Set Minimum Nights by Booking Window in RoverPass

Minimum Nights by Booking Window

Learn how to set a minimum stay that changes depending on how far in advance your guests book.

What Is Minimum Nights by Booking Window?

Normally each rate has one minimum stay, set on your seasonal pricing. Minimum Nights by Booking Window lets that minimum change based on lead time — the number of days between today and the guest's arrival date.

You create a short list of rules. Each rule says: when a booking is made this far from arrival, require this many nights. RoverPass checks your rules from the top and applies the first one that matches the guest's dates.

Why Use It?

  • Fill last-minute gaps. A 2-night minimum protects your weekends while there is still time to sell both nights. Three days out, that same rule just leaves the site empty. Lowering the minimum to 1 night inside the final week makes that orphan night bookable.
  • Protect your peak dates. Guests booking months ahead have the most flexibility. Requiring a longer stay 90 or more days out keeps an early booker from taking a single Saturday out of a week you could have sold whole.

A rule replaces your seasonal minimum for the dates it covers, so it can raise the minimum or lower it.

How to Set It Up

Step 1:  Navigate to Revenue Management > Rate Editor.

Step 2:  Open the site plan you want, select the rate, and click 'Edit Minimum Nights'. 

Step 3:  Turn on 'Set minimum nights by booking window'.


Step 4:  Click '+ Add rule', choose a condition, then enter the number of days and the minimum nights. You can choose '[number] or more days before arrival' for guests booking early, or 'Fewer than [number] days before arrival' for guests booking last minute.



Step 5:  Add any other rules and place them in the order you want them checked. Rules apply from top to bottom and the first match wins, so put your most specific rule above a broader one. Use the up and down arrows to reorder them.

Step 6:  Read the blue notice. It tells you which booking windows are not covered by a rule and will fall back to your seasonal minimum. Leaving a window uncovered is perfectly fine — the notice is there so it is never a surprise.

Step 7:  Click 'Save'. A clock icon now appears next to the rate so you can see at a glance that the feature is on.

An Example

The Cabins rate below has a 2-night seasonal minimum and two booking window rules: 90 or more days before arrival requires 5 nights, and fewer than 7 days before arrival requires 1 night. That produces three booking windows:

When the booking is madeMinimum stayWhere it comes from
0 to 6 days before arrival1 nightSecond rule
7 to 89 days before arrival2 nightsNo rule matches, so the seasonal minimum applies
90 or more days before arrival5 nightsFirst rule

What Your Guests See

The minimum is applied while guests are searching, so they only ever see rates they can actually book. Rates that need a longer stay are set aside with a 'Longer stay required' label, and a banner tells the guest how long a stay would unlock more options. Lengthening the stay brings the rate straight back.

Below, the same one-night stay is searched 34 days out instead of 3. No rule covers that window, so the 2-night seasonal minimum applies and the rate is no longer bookable.

Good to Know

  • Rules are set for each rate, so you can run a last-minute 1-night minimum on your cabins while your RV sites stay at two.
  • You can add up to 6 rules per rate, and a rule cannot require more than 90 nights or more than the maximum stay set on your park or site plan.
  • Lead time is counted from today up to the arrival date. A same-day booking counts as 0 days out.
  • Booking windows that no rule covers fall back to the rate's seasonal minimum.
  • Existing reservations are not affected. Rules are applied when a guest searches, so only new bookings see them.
  • If you turn the switch off, the rate goes back to its seasonal minimums and your rules are saved for whenever you turn it back on.
  • Connected booking sites (OTAs) continue to receive your standard minimum, because they cannot express a minimum that changes with lead time.


Alert

Holiday pricing always takes priority. If a stay touches a holiday period on that rate, your booking window rules are skipped and the holiday minimum applies, so a last-minute rule can never open up a holiday weekend by accident.


How to Set Consecutive Booking Requirements with the Nights Booked Together Feature

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