 4 spots.

How to set Minimum Traveller Seats

This setting helps you stop very small bookings before they come through.

Example: If you enter 4, no booking can be completed unless at least 4 travelers are selected.

Minimum Seats in Pricing Categories

Along with the general minimum, you can also set a minimum for each pricing category, such as Adults or Children.

This helps when a package needs a certain traveler mix. For example, you may want at least 2 adults on a family kayak trip, or at least 1 adult when child pricing is available.

How to set

This setup lets you control minimums inside each pricing category.

How general and category minimums interact

Both levels matter. The booking must meet the trip minimum and any category minimums you have set.

Example 1 - general minimum only: Minimum Travellers per Booking = 4, with no category minimums. A customer must book at least 4 travelers total in any combination. 2 Adults + 2 Children is allowed, but 3 Adults alone is not.

Example 2 - conflict between general and category minimums: General minimum = 4, Adult category minimum = 2, Child category minimum = 1. A customer selecting only 3 travelers total (2 Adults + 1 Child) satisfies the category minimums but still fails, because the general minimum of 4 still applies. At least 4 travelers total are required.

This is a common place where bookings can feel confusing at first. If the booking meets the Adult and Child minimums but still does not go through, check the overall trip minimum too.

Once your minimums are set, you can choose whether each pricing category should also have its own maximum.

Maximum capacity per price category

By default, every price category uses the same shared seat pool. That means any category can keep taking seats until the trip is full. Maximum Capacity per Price Category lets you set a cap for each category.

This is useful when you want more control over who can book which spaces. For example, you might run a family-friendly rafting trip and want to keep room for children instead of letting adults take every seat. You could set Adult Max = 8 and Child Max = 4. Then adults cannot take more than 8 seats in that category.

How to Configure

This setup helps you split seats by pricing category without losing track of the full trip limit.

Same limits for all packages

Use this option when every package should follow the same category limits.

Every package on the trip follows one shared set of category limits. The table shows every price category that has a price in at least one package. You can enter a Max Seats value for a category, or leave it blank to make that category auto.

An auto category does not get its own seat cap. It stays open until the trip's overall seat limit is reached. For example, if Total Traveller Seats = 30, Adult is fixed at 10, and Child is set to auto, Child is not limited to 20 seats. Child simply has no category cap of its own, and only the 30-seat trip total applies to it.

That can be helpful if you want to tightly control one category but leave another more flexible. For example, you might cap Adult seats on a school holiday trip but let Child seats keep booking until the trip itself is full.

Good to know:

Different limits per package

Use this option when each package needs its own category limits.

Each package appears in its own collapsible section. The table inside each one only shows categories priced in that package.

If Total Traveller Seats is set, each package table can have category values up to that same number. That does not create separate seat pools. Every package still shares the same overall seat pool for the trip. Whoever books first, in any package, uses seats from that shared total until the trip is full.

Example: Total Traveller Seats = 30. Standard package: Adult = 20, Child = 10. Premium package: Adult = 20, Child = 10. If 25 travelers book through Standard, only 5 seats remain for Premium, even though Premium's own table still shows room for up to 30. The trip-wide total runs out first.

This is a good setup when your packages are priced differently but still use the same bus, guide team, or departure. The package limits help you shape the mix, but they do not create extra seats.

Category capacity vs. Total Traveller Seats

Total Traveller Seats is always the outside limit for the trip. Category limits only control how seats are split inside that limit. They never raise it.

Setup: Total Traveller Seats = 10, Adult Max = 10, Child Max = 5.

• Adults fill the trip: 10 Adults book and the trip is full. Child still has 5 seats unused in its own limit, but no Child booking can go through because the overall 10-seat cap has been reached.
• Child limit reached on its own: 6 Children try to book. This is blocked right away because it goes past the Child cap of 5, even if the overall trip limit has not been reached.
• One category reduces what's left for another: 5 Children book first, leaving 5 of the 10 total seats. Adult's own limit is 10, but only 5 Adults can now book because that is all that is left overall.

These examples can feel a bit strict at first, but they are there to stop overbooking and keep category rules consistent.

When Total Traveller Seats is not set

If you leave Total Traveller Seats blank, there is no trip-wide ceiling. Category limits become the only capacity control.

• Same limits for all packages: Categories work independently with no shared cap. Example: Adult Max = 20, Child Max = 10 means the trip can take 20 Adults and 10 Children at the same time. That is 30 travelers total.
• Different limits per package: Capacity is enforced per category, per package. The trip's real total becomes the sum of every package's limits. Example: Standard package Adult = 5, Premium package Adult = 10. Combined Adult capacity across the trip = 15.

Only leave Total Traveller Seats blank if that is really how you want the trip to work. In most cases, tour operators prefer a trip-wide ceiling so the full booking count stays under control.

Category capacity with FSD date overrides

If a date has its own seat override in the FSD plugin, bookings on that date must meet both rules. They must fit inside the category limits, and they must also stay under the seat ceiling set for that date.

Setup: Adult Max = 8, Child Max = 4.

That means the date override can still stop bookings even when a category has room left. If the category rule allows the booking but the date cap is already reached, the booking will still be blocked.

That brings you to the most common questions people run into when they start testing bookings.

FAQs

Related settings