3 Steps Simple Reservation System In PHP MySQL (Free Download)

Welcome to a quick tutorial on how to create a simple reservation system with PHP and MySQL. So you are offering a service and want to open up for online booking? Or maybe you have some rooms available for reservations?

A bare basic reservation system only has a few key components:

  1. A database table to store the reservations.
  2. A PHP library to process the reservations.
  3. The reservation page itself.

But just how is it done exactly? Let us walk an example in this guide – Read on!

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

DOWNLOAD & NOTES

Here is the download link to the example code, so you don’t have to copy-paste everything.

 

EXAMPLE CODE DOWNLOAD

Source code on GitHub Gist

Just click on “download zip” or do a git clone. I have released it under the MIT license, so feel free to build on top of it or use it in your own project.

 

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PHP RESERVATION SYSTEM

All right, let us now get into more detail about building a reservation system with PHP and MYSQL.

 

TUTORIAL VIDEO

 

STEP 1) RESERVATIONS DATABASE TABLE

1-reserve.sql
CREATE TABLE `reservations` (
  `res_id` bigint(20) NOT NULL,
  `res_date` date,
  `res_slot` varchar(32) DEFAULT NULL,
  `res_name` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  `res_email` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  `res_tel` varchar(60) NOT NULL,
  `res_notes` text DEFAULT NULL
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4;

ALTER TABLE `reservations`
  ADD PRIMARY KEY (`res_id`),
  ADD KEY `res_date` (`res_date`),
  ADD KEY `res_slot` (`res_slot`),
  ADD KEY `res_name` (`res_name`),
  ADD KEY `res_email` (`res_email`),
  ADD KEY `res_tel` (`res_tel`);

ALTER TABLE `reservations`
  MODIFY `res_id` bigint(20) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT;
Field Description
res_id Reservation ID. Primary key, auto-increment.
res_date Self-explanatory, the reservation date.
res_slot For time slot booking, this is an open text field that is up to you to decide – Offer hourly slots, AM/PM, or don’t use this at all (for whole day booking).
res_name Name of the customer.
res_email Email of the customer.
res_tel Telephone number of the customer.
res_notes Reservation notes, if any.

That should cover all the basics, feel free to add more fields as your project requires.

 

 

STEP 2) PHP RESERVATION CLASS

2-reserve.php
<?php
class Reservation {
  // (A) CONSTRUCTOR - CONNECT TO DATABASE
  private $pdo; // pdo object
  private $stmt; // sql statement
  public $error; // error message
  function __construct() {
    $this->pdo = new PDO(
      "mysql:host=" . DB_HOST . ";dbname=" . DB_NAME . ";charset=" . DB_CHARSET,
      DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD, [
      PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE => PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION,
      PDO::ATTR_DEFAULT_FETCH_MODE => PDO::FETCH_NAMED
    ]);
  }

  // (B) DESTRUCTOR - CLOSE DATABASE CONNECTION
  function __destruct() {
    $this->pdo = null;
    $this->stmt = null;
  }
 
  // (C) HELPER - EXECUTE SQL QUERY
  function query ($sql, $data=null) : void {
    $this->stmt = $this->pdo->prepare($sql);
    $this->stmt->execute($data);
  }
 
  // (D) SAVE RESERVATION
  function save ($date, $slot, $name, $email, $tel, $notes="") {
    // (D1) CHECKS & RESTRICTIONS
    // @TODO - ADD YOUR OWN RULES & REGULATIONS HERE
    // MAX # OF RESERVATIONS ALLOWED?
    // USER CAN ONLY BOOK X DAYS IN ADVANCE?
    // USER CAN ONLY BOOK A MAX OF X SLOTS WITHIN Y DAYS?

    // (D2) DATABASE ENTRY
    $this->query(
      "INSERT INTO `reservations` (`res_date`, `res_slot`, `res_name`, `res_email`, `res_tel`, `res_notes`) VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?)",
      [$date, $slot, $name, $email, $tel, $notes]
    );
 
    // (D3) EMAIL
    // @TODO - REMOVE IF YOU WANT TO MANUALLY CALL TO CONFIRM OR SOMETHING
    // OR EMAIL THIS TO A MANAGER OR SOMETHING
    $subject = "Reservation Received";
    $message = "Thank you, we have received your request and will process it shortly.";
    @mail($email, $subject, $message);
    return true;
  }
 
  // (E) GET RESERVATIONS FOR THE DAY
  function getDay ($day="") {
    // (E1) DEFAULT TO TODAY
    if ($day=="") { $day = date("Y-m-d"); }
    
    // (E2) GET ENTRIES
    $this->query("SELECT * FROM `reservations` WHERE `res_date`=?", [$day]);
    return $this->stmt->fetchAll();
  }
}

// (F) DATABASE SETTINGS - CHANGE THESE TO YOUR OWN!
define("DB_HOST", "localhost");
define("DB_NAME", "test");
define("DB_CHARSET", "utf8mb4");
define("DB_USER", "root");
define("DB_PASSWORD", "");

// (G) NEW RESERVATION OBJECT
$_RSV = new Reservation();

Yes, this library looks massive at first, but keep calm and look carefully.

  • (A, B, G) When $_RSV = new Reservation() is created, the constructor will automatically connect to the database. The destructor closes the connection.
  • (C) query() A helper function to run an SQL query.
  • (D & E) There are only 2 functions here!
    • save() This will be used to save the reservation when the user submits the reservation/booking form.
    • get() Gets all reservations for a specified day, an example of what you might want to use in your own admin panel.
  • (F) Remember to change the database settings to your own.

That should cover all the raw essentials of a reservation system.

 

 

STEP 3) DUMMY RESERVATIONS PAGE

3-reservation.php
<?php
// (A) PROCESS RESERVATION
if (isset($_POST["date"])) {
  require "2-reserve.php";
  if ($_RSV->save(
    $_POST["date"], $_POST["slot"], $_POST["name"],
    $_POST["email"], $_POST["tel"], $_POST["notes"])) {
     echo "<div class='note'>Reservation saved.</div>";
  } else { echo "<div class='note'>".$_RSV->error."</div>"; }
}
?>

<!-- (B) RESERVATION FORM -->
<form id="resForm" method="post" target="_self">
  <label>Name</label>
  <input type="text" required name="name" value="Jon Doe">

  <label>Email</label>
  <input type="email" required name="email" value="jon@doe.com">

  <label>Telephone Number</label>
  <input type="text" required name="tel" value="123456789">

  <label>Notes (if any)</label>
  <input type="text" name="notes" value="Testing">

  <?php
  // @TODO - MINIMUM DATE (TODAY)
  // $mindate = date("Y-m-d", strtotime("+2 days"));
  $mindate = date("Y-m-d");
  ?>
  <label>Reservation Date</label>
  <input type="date" required name="date" value="<?=date("Y-m-d")?>">

  <label>Reservation Slot</label>
  <select name="slot">
    <option value="AM">AM</option>
    <option value="PM">PM</option>
  </select>

  <input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>

No need to panic – This looks confusing but is actually very straightforward.

  • (B) This should be self-explanatory, the HTML reservation form itself.
  • (A) When the form is submitted, we use the library to process and save the reservation.

 

 

EXTRA) RESERVATIONS REPORT

4-report.php
// (A) GET ALL RESERVATIONS
require "2-reserve.php";
$all = $_RSV->getDay();

// (B) OUTPUT CSV
header("Content-Type: text/csv");
header("Content-Disposition: attachment;filename=reservations.csv");
if (count($all)==0) { echo "No reservations"; }
else {
  // (B1) FIRST ROW - HEADERS
  foreach ($all[0] as $k=>$v) { echo "$k,"; }
  echo "\r\n";
  
  // (B2) RESERVATION DETAILS
  foreach ($all as $r) { 
    foreach ($r as $k=>$v) { echo "$v,"; }
    echo "\r\n";
  }
}

Everyone is going to have a different system and starting point, but here is another small script that will demonstrate how the library can be used to generate reports.

 

 

EXTRAS

That’s all for the project, and here are a few small extras that may be useful to you.

 

ADDING MORE FIELDS

  • Change the database table, add more fields.
  • Update function save() to also include the extra fields.
  • Lastly, update the HTML form.

 

 

I DON’T NEED THE TIME SLOT

Just leave it as NULL, or remove it totally.

 

DATE RANGE BOOKING

This is kind of tricky, as everyone will have different requirements. For example:

  • Some may have AM/PM timeslots. Booking an overnight stay may mean “Day 1 PM plus DAY 2 AM”, and not “2 full days”. So yep, that is 2 timeslots.
  • Others may only offer “full-day bookings”. In this case, feel free to change the database to “date start and date end” instead of “date and time slot”.
  • A few others may get extremely complicated with “pay by the hour”. In this case, it is best to store “time start” and “time end” instead.

There is no way to create a “one-size-fits-all” system here – This is your homework.

 

LINKS & REFERENCES

 

THE END

Thank you for reading, and we have come to the end of this guide. I hope that it has helped you with your project, and if you want to share anything with this guide, please feel free to comment below. Good luck and happy coding!

37 thoughts on “3 Steps Simple Reservation System In PHP MySQL (Free Download)”

  1. Omg, this is the best source code I’ve ever discovered, Thank you so much for taking the time and publish this for FREE. Bless you ❤

  2. Greetings: W.S.TOH or Code Ninja, LoL. Thank you for taking the time to give us all this great tutoring – very grateful. I looked through tutorial and even people’s questions, and your comments and it helps a lot.

    Here’s what I’m trying to setup. My son wants to make pizzas and donate them in 15 min intervals to less fortunate. Thus he wants people to be able to see what time slots are available for Tuesday his day off when he’ll be making pizzas and pick the 15 min slot. Should I treat each 15 min slot like a room unit? And can I display what’s available in a list (e.g. dropdown list) or any type they can pick from what’s available?

    1. Yes, the reservation slot is an open field. Just change from AM/PM to something like 12:00, 12:15, 12:30, 12:45, etc…

  3. Hi there,

    i have updated everything it to godaddy server and my mail confirmation is not working, kindly help me with the following code.

    thanks

  4. Thanks for the great tutorial! Is there a way to block slots when a reservation is already made for that time slot so that they become unavailable in the time selection field?

    1. QUICK FIX) 2-reserve.php, section D1 – Use getDay() to check if specified day is already reserved.

      ADDITIONAL) 3-reservation.php, on date-time change, use AJAX to do a check.

  5. Great tutorial, thanks for sharing! Something that I thought would be super complicated written out very simple. 🙂 I wonder if its absolutely necesaary to upload the .sql document, or its possible to creat the database manually in phpmyadmin. What does the code ALTER TABLE do?

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