When Michael Epstein first reached out through Fiverr in February 2026, the request initially sounded straightforward. He wanted a recurring membership system for Pacific Divers Peru that would allow divers to subscribe monthly, manage bookings, and process payments through Culqi, Peru’s leading local payment gateway. At first glance, it looked like a typical WooCommerce subscription setup. However, as development progressed, the project evolved into one of the most technically layered WordPress systems I have worked on.

Over the course of three months, the project transformed into a complete membership ecosystem combining WooCommerce subscriptions, recurring payments, booking validation, custom dashboards, Progressive Web App functionality, Spanish localisation, and custom business logic. The complexity increased further because the client frequently travelled internationally for diving expeditions, including long trips to Indonesia, which meant most collaboration happened asynchronously across multiple time zones.

This case study covers the full journey of building the Pacific Divers Peru subscription system, including the technical architecture, recurring malware challenges, Culqi integration issues, custom booking logic, staging migrations, and the final production launch.

The Challenge

Building a Subscription System Around Culqi

The most difficult part of the project was not WooCommerce itself. The real challenge was Culqi. Unlike Stripe or PayPal, Culqi is a Peru-focused payment gateway with limited English documentation, custom recurring billing APIs, region-restricted testing environments, and no native WooCommerce Subscriptions compatibility out of the box.

Michael specifically wanted a system that supported monthly recurring memberships, automated billing, dive booking limits, mobile installation support, and membership validation before bookings could be confirmed. All of this had to work through Culqi. That single requirement changed the complexity of the project significantly because almost every tutorial and plugin ecosystem in WooCommerce is built around Stripe or PayPal.

Core Requirements of the Platform

The platform needed to support six major systems simultaneously. First, subscribers needed automatic recurring billing through Culqi. Second, every membership plan needed monthly booking limits that reset automatically with each billing cycle. Bronze members could book one dive per month, Silver members two dives, and Gold members four dives.

The system also needed to enforce a minimum three-month lock-in period so members could not cancel immediately after joining. Beyond subscriptions, the client wanted a completely custom member dashboard showing dive balances, billing status, renewal dates, upgrade options, and account controls in Spanish.

Another major requirement was Progressive Web App functionality so users could install the platform on Android and iPhone devices without needing native App Store applications. Finally, the booking system needed custom validation logic to verify active memberships before allowing reservations.

Our Solution

Creating a Layered WordPress Architecture

Instead of rebuilding the platform from scratch, we decided to extend the client’s existing WordPress and Divi installation with a layered WooCommerce architecture. This approach reduced cost, avoided unnecessary platform migrations, and allowed the client to continue managing the website through familiar workflows.

The final architecture combined WooCommerce Subscriptions, Culqi recurring payment plugins, custom PHP booking validation logic, dashboard customisation, membership restrictions, and Progressive Web App integration into a single ecosystem.

This structure allowed Pacific Divers to keep their existing website while gaining a fully automated subscription and booking platform tailored to their diving business.

Payment Infrastructure

Integrating Culqi Recurring Payments

The recurring payment system depended entirely on two premium plugins from letsgodev.com. These plugins were WooCommerce Culqi Pago con un Click and WooCommerce Culqi Suscripciones. Without both plugins installed together, recurring subscriptions simply would not function correctly.

The setup included live API integration, UAT test environment configuration, webhook handling, tokenised card storage, subscription renewal events, and failed payment handling. To simplify the checkout experience, we disabled all unnecessary payment methods including COD, Yape, and bank transfers so the entire checkout flow revolved exclusively around Culqi.

Because Culqi stores credentials differently from Stripe and PayPal, additional care was required during staging migrations to avoid API key corruption.

Subscription Plan Architecture

Designing Bronze, Silver, and Gold Memberships

The final membership structure was built around three subscription tiers. The Bronze plan was priced at S/. 539 per month and included one dive day per month, dashboard access, included equipment, freeze functionality, and upgrade access to the Silver plan.

The Silver plan cost S/. 890 monthly and increased the booking allowance to two dive days per billing cycle while keeping the same dashboard and membership features.

The Gold plan was the premium offering priced at S/. 1,190 monthly. It included four dive days, premium equipment, extended freeze periods, and the ability to purchase additional dives at S/. 420 each.

All three plans included cancellation restrictions until after month three to enforce the minimum commitment period requested by the client.

Custom Member Dashboard

Building a Fully Custom Dashboard Experience

One of the most important parts of the project was the custom member dashboard. The default WooCommerce My Account page was far too limited for the type of subscription experience Pacific Divers needed.

The custom dashboard was built at /my-dashboard and gave subscribers real-time visibility into their memberships. Users could see their active plan, remaining dive balance, renewal dates, upgrade options, and billing information from a single interface.

The dashboard also dynamically updated whenever bookings were consumed, subscriptions renewed, or additional dives were purchased. Gold members could purchase extra dives directly through the dashboard using Culqi payment processing, instantly increasing their available booking allowance.

Booking Integration

Subscription-Aware Booking Validation

The booking system was customised with subscription-aware validation logic. Before any reservation could be confirmed, the system automatically checked the user’s subscription status, remaining monthly dive balance, plan eligibility, and billing validity.

If any validation failed, the booking was rejected automatically. This prevented inactive or expired members from reserving dive slots.

On the admin side, Pacific Divers staff could create dive schedules, monitor member bookings, validate plan limits, track usage history, and manage reservations directly through WooCommerce.

Localisation and User Experience

Full Spanish Localisation

The platform was fully localised into Spanish to provide a seamless user experience for Pacific Divers’ customer base in Peru. This included translating checkout flows, billing text, dashboard controls, plan descriptions, subscription actions, error messages, and policy pages.

We also simplified the checkout process by removing shipping fields, reducing unnecessary form inputs, improving mobile responsiveness, and integrating policy acceptance directly into the payment flow.

The result was a cleaner and more user-friendly checkout experience optimised specifically for service subscriptions rather than physical products.

Progressive Web App Implementation

Delivering an App-Like Mobile Experience

Originally, the client expected native Android and iPhone applications. After evaluating the requirements, we recommended a Progressive Web App instead because it delivered nearly the same user experience without the cost and maintenance overhead of native apps.

Using the PWA for WP plugin, we configured install prompts, mobile manifests, and Pacific Divers branding so users could install the platform directly onto their mobile home screens.

This approach eliminated the need for Apple Developer accounts, Google Play Store publishing, yearly developer fees, and ongoing native app maintenance while still providing a fast and app-like experience.

Key Obstacles During the Project

Recurring Malware Infections

The largest technical challenge throughout the project was recurring malware infections linked to plugin scheduler files. The infection repeatedly spread into database entries and reappeared even after surface-level cleanup.

Each cleanup required manual hosting access, database sanitisation, file inspection, cache clearing, and security rescanning, adding significant unplanned work to the timeline.

Culqi API Credential Loss

Another recurring issue involved Culqi API credentials being wiped after staging migrations. Because Culqi stores API credentials inside WordPress option tables, database overwrites during migrations frequently disconnected the payment gateway and required manual reconnection.

Regional Testing Limitations

Testing Culqi from Pakistan introduced additional complications because some UAT transactions were restricted by geography. Certain failures that appeared during testing were not actual payment errors but geo-restriction responses from Culqi’s systems.

To work around this, COD was temporarily used to validate booking flows while final card testing was completed by the client within Peru using official Culqi UAT cards.

Scope Expansion

The original project evolved dramatically over time. Features such as freeze periods, extra dive purchases, upgrade paths, Progressive Web App support, and advanced localisation were not fully defined in the initial brief.

The March 27 requirements PDF shared by Michael ultimately became the turning point that aligned all remaining dashboard flows, plan structures, and booking logic requirements.

The Results

A Fully Operational Subscription Ecosystem

After three months of development, Pacific Divers launched a fully operational subscription platform built entirely on WordPress and WooCommerce.

The platform now supports automated recurring billing through Culqi, subscription-aware booking validation, custom member dashboards, Progressive Web App installation, and advanced membership rules.

Subscribers can manage their plans, monitor remaining dives, purchase additional sessions, and handle billing directly from the dashboard without requiring manual intervention from Pacific Divers staff.

The booking system validates membership status automatically before confirming reservations, ensuring only active subscribers can access dive scheduling.

The final production environment was migrated from a clean staging build, the infected staging servers were deleted, and the website now operates on a secure and malware-free foundation.

Key Lessons Learned

Local Payment Gateways Require Extra Planning

Regional gateways like Culqi behave very differently from Stripe and PayPal. They require additional time for API research, compatibility testing, and localisation handling. Future projects involving regional payment providers should always allocate significantly more testing time.

Staging Environments Are Essential

This project reinforced the importance of isolated staging environments. Without proper staging separation, malware cleanup and plugin testing become extremely risky for production systems.

Clear Documentation Saves Time

The requirements document shared by the client in late March dramatically improved project clarity. Proper documentation early in the process would have reduced multiple revision cycles and shortened the overall delivery timeline.

PWAs Are Often Better Than Native Apps

For membership-based businesses, Progressive Web Apps frequently provide the best balance between functionality, deployment speed, and maintenance cost. In this project, the PWA delivered nearly the same experience as a native app without introducing App Store complexity.

Final Thoughts

Pacific Divers is not a software company. It is a real-world scuba diving school operated by people who spend much of their time offshore leading diving expeditions across the world.

The goal of this project was never simply to build a website. The objective was to create a self-sustaining membership ecosystem that could automate recurring billing, validate bookings intelligently, minimise administrative workload, and provide subscribers with a seamless digital experience.

Today, the Pacific Divers subscription platform operates as a fully integrated WooCommerce membership system powered by Culqi recurring payments, custom booking validation, and a Spanish-language member dashboard.

And ultimately, the best technology systems are the ones users barely notice because everything simply works.