Booking rules
Some rentals cannot be booked freely. A camper cannot go out for one night, vans go out on Saturdays, boat trips follow the tide, and ten skis in the wrong size are the same as none.
The rules on this page express that. All of them are optional. A category that sets none behaves exactly as it always did.
They live on the category's Pricing tab, under Rental period rules and Branch rules.
Minimum and maximum rental period
Minimum days: the shortest rental you accept. A one-night camper costs more to turn around than it earns.
Maximum days: the longest. A fleet cannot afford one object being gone all season.
Leave either empty for no limit.
Changeover days
Changeover days decide which weekdays a rental may start on. Tick Saturday and only Saturday-to-Saturday rentals are possible.
Ticking nothing means any day. An empty selection is never read as "no day is bookable".
Fixed time slots
For rentals that follow published departures rather than an open period: boat trips on the tide, sunset tours, morning and afternoon sessions.
You publish the slots (start time, end time, and an optional label like "Morning tour"), and the customer picks one instead of choosing their own times. A slot may run past midnight.
A category with slots is checked against those slots instead of the period rules. Minimums, maximums and changeover days do not apply. The slot is the period.
Sizes
Switch on Size required when booking for categories where the size is the whole point: skis, wetsuits, bike frames, boots.
Every object then carries a size of its own ("M", "54cm", "170"), and every size is its own stock line. Having ten skis means nothing if the customer needs a 170 and you have none.
The sizes offered come from the objects themselves, so the list can never disagree with what you actually own. A booking without sizes chosen is refused.
Barcode or serial number required
Switch on Barcode or serial number required for AV, camera and equipment rental, where it matters which body went out, not just that "a body" did.
An object without a barcode, reference or frame number cannot be added to such a category, which is what stops the requirement quietly turning into a suggestion.
Stock on extras
An extra can carry a stock quantity. Helmets and child seats can only go out on as many overlapping rentals as you own.
Leave it empty for things that are not physical items. A damage waiver cannot run out.
Preparation and turnaround time
Not a booking rule as such, but it works the same way. Per category you set:
- Preparation time before rental (minutes)
- Turnaround time after rental (minutes)
The object is automatically unbookable for that window around a booking, at the counter and in the widget alike. A boat that needs 45 minutes of cleaning is simply not offered for 45 minutes.
Where the rules bind
The rules apply everywhere:
- The widget checks them while the customer is choosing, so they see a refusal early and in their own language: "the minimum rental is 3 days", "rentals start on Saturday", "there are no departures on this day".
- The counter applies exactly the same rules, so a booking the widget refused cannot simply be typed in by hand instead.
Refusals always carry their reason and the number or day list behind it, so the message a customer reads is a real sentence rather than an error code.
If you want an exception for one customer, one time, the honest way is to change the rule, take the booking, and change it back. That leaves a rule that still means what it says for everyone else.