Rules

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Rules allow you to enforce policies on new bookings created in the system and can be found through the Inventory > Rules menu in your Checkfront dashboard. Rules can be opted out of for customers or staff by unchecking the appropriate option in the Apply To field. By default, your account comes with a global rule set named Default. You can create multiple rule sets and tie them to specific events or discounts in the system. Tying rule sets to events allows you to enforce different booking policies at different times of the year and build more complex pricing layers.  

 

 

 

To activate a rule, simply input the desired value in the Value column and click the blue save button underneath the rules table.  

 

 

 

 

 

Active rules will be moved to the top of the list after saving.  

To disable a rule, clear its value and click save again.  

 

 

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To create a new rule set, click on the +New Rule Set button in the left sidebar.  

 

 

 

 

You can create as many new rule sets as you like. If you have created an item event, or maybe even a discount event, you may wish to create a specific set of rules to help govern that event in your system. For example, you may wish to create an event that provides a 10% booking discount on a hotel room, during a certain period of time. However, in order to qualify for the discount, the customer must purchase a minimum stay of 3 nights. In this case, you would activate the Minimum Duration Per Item rule, with a value of 3. Now, when creating the event in your system, you would attach the new rule set to trigger the 3-night minimum requirement.  

 

 

 

 

 

The customer will receive a 10% discount, only if a minimum of 3 nights are selected for the booking. You should use the default rule set to define rules that will be applied generally across your inventory. For example, if you offer only accommodation and always require a minimum 3-night stay, the default rule set can be used to control this requirement. Custom rulesets are to be used for a more customized booking experience.  

 

If you decide to use a custom rule set, make sure you disable the corresponding rule in the default rule set first, as these will automatically override the custom rules.

   

Following is a list of the rules available to you in Checkfront with a brief description of what the rule does and how it can be applied to your own booking system.

 

Maximum duration per item

Sets the maximum allowed booking length for each allocation.

 

Minimum duration per item

Sets the minimum allowed booking length for each allocation.

 

Maximum booking quantity

Limits the number of items to be booked in a single order. By default, this is your item quantity.

 

Minimum booking quantity

Sets a minimum limit on the number of items that must be booked in a single order.

 

Start day of week

Limits bookings to commence on your chosen day of the week.

 

Cutoff

Bookings cannot be made after X number of days before the start date. Set to at least 1 if you don't wish to allow same day bookings. If using the _hourly_ allocation, a value of 24 would represent 1 day (24 hours)

 

Overbooking allowance

Total quantity available for overbooking outside the posted availability. Not applicable to unlimited items.

 

Forward booking window

Number of days in the future to begin accepting bookings.

 

Past booking window

Number of days in the past to accept bookings. Usually applied to staff members only.

 

Maximum value of a booking

Limits the maximum sub-total of an item.

 

Minimum value of a booking

Limits the minimum sub-total of an item.

 

Maximum items per booking

Limits the quantity of items in a single booking.   It's important to realize that the Default ruleset will always be referred to first by the system. If you have multiple events, with different rule requirements, make sure you disable the Default rules and then create a new ruleset for each event.    

 

 

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You may have noticed an option in the Apply To column for the Maximum Duration Per Item rule labelled Strict.  

 

 

 

 

But what exactly happens when you activate this feature? Well, say you have a rental at $10/day with two discounts:

Discount A: 1-5 days, 25% off

Discount B: 6-10 days, 50% off With “strict” enabled on discount B, a 10 day booking would be discounted 50% each day. With “strict” disabled on discount B, a 10 day booking would be discounted 50% each day, in addition to an extra 25% discount on the first 5 days.