Why booking sites need regular checks
A brochure website can sit untouched for months without much harm. A booking site depends on moving parts: a calendar connection that can lapse after a password change, a payment account that needs renewed verification, a booking platform that changes its embed code, email settings that decide whether confirmations reach inboxes. None of these failures announce themselves. They show up as a quiet week with fewer bookings or a customer who says they never got a confirmation.
What a care plan includes
| Task | How often | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Test booking from start to finish | Monthly | Catches broken flows before customers do |
| Calendar connection check | Monthly | A disconnected calendar offers times nobody can keep |
| Payment page check | Monthly | Confirms deposits still reach your processor |
| Software and plugin updates | As released, after testing | Security fixes and compatibility |
| Backups | Daily, with a monthly restore test | A backup is only useful if it restores |
| Email delivery check | Monthly | Confirmations that land in spam may as well not exist |
| Small content changes | An agreed amount each month | New services, prices, staff and holiday hours |
| Speed and accessibility spot check | Quarterly | New content can slow pages or break keyboard use |
Speed checks
Booking pages often carry heavy scripts from calendars, chat tools and analytics. We check Core Web Vitals, which Google's web.dev documentation defines with good thresholds of 2.5 seconds or less for Largest Contentful Paint, 200 milliseconds or less for Interaction to Next Paint and 0.1 or less for Cumulative Layout Shift, measured at the 75th percentile of page loads across mobile and desktop1. When a new script pushes a page past those lines, we tell you what it costs and what the options are.
Seasonal changes
Holiday hours, staff leave, summer schedules and clock changes, where your locations still have them, all need attention. A care plan includes a reminder before each of these, so closures are entered before customers try to book them. Where clients book across time zones, we recheck displayed times after each clock change or time zone rule change.
When something breaks
If the booking path stops working on a site with a care plan, fixing it is treated as a priority over new project work and as urgent during business hours. We do not offer round-the-clock monitoring, and we will not pretend otherwise.
Managing the site yourself
A care plan is optional. Every project ends with handover notes that explain how to update content, block time, check the calendar connection and test a booking. If you prefer to look after the site in-house, those notes and a short walkthrough are part of the build, not an extra.
What a care plan does not cover
New features, redesigns and large content projects are quoted separately. Third-party subscription fees, such as a booking platform, a payment processor or text message credits, are paid by you directly to the provider, so you always see what they cost.
Frequently asked questions
Is a care plan required?
No. You can manage the site yourself using the handover notes, or ask us for help on an hourly basis when you need it.
Can I cancel a care plan?
Yes. The plan terms set a notice period, and when a plan ends we hand over any logins and backups we hold for you.
Do you host the site?
We can arrange hosting in your name or work with your current host. The plan lists the options and their costs.
Sources
Checked on November 3, 2026.
- Web Vitals. web.dev (Google). (primary documentation)