Advance Seat Reservation Management for WooCommerce 3.1

Advance Seat Reservation Management for WooCommerce is a specialized solution designed for businesses that sell "seat-based" products rather than just generic appointments. It is ideal for theaters, cinemas, event venues, buses, and sports arenas where customers need to see a physical layout and choose their specific location.

🛠 Core Features of the Plugin

This plugin transforms a standard WooCommerce product page into an interactive seating chart.

Interactive Seat Map: A visual drag-and-drop editor allows you to recreate your venue's layout (rows, columns, hallways, and stages).

Seat Categories & Tiered Pricing: Define different types of seats (e.g., VIP, Standard, Handicap) and assign unique prices to each.

Real-Time Availability: Prevents double-bookings by instantly marking seats as "Pending" when someone adds them to their cart.

Cart Timer: You can set a time limit (e.g., 15 minutes) for how long a seat is reserved in a cart before it's released back to the public.

QR Code Integration: Most versions of this plugin automatically generate a unique QR code for each seat purchased, which can be sent in the "Order Completed" email for easy check-in.

📋 Best Plugins for Seat Management (2026)

There are a few similarly named plugins. Depending on your specific needs (cinema vs. bus vs. general events), you may prefer one of these:

Feature

Advance Seat Reservation (smartcms)

Stachethemes Seat Planner

Cinema Seat Reservation

Best For

General events, buses, trains

Theaters & high-end arenas

Cinemas & movie theaters

Editor Type

Profile-based (Rows/Cols)

Visual Drag-and-Drop

Grid-based

Price Model

Lifetime (One-time)

Subscription or Lifetime

Freemium (Lite version)

Unique Perk

Excellent for transport logic

Extremely modern UI/UX

Simple setup for movie screens

🚀 How to Set Up Your First Seating Map

Once you have installed your chosen plugin, follow these general steps:

Create a Seating Profile: Navigate to the plugin settings and create a "Profile" (e.g., "Main Hall"). Define your rows, columns, and seat labels.

Define Seat Types: Set up your categories (VIP, Economy). Assign colors to each so customers can distinguish them easily on the front end.

Link to a Product: Create a new WooCommerce product (e.g., "Concert Ticket"). In the Product Data box, look for a "Seat Reservation" tab.

Select the Map: Choose the profile you created in Step 1. You can often override prices here specifically for this event.

Configure Checkout: Enable options like "Auto-complete order" if you want QR codes sent immediately upon successful payment.

Pro-Tip: Handling "Ghost" Bookings

If a customer's payment fails or their session expires, sometimes a seat can stay "locked" in the database. Look for a "Cleanup Settings" or "Integrity Checker" in the plugin dashboard to ensure these seats are automatically released every few minutes.

Would you like me to help you compare the pricing and specific "transport" features of these plugins if you are building a site for a bus or airline service?