For hoteliers, resort managers, and hostel owners seeking a powerful and visually compelling online presence, the Sailing – Hotel WordPress Theme by ThimPress offers a complete, all-in-one solution. This is not merely a design template; it is a fully integrated booking and management platform built specifically for the accommodation industry. By combining a stunning, travel-focused aesthetic with the robust functionality of the WP Hotel Booking plugin, Sailing empowers you to manage room inventory, process reservations, accept payments, and showcase your property with zero hassle. Whether you run a boutique bed and breakfast or a large vacation resort, this theme provides the essential toolkit to launch a professional, high-converting hotel website on WordPress.
Key Features
- Complete Online Reservation System: The core of this theme is its integration with the WP Hotel Booking plugin, a dedicated system used by over 1,000 hotels worldwide. This gives you full control over room management, customer data, booking calendars, and pricing plans directly from your WordPress dashboard.
- Multiple Payment Gateways: Sailing supports four major payment methods, including PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.net, as well as an offline payment option. This flexibility ensures you can accept deposits and full payments from guests regardless of their preferred method.
- Comprehensive Management Tools: Beyond basic bookings, you gain access to advanced features like Coupon Management, Pricing Plans, Extra Package Management (for add-ons like breakfast or airport transfers), and the ability to Block Special Dates to prevent overbooking during maintenance or private events.
- 8 Pre-Built Demos & One-Click Import: You don’t need to start from scratch. The theme comes with 8 distinct homepages and demo layouts tailored for hotels, hostels, and resorts. The one-click demo importer allows you to replicate the exact design with sample content in seconds.
- Premium Plugins Included: To enhance functionality and design, Sailing bundles the premium Revolution Slider for stunning animated headers and the SiteOrigin Page Builder for drag-and-drop content creation. This saves you the cost of purchasing these plugins separately.
- WooCommerce Integration: While the WP Hotel Booking plugin handles room reservations, the theme is fully compatible with WooCommerce. This allows you to sell merchandise, gift vouchers, or tour packages directly from the same website.
- SEO & Performance Optimized: The code is built with search engines in mind. Every title, heading, and meta tag is structured for optimal SEO. The theme also implements Structured Data (Schema markup) for rooms, blog posts, and products, helping your listings appear with rich snippets in Google search results.
Who Is This For? Use Cases
Independent Hotel & Resort Owners
If you own a single property or a small chain of hotels, this theme eliminates the need for expensive custom development. You can manage your entire online booking system, update room photos, and set seasonal pricing without hiring a developer. The built-in reporting system also helps you track occupancy and revenue trends.
Hostel & Dormitory Managers
The flexible room management system is ideal for properties that offer mixed dormitories, private rooms, and varying bed capacities. You can easily set different pricing for shared and private accommodations, manage guest capacities, and utilize the MailChimp integration for email marketing to past guests.
Travel Bloggers & Vacation Rental Agencies
Because Sailing is built on a standard WordPress framework and supports Post Formats (Standard, Gallery, Video), it is equally suitable for travel bloggers who want to list a few rooms or for agencies managing multiple rental listings. The theme’s social media features and blog-ready design help you share content and attract organic traffic.
Tour & Activity Operators
With WooCommerce support and the ability to create extra packages, tour operators can use this theme to bundle hotel stays with guided tours, transportation, or meal plans. The visual gallery and Revolution Slider are perfect for showcasing adventure destinations and enticing potential guests.
Technical Details & Compatibility
The Sailing – Hotel WordPress Theme is built on a modern technical stack to ensure speed, reliability, and wide compatibility. It is constructed on Bootstrap 3 and uses FontAwesome 2 for icons, with styles written in LESS CSS for efficient customization. The theme is fully responsive and mobile-friendly, ensuring your booking engine works flawlessly on smartphones and tablets. It is also Retina ready, providing sharp images on high-resolution displays. For translation and international audiences, the theme comes with .po/.mo files and supports RTL (Right-to-Left) languages, making it suitable for global markets. It is compatible with the Live Preview Customizer for real-time design changes and supports 600+ Google Fonts for typography control. Key plugin compatibility includes Contact Form 7, MailChimp, and the Black Studio TinyMCE Widget for enhanced text editing.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Dedicated Booking Engine: Unlike general themes that rely on third-party booking widgets, Sailing uses a native plugin (WP Hotel Booking) that integrates seamlessly with your WordPress dashboard.
- Excellent Value: At $39.00, you receive a premium theme plus two paid plugins (Revolution Slider and SiteOrigin), saving you over $50 in separate plugin costs.
- Proven Track Record: With over 4,130 sales and development by ThimPress, a reputable author on ThemeForest, you are investing in a stable, well-supported product with a history of updates.
- Comprehensive Management: The ability to manage coupons, extra services, special date blocking, and customer reports from one interface is a significant time-saver for busy property managers.
- SEO Foundation: Deep implementation of structured data for rooms and products gives you a competitive edge in search engine rankings.
Cons
- Plugin Dependency: The core booking functionality relies heavily on the WP Hotel Booking plugin. If you ever choose to switch themes, you may need to find an alternative system for managing your reservations.
- Learning Curve for Beginners: While the one-click demo import simplifies setup, the sheer number of options (pricing plans, coupon management, extra packages) can be overwhelming for users who are new to WordPress.
- Design Specificity: The theme is heavily geared towards the travel and accommodation niche. It may not be suitable for other types of businesses, such as corporate offices or portfolio sites, without significant customization.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Sailing theme compatible with the latest version of WordPress and Gutenberg?
Yes, the theme is built to be compatible with the latest WordPress standards. While it includes the SiteOrigin page builder for advanced layouts, it also works seamlessly with the native WordPress block editor (Gutenberg). Regular updates from ThimPress ensure continued compatibility with new WordPress releases.
Can I use the WP Hotel Booking plugin to manage multiple properties or hotels?
The WP Hotel Booking plugin is primarily designed to manage a single property’s rooms and reservations. If you need to manage multiple distinct hotels from one WordPress installation, you may require a multi-site setup or a more advanced property management system. For a single hotel or resort with multiple room types, the plugin provides full functionality.
What happens to my bookings if I stop using the Sailing theme?
Your booking data, including customer information and reservation records, is stored in your WordPress database. If you switch to a different theme, the data will remain in the database, but you will lose the front-end reservation interface. You would need to either keep the WP Hotel Booking plugin active or migrate your data to a new booking system. It is always recommended to back up your database before making major theme changes.
Final Verdict
The Sailing – Hotel WordPress Theme stands out as a purpose-built solution for the hospitality industry. It successfully bridges the gap between a beautiful, travel-oriented design and a functional, back-end management system. The integration of the WP Hotel Booking plugin eliminates the need for clunky third-party widgets, giving you direct control over your inventory and payments. With over 4,130 sales and a strong reputation from ThimPress, this theme offers a reliable foundation for building a professional hotel website. The inclusion of premium plugins like Revolution Slider and SiteOrigin adds significant value to the $39.00 price point, making it a cost-effective investment for property owners. If you are serious about launching a high-performing booking website that ranks well on Google and converts visitors into guests, this theme provides the essential tools and design flexibility to succeed.