Rentals - Creating a Booking

This article explains how to manually create a booking in Rentals. It walks through every field in the Create Booking form, how to add listings, customers, and payments, and highlights all special cases where in-app bookings override normal business or listing rules.

Overview of Creating a Booking

The Create Booking flow allows admins to manually create bookings for customers directly from the Appointments or Calendar view. Admin-created bookings provide complete flexibility — enabling bookings outside configured business or listing constraints.

This means you can:

• Create bookings outside business operating hours.
• Set any start and end time, even if the time selector is disabled.
• Create bookings for any duration, regardless of fixed durations defined on listings.
• Bypass minimum and maximum booking durations, minimum scheduling notice, and maximum advance window.
• Still respect pre-buffer and post-buffer time slots when checking availability.

Example: If a listing’s default rental time is 9 AM–11 PM and the time selector is disabled, you can still create a booking from 7 AM–1 PM. Similarly, if fixed durations are 4 hours or 1 day, you can still book it for 2 hours or 2 days manually.

This gives admins flexibility for exceptions while maintaining operational safety.

Key Benefits of Creating a Booking

• Speed to Schedule: Create directly from Appointments or Calendar to handle requests quickly.
• Flexible: Admins can set custom start/end even when listings use fixed durations or disabled time selectors.
• Protection Against Conflicts: Buffers and inventory are always enforced to prevent overbooking.
• Multi‑Listing Support: Add multiple listings—each with its own times and quantities—in a single booking to streamline complex orders.
• Immediate Team Visibility: Saved bookings appear right away in Appointments and Calendar for operational coordination.

How to Create a New Booking?

There are two ways to create a booking:

Option 1 — From the Appointments View

1. 1Navigate to Calendars → Appointment List View.
2. 2Select Rentals from the dropdown.
3. 3Click + Create Booking in the top-right corner.
4. 4The New Booking screen will open.

Option 2 — From the Calendar View

1. 1Go to Calendars → Calendar View.
2. 2Select Rentals from the dropdown.
3. 3Click + New in the top-right corner of the calendar.
4. 4The New Booking screen will appear.

Sections of the Create Booking Form

The booking form includes the following sections:

1. 1Customer Details
2. 2Listings
3. 3Internal Note
4. 4Payment Summary
5. 5Set Booking Status

Each section is detailed below.

Customer Details

Enter or select the customer making the booking.

Fields:

• Select Contact – Search existing contacts or create a new one
• Phone & Email– Automatically fetched from the selected contact.

Listings Section

This is where you select the listing(s) being booked.

1. 1Choose the Listing Name from the dropdown.
2. 2Select a Variant (if applicable).
3. 3Enter the Quantity – The number of units being booked.
4. 4Define Start and End Date/Time.
5. 5The updates automatically if applicable.

Important: Manual bookings ignore minimum/maximum durations, scheduling notice, and booking

windows, but respect buffer times so existing reservations aren’t overlapped.

Adding Multiple Listings:

• Click + Add Listing again to include multiple items in a single booking.
• Each listing can have unique start/end times and quantities.
• The combined total updates in the final Payment Summary.

Internal Notes

Use this section to add contextual notes or record operational details.

• Add Internal Note: Add instructions, customer requests, or internal reminders.

Payment Summary

Displayed Fields:

• Rental Subtotal – The combined value of all listings.
• Security Deposit – Total security deposit applicable for the booking. This can be a part of the total amount to be collected upfront or an intimation of what can be charged incase of damages/violation of terms later (incase security deposit mode is set to card on file).
• Due Today – Remaining amount to be collected.

Set Booking Status

Before saving, you can choose the initial status for the booking:

• Unconfirmed – The booking is recorded but not yet confirmed; useful for tentative rentals.
• Booked – The booking is confirmed immediately

This flexibility helps admins manage provisional holds or manually confirmed bookings.

Save and Confirm

Once all fields are complete:

1. 1Review customer and listing details.
2. 2Click Confirm booking.
3. 3The booking appears in the Appointments List View

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I create a booking without taking payment right now? Yes. Save without payment, then open Edit Booking later to collect full balance or deposit.

Q: Why isn’t the deposit appearing in Payment Summary? Check Global Settings to ensure deposits are enabled and that the variant’s deposit isn’t set to $0.

Q: What happens if my time overlaps a buffer or inventory isn’t available? You’ll see an error or disabled save. Adjust times to respect buffers or reduce booking to available inventory.