Introduction

Run trips on a fixed schedule

Trip Fixed Starting Dates, or FSD, helps you sell trips that leave on set dates. Your travelers do not pick any date from a full calendar. You choose the dates they can book.

This works well when your trips run on a clear schedule. For example, you might run a weekend trek twice a month, a city tour every Friday, or a festival package only during one season. FSD lets you show those departure dates clearly and manage how each one appears on your site.

It also helps you stay in control of seats and urgency. You can show travelers which dates still have space, which ones are nearly full, and which departures are guaranteed to run. That gives people a clearer reason to book the date that fits them.

Key features

These features are built to match how real tours are sold. You set the schedule once, then your customers see clear booking choices.

• Trip Expiry - Stop showing a trip after a certain date. This is useful for seasonal trips, such as a monsoon rafting package or a holiday market tour that should disappear after the season ends.
• Fixed Departure Dates - Add exact start dates for each trip. This works well for trips like a 10-day Everest trek that starts on selected dates each month.
• Seat Management - Control how many people can book on a date, package, or time slot. For example, you can allow 12 seats for a group hike, or give different seat limits to standard and private packages.
• Recurring Dates - Create repeating schedules by day, week, or month. If you run a food tour every Saturday or a birdwatching trip on the first Sunday of each month, you do not need to add each date one by one.
• Time Slots - Offer more than one session on the same day, such as morning, afternoon, and sunset tours. The same seat pool can be shared across those sessions when that matches how you run the trip.
• Date Availability Labels - Show labels like Available, Limited, and Guaranteed. For example, if only 2 seats are left on a canyoning trip, a Limited label can encourage faster booking.
• Departure Dates - Assign a status to each departure date. This helps you show the condition of a specific trip date at a glance.

Once these basics are in place, your booking calendar feels much clearer for both you and your travelers.

Prerequisites

Check these first so setup goes smoothly.

A plugin is a tool you install in WordPress to add features to your site. An add-on is an extra feature that works with the main plugin.

Before you use Trip Fixed Starting Dates, make sure:

• You have WP Travel Engine installed and activated on your WordPress site. You need Version 6.5.0 or higher.
• You have installed and activated the Trip Fixed Starting Dates add-on.
• You have added at least one trip.

If these three things are ready, you are in a good place to move on.

Installing the Trip Fixed Starting Dates add-on

This step connects the add-on to your site so you can start using fixed departure dates in your trips.

If you still need to install or activate it, use the guide below. It walks you through the full process, including the license key step.

After that, you can start adding scheduled departures to your trips.

Troubleshooting

These are the most common things tour operators run into when setting up fixed starting dates. If something looks wrong, check here before you start over.

I installed the add-on, but I cannot see the settings

This usually means the add-on is not activated yet, or WP Travel Engine is out of date. Check that both WP Travel Engine and Trip Fixed Starting Dates are active in your WordPress dashboard.

If WP Travel Engine is below Version 6.5.0, update it first. Then refresh the trip editor and look again.

My travelers can still choose any date

This usually happens when fixed dates have not been added to the trip yet. Open the trip and make sure you have entered departure dates in the FSD settings.

If you expected a repeating schedule, check that the recurring date rules are saved. Then view the trip on the front end and confirm only those dates appear.

The departure dates are showing, but seat counts look wrong

This usually points to seat settings that do not match how the trip is sold. Check whether you set seats per day, per package, or per time slot.

For example, if your day tour has 15 total seats but you created three time slots, make sure the seat setup matches whether those 15 seats are shared or separate.

A trip date says available when it should look nearly full

Look at the availability label settings for that trip date. The labels depend on the seat numbers and the rules you set.

If you want travelers to see urgency, review when the trip should switch from Available to Limited. This is useful for small-group departures where the last few seats matter.

My seasonal trip is still visible after the season ends

Check the trip expiry setting. If no expiry date is set, the trip can stay visible on your site.

This matters most for time-sensitive offers like spring blossom tours, holiday packages, or festival departures that should stop taking bookings after a certain date.

I added recurring dates, but some dates are missing

Start by checking the repeat pattern. A weekly rule, monthly rule, or end date can remove dates you expected to see.

For example, if your trek should appear every Friday but one Friday is missing, review the recurrence settings and save them again.

FAQs

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