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 2025 starting at midnight on 12/28/2024. 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 2025, create a Date Group with the range:
01/01/2025 - 12/31/2025.

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 before you want reservations to open.

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

    • For this example: Reservations open on 12/28/2024 → Expiration Date = 12/27/2024.

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.