Booking duration

In the “Booking settings” we can set up the basic booking product settings.

• Fixed units of: the user only has to enter the start date, the end date is calculated automatically. (example above, 3 days).
• Customer can book units of: Customer can indicate how many units he wants to book, the number of units will be multiplied automatically. (Example above, units of 3 days, 6 days, 9 days etc.). 

You can decide which ‘start date’ to show on the booking form calendar.

• Default start date in booking form:
  • None
  • Current day
  • Current day +1
  • First available day
  • Custom date
• Full day booking: Decide if the booking duration will last until the end of the day, you can read more about it here.
• Location: Set the location of your booking product, and/or use the [booking_map] shortcode, to show the map on the product page.

Only if you have set “Customer can book units of – 1 day” as booking unit the “Enable calendar range picker” option will be visible.

Once you enable the “Enable calendar range picker” option, an interactive calendar will appear to let your users select the booking date.

In the example above, the minimum duration is set to 3 days. The duration is automatically calculated, meaning that when you select the ‘check-in date’, the system automatically blocks the 3 next days.

From YITH > Booking > Settings > “Customizations” you can manage the way you want to show the date picker and calendar in the booking form.

Go to this page here to read about the options.

If you’ve selected the option “Customer can book units of” you can decide to let your users select the duration of their booking. By setting the minimum and maximum values from the ‘Booking Availability tab’. This way you can prevent users from making a booking for a longer or shorter duration than allowed.

In our example we have set ‘Customer can book units of‘ to 3 days, and in the booking availability settings, we have set the ‘Maximum booking duration‘ to 0 (unlimited).

This way, the customer will see the 3 days in the booking form by default, and will be able to multiply this number by 3, each time he uses the arrows.

It is not possible to book this product for 8 days for example, as this is not a multiplication of 3. 

By enabling the “check min/max duration” option in YITH > Booking > Settings > Form Settings, the calendar in frontend will show the dates which are no longer available, including the minimum/maximum duration.

Example with option enabled

Customer A has booked the Amsterdam Apartment for 6 days from 3 January to 9 January. The minimum duration to book this apartment is 3 days. 

As you can see in the example above, it is not possible for Customer B to book the apartment from 1 to 9 January, considering the minimum of 3 days and the booked period.

If you disable the option “Check min/max duration”, the customer will see the calendar with the dates available/unavailable, however, it does not take into consideration the minimum and maximum duration of the room. Therefore the days prior to the reservation will appear clickable in the calendar, even if the booking is not available on those dates.

Example with option disabled

The same scenario with customer A and B, customer A has placed his booking for 3 January to 9 January.

As you can see in the example above, it is not possible for Customer B to book the apartment from 3 to 9 January. But it is possible to select 1 January in this case, as it did not consider the minimum of 3 days and the booked period.

If the customer wants to book the room from 1 to 9 January, he will see a message notifying that it is not possible to book this room in the period he wishes.

Example of date not-bookable

Also the title of the booking form changes from a price view, to “Not-bookable”.

We suggest to keep the ‘Check min/max duration‘ option enabled at all times.