Determining the availability of products

Learn how to set up product availability, including who it is available to, how it is booked, when it is available, and how to manage booking rules.

New to the Product Builder? Read the first article in this series for an introduction to the Product feature.

Which plans include this feature?

Legacy: Soho, Pro, Plus, Enterprise, Flex
New: Starter, Growth (Subscription), Growth (Per Booking), Managed
→ Learn more about our new plans or how to change your plan.

Where can I find this feature using the top menu?

Inventory > Products > Products > Add Product/Add New Product/Edit Product > Availability

What prerequisites are there?

Admin permissions to manage inventory or restricted permissions to View products and assets and Manage products and assets.

Which Checkfront version supports this feature - classic, new or both?

Your account must have access to products (Inventory > Products), a key feature of our new version of Checkfront. This feature is not available for use with items (Inventory > Items) in our classic version. → Learn more about products.

Video Overview

Product availability overview

Within this step of the Product Builder, you can determine...

who the product is available to (guest types).
how the product is booked (all day, nightly, timeslots or flextime).
when the product is available (or unavailable).
how to manage booking rules on availability.
how to determine availability based on guest types.

Determining availability for products

Who is the product available to?

Who is this product available to?

Guest types allow you to allocate inventory by type, specify price points for your product by type, and collect Guest information for guest forms, for example, Seniors, Adults, Youth, Children or simply Guests.

Start typing in the field to create a new guest type or select a pre-existing guest type from the drop-down list. Select one or more to associate with your product.

You can then configure rates per Guest type from the Pricing tab of the Product Builder.

How is this product booked?

Determines how the product is booked and later priced. Choose between All Day, Nightly, Timeslots or Flextime.

Remember that bookings depend on a combination of inventory numbers and availability settings.

For example, you may have several timeslots available for a given day, but if you have fixed inventory or inventory based on a limited number of assets, the day becomes disabled within the booking calendar once all your inventory is booked.

Configuring your product to be booked all day

Booked All Day

Configure your product to be booked All Day. This setting is used for full-day or multi-day experiences. Most commonly used for tours and rentals. Learn how to configure availability for days using availability events below.

Configuring your product to be booked nightly

Booked Nightly

Configure your product to be booked Nightly. This setting is used for experiences booked per night with next-day check-outs. Most commonly used for hotels and campsites. Learn how to configure availability for nights using availability events below.

Configuring your product to be booked by timeslots

Booked by Timeslots

Configure your product to be booked by Timeslots. Timeslots are used for bookings with fixed start and end times. Timeslots are most commonly used for tours and activities. Learn how to configure timeslot availability using availability events below.

Configuring timeslot display settings

Availability Timeslots Settings

Timeslot display settings determine how your Guests see timeslots on the Booking page. The preview window to the right of the settings gives you a sense of how those timeslot options look to those making the booking.

Setting	Description
Dropdown display	Select to have timeslot options displayed within a drop-down menu. Leave unselected to display timeslot options as buttons.
Show end times	Select to show the start and end times of the timeslot, e.g. 09:00 AM - 12:00 PM. Leave unselected to display only the start time, e.g. 09:00 AM.
Show unavailable items	Select to show unavailable timeslots to the Guests. Unavailable timeslots are greyed out. Leave unselected to hide unavailable timeslots.

Configuring flexible bookings

Flexible Booking Times

Configured your product to offer flexible booking options. This setting is used for experiences with flexible start and end times, resulting in flexibility with durations. Most commonly used for rentals. Learn how to configure availability for flextime using availability events below.

Determining flextime increments

Determines at what time increments your product is available. Options always start at the top of the hour. Increments range in length from 10 mins, 15 mins, 20 mins to 1 hr. The booking duration is flexible, so Guests can select one or more sequential increments.

Setting	Number of Increments	Length	Start Times	Examples
10 mins	6	10 minutes	:00, :10, :20, :30, :40, :50 every hour	09:00 am - 09:10 am 09:10 am - 09:30 am
15 mins	4	15 minutes	:00, 15, :30 and :45 every hour	09:00 am - 09:10 am 09:15 am - 09:45 am
20 mins	3	20 minutes	:00, :20 and :40 every hour	09:00 am - 09:20 am 09:20 am - 10:00 am
30 mins	2	30 minutes	:00, and :30 every hour	09:00 am - 09:30 am 09:30 am - 10:30 am
Hourly	1	60 minutes	:00 every hour	09:00 am -> 10:00 am 10:00 am -> 12:00 pm

Managing availability events

Create Event

Availability events determine the dates and times your product is available or unavailable. Your product is not available until you add an availability event.

There are two types of availability events - availability and closure.

Availability events determine when the product is available for booking, with the option to modify the base price of your product during those select periods.
Closure events determine when the product is unavailable for booking, allowing you to block the product from your booking calendar for a specified period, e.g. for an off-season or maintenance period.

An event can only be associated with one product. Events associated with multiple products are not supported at this time.

If the guest type or the product has pricing disabled, the availability event does not affect it.

Overlapping events and timeslots
An event may not be created or updated if overlapping another event. Events are considered overlapping if applied to the same date span and applicable days of the week.

While timeslots cannot be duplicated on the same day, you can create availability events that share the same date span and applicable days with timeslots, if the timeslots overlap.

Warning: Overlapping timeslots share the same inventory.

Configuration options vary slightly, depending on how your product is booked - all day, nightly, via timeslots or using flextime. See below.

Creating a new all day or nightly availability event

Create All Day

Is your product configured all day or nightly? Then, follow these steps to create a new availability event.

Select Availablity from the Create New drop-down menu. This opens the Create an Availability Event modal.
Specify the Event Name. For example, Summer 2023. Rate names have a 13-character limit.
Select the Date Range. Start by typing into the field to open the calendar selection tool. From the calendar, select the Start Date and then the End Date of your event, e.g. 08/31/23 -> 08/31/23. You can make the product available indefinitely by clicking X Remove End Date. The product is then always available.
Choose which Days of the Week apply to the event, e.g. Thursday (T), Friday (F), Saturday (S), and Sunday (S). Days that are greyed out are NOT available for booking.
Apply any booking rules to your event, e.g. Min or Max booking Durations.
Specify the minimum or the maximum number of guest types, where applicable. These are optional but can be configured by guest total or by guest type. You can also choose whether to apply these to Customer bookings, Staff-side bookings, or both. Learn more below.
Save your changes. The event is now active and appears within your Availability Events list.

Creating a new timeslot availability event

Create Timeslot

Is your product configured with timeslots? Then, follow these steps to create a new availability event.

Select Availablity from the Create New drop-down menu. This opens the Create an Availability Event modal.
Specify the Event Name. For example, Summer 2023. Rate names have a 13-character limit.
Select the Date Range. Start by typing into the field to open the calendar selection tool. From the calendar, select the Start Date and then the End Date of your event, e.g. 07/01/22 -> 08/31 /22. You can make the product available indefinitely by clicking X Remove End Date. The product is then always available.
Do you need to add any new timeslots to support this event? Then, do so now by specifying the time range and days applicable. You can add as many timeslots as needed by clicking the + Add Timeslot button and specifying a time range.
Choose which Days of the Week apply to the event for each timeslot, e.g. Thursday (T), Friday (F), Saturday (S), and Sunday (S). Days that are greyed out are NOT available for booking.
Apply booking rules to your event - Booking Window or Cutoff Window rules.
Specify the minimum or the maximum number of guest types, where applicable. These are optional but can be configured by guest total or by guest type. You can also choose whether to apply these to Customer bookings, Staff-side bookings, or both. Learn more below.
Save your changes. The event is now active and appears within your Availability Events list.

Expert Tips from Checkfront Support:

"Overlapping timeslots share product inventory and are not independent.

You can uncheck the Show end times setting. This allows your Customers to select their time without the timeslots overlapping in terms of inventory management.

Alternatively, you can create two separate products to manage inventory for timeslots that overlap."

- Ben, Technical Support Team Lead

Creating a new flex time availability event

Createc Flex

Is your product configured with flextime? Then, follow these steps to create a new availability event.

Select Availablity from the Create New drop-down menu. This opens the Create an Availability Event modal.
Specify the Event Name. For example, Summer 2023. Rate names have a 13-character limit.
Select the Date Range. Start by typing into the field to open the calendar selection tool. From the calendar, select the Start Date and then the End Date of your event, e.g. 06/01/22 -> 08/31/22. You can make the product available indefinitely by clicking X Remove End Date. The product is then always available.
Do you need to enforce a fixed start time for all bookings? Then, enable Fixed Start Time.
This setting establishes the start time for all bookings, for example, 09:00 AM, according to the configured time.

Bookings must start simultaneously but can be of different durations depending on the increments you have configured and the Guest's selection, for example, 09:00 AM - 10:00 AM for a short kayak rental or 09:00 AM - 12:00 PM for a longer experience.
When can this product be booked? Determine when this product can be booked - using Business Hours or Custom hours. Business hours are configured within Calendar settings. Custom hours can be configured outside of business hours via the settings provided.
Apply any booking rules to your event, e.g. Min or Max booking Durations.
Specify the minimum or the maximum number of guest types, where applicable. These are optional but can be configured by guest total or by guest type. You can also choose whether to apply these to Customer bookings, Staff-side bookings, or both. Learn more below.
Save your changes. The event is now active and appears within your Availability Events list.

Creating a new closure event

Closure Event

To create a new Closure Event, follow these steps:

Select Closure from the Create New drop-down menu. This opens the Create a Product Closure modal.
Specify a unique Event Name. For example, Fall Maintenance. Rate names have a 13-character limit.
Select the Date Range. Start by typing into the field to open the calendar selection tool. From the calendar, select the Start Date and then the End Date of your event, e.g. 10/01/22 -> 10/31/22.
Choose which Days of the Week apply to the event, e.g. Monday (M), Tuesday (T), Wednesday (W), Thursday (T) and Friday (F). Days that are highlighted in blue are closed. Days that are greyed out are AVAILABLE for booking.
Save your changes. The closure event is now active and appears within your Availability Events list.

Editing a product closure may impact other products that share that closure event, for example, if you modify the dates.

Product closures can be shared by more than one product. You can also manage product closures from the Product Closures list (Inventory > Product Closures), including determining which products the closures apply to. Learn more here...

Introduction to product closures

Learn how to delete a product closure here:

How can I delete a product closure?

Managing booking rules

Booking Rules

Booking rule options vary depending on how your product is booked. They are configured with your Availability Events, as mentioned above. Which rules are available depends on how your product is booked.

Setting	How this product is booked	Description	Options
Min Duration	Nightly, All Day, Flextime	Set if this product requires a minimum duration when being booked, e.g. minimum of 3 hours.	Do not apply min duration Apply to Staff Bookings Only Apply to Customer Bookings Only Apply to Customer & Staff Bookings
Max Duration	Nightly, All Day, Flextime	Set if this product requires a maximum duration when being booked, e.g. maximum of 10 hours.	Do not apply max duration Apply to Staff Bookings Only Apply to Customer Bookings Only Apply to Customer & Staff Bookings
Booking Window	Timeslots, Nightly, All Day, Flextime	Set how far in advance bookings can be made, e.g. 4 weeks. Availability falling OUTSIDE this window will be HIDDEN.	Do not apply Minutes Hours Days Weeks
Cutoff Window	Timeslots, Nightly, All Day, Flextime	Restrict bookings from being accepted too close to when the booking is meant to start, e.g. 2 days. Availability falling INSIDE this window will be HIDDEN.	Do not apply Minutes Hours Days Weeks

Requiring minimum and/or maximum numbers of guests per booking

Set restrictions on the amount that can be added to a single booking. These restrictions are configured along with your availability events, as described above.

Min/Max by guest type

Specify a minimum (Min) or maximum (Max) per booking by guest type. For example, you may wish to require at least one adult to attend with every booking of one to five children.

Make sure you choose one or more guest types under Who is this product available to?.
Select the Min/Max by guest type option.
Choose to Apply to both customer & staff bookings, Apply to customer bookings only, or Apply to staff bookings only.
Next, set a Min (minimum) or Max (maximum) for each guest type.
Save your changes.

Min/Max by guest total

Specify a minimum or maximum per booking by guest Total. For example, you may wish to limit the total number of guests per booking to six, but they can be any combination of Adults and Children.

Select the Min/Max by guest total option.
First, choose to Apply to both customer & staff bookings, Apply to customer bookings only, or Apply to staff bookings only.
Next, set a minimum (Min) or maximum (Max) per booking by the Total number of guest types.

Working with the Availability Events list

Availability Events

Added product events are listed in table format with the following information displayed for each event.

You can sort your list of events in ascending (↑) or descending (v) order by clicking on the column headers within the table.

Value	Description
Name	This is the unique name of your event.
Type	This is the type of event - availability or closure.
Date Range	This is the date range of the product event.
Status	The status of the availability event. Once created, an event is active but only applies within the specified date range.
Edit	Click on the ellipses (...) at the end of the row to open the event in edit mode.
Copy	Click on the ellipses (...) at the end of the row and then the Copy option to open a copy of the availability event. You can update the Event Name and other settings as needed. The event is active as soon as you save your availability event. If your product is also active, the event is immediately live!
Delete	Click on the ellipses (...) at the end of the row and then the Delete option to permanently delete the event. Once the event is deleted, the event cannot be re-activated!

Continue building your product

Navigate forward through the steps of the Product Builder. The Continue button is enabled once the minimum required product details are provided.

< Establishing inventory on products | Configuring pricing on products >

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