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How to: Schedule Online Reservation Availability Using a Booking Rule

Learn how to use a booking rule to open your calendar for online bookings on a set date, preventing early reservations.

Summary:

Many parks follow different strategies for opening inventory to online bookings. While some offer a rolling 12-month availability, others prefer a controlled release, where reservations for the next calendar year open on a specific date. This article walks you through how to use the "Cannot be Reserved Online" rule to prevent online bookings until your desired release date.

Example Use Case:

At Mountain Town Park, we want to open reservations for 2026 starting at midnight (as it turns to the new year 2026) on 12/31/2025. Using this rule allows us to configure the Admin Site for next year without the risk of early online bookings.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Step 1: Create a Date Group

A Date Group defines the stay dates that the rule will manage.

Example: If you want to control reservations for 2026, create a Date Group with the range:
01/01/2026 - 12/31/2026.

Screenshot 2026-01-03 at 09.44.03

Learn more! Check out this article for more details:

Step 2: Create the "Cannot be Reserved Online" rule

This rule disables online reservations for the specified Date Group and Site Types, while still allowing reservations to be created manually in the Admin Site.

  • Parameters to Set:

    • Date Group: Use the one created in Step 1.

    • Site Types: Assign the Site Types this rule applies to.

    • Expiration Date: Set this to the day you want reservations to open.

    • Rule Violation Message: Set an internal message for users in your Admin Site.

      • For this example: Reservation opens up on 1/1/2026 so the Expiration Date is set to 1/1/2026.

Note: The rule expiration date should be set to the day you want online reservations to become available because the rule expires right at the last second of day before expiration (at 11:59:59PM) or right as the date changes. 

Example: A rule set to expire at 1/1/2026 would technically expire at the second before that date starts on 12/31/2025 at 11:59:59PM.

Screenshot 2026-01-03 at 09.40.22

Key Notes

  • This rule only affects online reservations through Consumer and Marketplace Sites. Manual reservations in the Admin Site are unaffected.

  • Once the rule expires, online reservations will automatically open without further action.

  • This rule does not qualify for OTA integrations.

Learn more! Check out this article for more details: