Flight booking & manifests
Dawn flights by date, balloon and seat count, with private baskets, group bookings and a live manifest for each morning.
Hot air balloon booking software with weather rebooking
Hot air balloons: weather cancels, guests rebook themselves. Dawn flights without the dawn phone calls.
The pilot calls the weather at 4am. Then someone rings thirty passengers in the dark, rebooks them by hand and hopes their voucher hasn't expired. We build booking, voucher, manifest and crew systems for hot air balloon operators that handle the cancellation for you. Then we host them and look after them.
Looking for hot air balloon booking software that handles weather cancellations?
Balloon operators live and die by the dawn forecast. The pilot checks the winds at 4am and if it's a no-go, the next hour is a scramble: ringing passengers, texting drivers, cancelling the breakfast numbers and working out who goes onto which date. Meanwhile bookings arrive from your website, agents, hotel concierges and gift voucher sites, each with its own inbox and its own rules.
Wollopit builds custom software for hot air balloon operators around how your flights actually run. Call the weather once and every passenger, pilot, driver and breakfast venue hears about it, with a link for guests to rebook themselves. Vouchers, weights, pickups and crew all live in one place. We connect the booking platforms you already use, replace the ones holding you back and host the lot on our own servers, so you can get back to flying.
01The problems
What we hear from hot air balloon operators
Does your hot air balloon operator have these problems? Here's how we'd fix them.
Most balloon operators we talk to are brilliant in the air and run the ground side on a phone, a printed manifest and a lot of early coffee. It works until the third cancelled weekend in a row.
- The problemThe 4am phone treeThe pilot calls it off and someone rings thirty passengers one by one. Half of them are asleep with their phones on silent and turn up at the meeting point anyway.How we fix itCancel the flight in one tap. Every passenger gets an SMS and email with a rebooking link before they've left the motel.
- The problemRebooking by hand all weekCancelled guests ring and email for days, all chasing the same Saturday seats while you juggle a waitlist in a diary.How we fix itGuests pick a new date themselves from live availability. Seats, payments and vouchers carry across without anyone retyping a thing.
- The problemVouchers you can't keep track ofA gift voucher bought three Christmases ago turns up for peak season and nobody knows how many times it's been weathered out.How we fix itEvery voucher tracked from sale to flight, with expiry rules, automatic extensions after cancellations and reminders before it lapses.
- The problemWeights asked at the launch sitePassenger weights get collected in the dark beside the trailer. The pilot finds out the load is tight at the worst possible moment.How we fix itWeights captured at booking with a reminder 48 hours out. The load sheet is ready the night before.
- The problemPickups planned on a printoutThe driver works from a list of hotel names on paper. Someone waits at the wrong resort entrance and the whole run is late.How we fix itPickup lists sorted by route, times texted to each guest the night before and a driver view on the phone with every stop.
- The problemBookings from everywhereYour website, Viator, Experience Oz, the visitor centre and hotel concierges all send bookings to different inboxes.How we fix itEvery channel lands in one manifest with seats kept in sync, so the last two spots never get sold twice.
- The problemBreakfast numbers always wrongChampagne breakfasts, photo packages and private baskets sit on a separate list. The café cooks for forty and twenty-six turn up.How we fix itAdd-ons booked with the flight. The breakfast venue gets final numbers automatically after the weather call.
- The problemCrew sorted in a group chatWho's chasing, who's driving and which pilot flies which balloon gets worked out over text at 9pm.How we fix itA crew roster tied to each flight with pilots, vehicles and trailers assigned and confirmed by SMS.
- The problemLogs and maintenance on paperFlight logs, passenger briefings and envelope hours are scribbled in a book that lives in the chase vehicle.How we fix itDigital flight logs, briefing sign-offs, envelope and burner hours and maintenance reminders kept in one place, ready when you need them.
- The problemReviews lost after the highGuests land buzzing and nobody asks for a review until the feeling's long gone.How we fix itAn automatic thank you that morning with their flight photos and a link to review you on Google or TripAdvisor.
02What we build
Solutions
What we build for hot air balloon operators. Usually all talking to each other.
Pick the one that's hurting most or join the whole lot up. Everything is built around how your team works, not the other way round.
One-tap weather cancellations
Cancel a flight or the whole morning in one tap. Passengers, agents, crew and the breakfast venue all hear at once.
Self-service rebooking
Guests choose a new date from real availability. Freed seats are offered to the waitlist automatically.
Gift vouchers
Sell vouchers online with your branding, track expiry and redemptions and extend them after weather cancellations.
Passenger details & weights
Names, weights, ages, mobility notes and emergency contacts captured at booking with reminders for anything missing.
Load sheets
Passenger weights totalled per basket with pilot and balloon assigned, ready on a phone or printed the night before.
Pickup routes
Hotel and motel pickups sorted by route with times sent to guests and a driver view of every stop.
Agent & reseller bookings
Viator, Experience Oz, concierges and visitor centres feeding one manifest, with agent commissions tracked.
Breakfast & add-ons
Champagne breakfasts, photo packages and celebration extras booked with the flight and headcounts sent to the venue.
Crew & pilot rosters
Pilots, chase crew, drivers and vehicles rostered to each flight and confirmed by SMS.
Flight logs & maintenance
Digital flight logs, briefing sign-offs, envelope and burner hours and inspection reminders.
Photos & reviews
Flight photos delivered to each passenger with a review request for Google or TripAdvisor.
A website that floats
Hand-built, quick on mobile, with live flight availability and vouchers, built to rank for 'hot air balloon near me'.
03The systems
The big ones
Your whole balloon operation, on one system.
These are the systems balloon operators ask us about most. Each one works on its own and they get properly clever when they're joined up.
Weather-aware booking
Call the weather once. Everyone hears by 4:05.
When the pilot calls it off you tap one button. Every passenger gets an SMS and email with a link to rebook themselves from live availability. Agents, drivers, crew and the breakfast venue are told at the same time.
- Cancel one flight or the whole morning
- SMS and email to every passenger
- Rebooking link with live availability
- Freed seats offered to the waitlist
- Agents told about their bookings
- Breakfast headcount updated
- Drivers and chase crew stood down
- Credit or refund rules applied
- Cancellation history on every booking
Gift vouchers
Vouchers that never get lost in the drawer.
Sell gift vouchers online in your branding and track every one from sale to flight. Expiry rules, extensions after weather cancellations and reminders mean fewer awkward phone calls about a voucher from 2022.
- Branded vouchers sold online
- Printable and emailed voucher designs
- Expiry dates and reminder emails
- Automatic extensions after cancellations
- Redeem straight into a booking
- Partial redemptions and upgrades
- Reseller vouchers tracked by code
- Voucher liability report for your accountant
Passengers & load sheets
Weights in before the burners light.
Passenger weights and details are captured at booking, with reminders for anyone who hasn't filled them in. The load sheet for each basket builds itself so the pilot sees the numbers the night before.
- Weights captured at booking
- Reminder 48 hours before the flight
- Ages, mobility notes and contacts
- Passengers split across baskets
- Load totals per balloon
- Pilot and balloon assigned per flight
- Printable or phone load sheets
- Missing details flagged in red
Pickups & crew
Every pickup, every driver, every ute sorted.
Pickup lists sort themselves by route and guests get their pickup time the night before. Pilots, chase crew and vehicles are rostered to each flight and confirm by SMS, so the 9pm group chat can retire.
- Pickups sorted by route
- Pickup times texted to guests
- Driver view with every stop
- Tick off passengers as they board
- Crew rostered to each flight
- Vehicles and trailers assigned
- SMS confirmations from crew
- Stand-down messages after a cancellation
Flight logs & maintenance
The logbook, out of the chase vehicle.
Flight logs, passenger briefing sign-offs and equipment hours recorded on a phone at the landing site. Envelope, burner and basket maintenance reminders turn up before they're due, not after.
- Digital flight logs per balloon
- Passenger briefing sign-offs
- Envelope and burner hours
- Inspection and service reminders
- Defects logged with photos
- Pilot records kept in one place
- Landing sites and landowner notes
- Reports ready when you need them
04How it changes
Before and after
A 4am weather call, wolloped.
Here's how a cancelled Saturday morning could change. Every operator is different, so we map yours first.
Before
- Wind's too strong at 600 feet
- Ring 32 passengers one by one in the dark
- Leave voicemails for the ones on silent
- Text the drivers and crew to stand down
- Call the café to cancel breakfast
- Spend all week rebooking by hand
After
- Wind's too strong at 600 feet
- Tap cancel on your phone
- Every passenger gets an SMS and email instantly
- Drivers, crew and agents are told automatically
- The café gets the updated numbers
- Guests rebook themselves before breakfast
05Services
Everything under one roof
Software, websites and systems for hot air balloon operators.
Whether you're starting fresh or upgrading what you've got, it's one team from the first sketch to the support call.
Custom software for hot air balloon operators
Built around how your hot air balloon operator actually runs: flight booking & manifests, one-tap weather cancellations and the admin in between, in one system you own.
Websites for hot air balloon operators
Fast, hand-built websites that rank for the searches your customers make and turn visits into enquiries, bookings or orders.
Hot air balloon operator system upgrades
Running on spreadsheets, old software or a platform you've outgrown? We move your data across and upgrade in stages so the business never stops.
Apps and portals for hot air balloon operators
Self-service rebooking and gift vouchers: customer and staff portals that work on any phone without an app store.
Integrations and automation
We connect Rezdy, FareHarbor and Bookeo so information moves on its own and nobody retypes it.
Hosting, support and care
Managed hosting, updates, backups and security for your hot air balloon operator, looked after by the people who built it.
06Integrations
Connections
Plays nicely with what you already use.
We connect to the tools you rely on, work alongside booking platforms you're happy with or replace the ones holding you back.
- Rezdy
- FareHarbor
- Bookeo
- Checkfront
- Stripe
- Square
- Xero
- MYOB
- Viator
- GetYourGuide
- Experience Oz
- RedBalloon
- Adrenaline
- TripAdvisor
- Google Business Profile
- Google Maps
- Mailchimp
- Twilio SMS
- Deputy
- Bureau of Meteorology
07How we work
The process
Some people dip their toe in. We turn up in a rebreather.
We get properly below the surface of your hot air balloon operator: the systems, the busy days and the jobs everyone hates. Then we fix the bits that matter most first.
- 01
Think
We come out for a dawn flight, ride along with the chase crew and sit in the office, then work out what's actually slowing you down.
- 02
Archi-tech
We plan it before writing code: your flights, baskets, vouchers, agents, pickups, crew, hosting and cost.
- 03
Build
Real engineering, shown to you early and often. Usually the weather cancellation first, so you get a win before the next windy weekend.
- 04
Look after
We host it, maintain it and keep improving it. When something breaks you call the people who built it.
08Questions
FAQ
Things hot air balloon operators ask us.
Something else on your mind? Ring 0423 011 252 and ask the people who'd build it.
Can passengers choose their new date after a weather cancellation?
Yes. They get a link with the dates that still have seats and pick one themselves. Their payment or voucher carries across automatically.
Does the system decide whether we fly?
No. The pilot always makes the call. The system just handles everything after it: passengers, agents, crew, pickups and breakfast numbers.
Can it extend vouchers that keep getting weathered out?
Yes. You set the rules and vouchers can extend automatically after a cancellation. Guests get reminders before anything expires.
How do you handle passenger weights?
Weights are collected privately at booking and only shown to the pilot and staff who need them. Anyone who hasn't filled theirs in gets a reminder before the flight.
We already use Rezdy or FareHarbor. Do we have to switch?
No. If your booking platform is doing its job we build around it: weather cancellations, vouchers, load sheets, pickups and crew on top. If it's holding you back, we'll show you what replacing it would involve before anything changes.
Can bookings from Viator and other agents land in the same manifest?
Yes. We connect your agent and reseller channels so every booking lands in one manifest with seats kept in sync.
How much does a balloon booking system cost?
It depends on what you need, so we quote up front once we understand it. No surprise invoices, no lock-in and you own what we build.
How long does it take?
Smaller jobs like one-tap cancellations or voucher tracking can be quick. Bigger systems are planned in stages so you get the first win early instead of waiting for everything at once.
Who looks after it once it's built?
We do. We host it on our own managed servers and keep it updated and secure. When you need something you ring the people who built it.
We already have systems. Can you upgrade them instead of starting again?
Usually, yes. Most hot air balloon operators we work with keep what's working and upgrade the rest in stages. We move your data across, connect the old and new while we switch and retire the old system only when the new one is proven.
Contact
Got a hot air balloon operator problem? Consider it wolloped.
Tell us what's slow, broken, manual or missing. You don't need a spec, just describe what's going on.