Start Time Rules let you control which specific times customers can start a rental on any given day, instead of offering the same fixed list of times every day of the year.
Use this when you need different start times on weekends vs. weekdays, during a seasonal window (like summer hours), or on specific dates that have unique scheduling requirements - without having to manually change your rental's default start times back and forth.
Start Time Rules are configured separately for Hourly rentals and Daily rentals on the same rental item.
Where to find it
Go to Setup > Rentals > [your rental] > General. You will see:
- Hourly Start Times and Daily Start Times - your rental's default list of times.
- Below each, a list of Start Time Rules you can add, reorder, and delete.
Default start times
Default start times are configured separately for hourly and daily rentals. This is what customers see:
- on any day before you've created any rules.
- on any day where none of your rules apply (rules fall back to these defaults for Rentals - see "Good to know" below).
Keep this list up to date even after you start using rules, since it's your safety net.
Creating a start time rule
- Start time rules can be configured for both hourly and daily rentals
- Type the rule name (e.g., "Summer weekends") in the text field, then "Add Rule"
- Click on the rule name to edit
- You can either manually add times from the dropdown, or "copy default start times" to pull from your existing start time list
| Setting | What it does |
| On certain days of the week | Restrict the rule to specific weekdays (e.g., only Saturday/Sunday). |
| Seasonally | Restrict the rule to a recurring date range (opening/closing month and day), e.g., May 15 - Sep 1 every year. Can be combined with days of the week - both conditions must be true. |
| On specific dates | Restrict the rule to individual calendar dates you pick, regardless of weekday or season. |
A live Current Rule Application summary at the bottom of the rule editor tells you in plain English which days the rule will apply to, e.g., "This rule will apply on Saturdays, Sundays, May 15 - September 1."
Note: If you toggle on Seasonally but leave the month/day fields incomplete, you'll see a "Will Not Take Effect" warning - the rule won't apply until all four fields are filled in.
Rule order and priority
If you have more than one rule, drag them into the order you want using the reorder handles. For any given day, only the first rule (top to bottom) that matches gets used - rules don't combine or stack. If a specific-dates rule and a day-of-week rule could both apply to the same date, whichever is listed first wins.
Testing your rules
Click Test Start Time Rules, pick a date, and the tool shows you exactly which Hourly and Daily start times would be offered to a customer on that date - without affecting any live bookings. Use this after any change to confirm the result is what you expect, especially once you have several overlapping rules.
How this affects customer bookings
- Only configured start times will appear available to the customer online
- Staff booking reservations on the backend still have the ability to set custom start times
Good to know
Hourly and Daily rules are independent. A rule you create for Hourly start times has no effect on Daily start times, and vice versa.
Default start times. If none of your rules match a given day, that day uses your default Hourly/Daily Start Times list - it does not end up with zero available times. (This is different from how Activities handle start time rules, where an unmatched day can show no times at all unless a default rule is explicitly set.)
There's currently no "default rule" checkbox for Rental rules. Your Hourly/Daily Start Times list under the Default Start Times section is what serves as the default - you don't need (and currently can't) mark an individual rule as the catch-all.
Troubleshooting
"I set up a rule but customers still see the old times on some dates."
Check that the date in question is actually covered by one of your rules, using the Test tool. If it isn't covered by any rule, it's using your default list - update the default list instead, or add a rule that covers that date.
"I got an error saving my rule."
- "Please provide a name" / "You must provide a name" - every rule needs a name.
"Can I have two rules apply to the same day at once (e.g., merge their times)?"
No - only one rule applies per day: the highest-priority (topmost) rule that matches. Reorder your rules if the wrong one is winning.