Opening hours and open dates: seasons, weekly hours, closed days and blocking time

If nothing is bookable, this is usually the page you are looking for. Open dates and opening hours belong to a location, not to a product and not to your account. Every location needs its own, and a location with no time period covering a date accepts no bookings on that date.

Where to find open dates and opening hours

Open Locations in the menu.
Click the location.
Open the Open dates tab.

If the tab label has a warning icon, hover it. No active or upcoming open dates means no time period covers today or any later date, so the location is closed to bookings. A mark with "The current time period ends on … and nothing is set after it." means the season is about to run out (see Season end below).

Everything on this tab is saved with the one Save button at the top of the page. It turns orange while you have unsaved changes. You do not save each card or period separately. The one exception is deleting a time period, which happens straight away when you confirm it (see below).

The tab has these parts, top to bottom:

Booking Rules: Booking interval and Blocking time after booking (plus Blocking time for day rentals on some time-slot locations). These apply to the whole location, all year.
Import Open dates: only shown if you have more than one location.
Booking Length Limits: minimum and maximum booking length. Only shown on locations that use Flexible start and end times. On Fixed time slots locations the session lengths on the Booking experience tab decide the length instead.
Custom dates: single dates that override the normal hours, for example to close a day.
Time Periods: your seasons. Each period has a date range, one weekly schedule, a high/low season price choice and a lead time.

Times are shown in 12-hour format if your account uses that time display. The weekday rows start on your account's first day of the week, which follows the account's Country (or else the contact phone's country, or else Monday): for example Sunday for an account in the US, Monday for one in the UK. This only changes the order on screen, not your hours. Dates you type are written year-month-day, for example 2027-06-01.

What a new location starts with

A new location gets one time period automatically: it starts on the day you create the location, runs for five years, and is open around the clock every day of the week. That lets you test right away, but it also means customers can book at any hour of any day. Before you go live, change it to your real season and hours.

If a location has no time periods at all, a blue notice says: "To accept bookings, create at least one time period below. Time periods define when your location is available for rentals."

Open a new season (create a time period)

Press Create new time period.
Give it a Period Name, for example "Summer 2027". The name is only for you.
Set Period start and Period end. Next available date under Period start puts the start on the first free day after your other periods.
Set the weekly hours (below).
Choose Price table for time period: High season or Low season.
Set Time before start that you can book.
Press Save. You get Time period has been saved.

A period you create this way starts open all day (00:00–23:59) every day with every hour ticked, so you only need to narrow it down. When you save, the closing time is moved onto your booking interval, so on a 1h interval it becomes 23:00 (see Weekly opening hours below).

Each period shows its state in the list: Active (covers today), Scheduled (starts later), Ended or Dates not set. Active periods are listed first. "Today" is worked out in the location's timezone.

Rules that stop a save:

Both dates are required, and "Period end cannot be before period start."
Periods must not overlap. If two share a date, the period shows "Time periods can't overlap. Change the start or end dates so this period doesn't share any dates with another." followed by Overlaps with: and the other periods. Saving with an overlap usually fails with "Error when saving, please try again". Always fix the dates while the warning shows, even if a save goes through; Next available date helps.

Copying instead of retyping

The copy icon on a period (Copy timeperiod) duplicates it with empty dates, so you only set the new range.
Each weekday has a copy icon (tooltip "Copy {day} to…"): "Use the copy button on a day to copy its hours to other days, including pickup and return times." Pick All days, or one of the other days; the menu shows each day's current hours (or Closed), with a check mark on days that already match. Nothing is saved until you press Save.
With several locations, the Import Open dates card copies settings from another location. Press Select location to import, pick the location under Import from location, and tick what to copy under Settings to import: Booking Rules, Booking Length Limits, Custom dates and/or Time Periods. Importing Time Periods replaces all of this location's time periods with the other location's. If this location has upcoming or ongoing bookings, you are warned first and the button reads Import anyway. Imported settings are staged ("Settings imported. Click Save to apply the changes.") and only apply when you press Save.

Season end: when the last time period runs out

When the last period ends, the location simply stops taking bookings. Nothing breaks visibly, which is why this is the most common "nothing is bookable" case every spring and every New Year.

What you see before it happens:

From 14 days before the current period ends, if nothing is set after it, the Open dates tab says "The current time period ends on {date} and nothing is set after it. From then on customers see no bookable dates." and the tab gets a mark. The Locations list marks the location, and Home lists it under Worth reviewing ("Beach closes after 2026-10-31 and nothing is set after that."). The warning goes away as soon as you add the next period.
If a later period follows after a gap, you only get a note on the tab: "This location closes after {date} and reopens on {date}." Check that the gap is meant.

What you see once it has happened:

On the Locations list, the location gets a warning icon. Hovering it shows Last time period ended with the date, and the Active open date column shows No active or upcoming open dates.
On Home, the notice Locations not taking bookings names the location, or counts them if several are affected.
On the location's page, the strip This location is not taking bookings shows the step No time periods set, and the Open dates tab has a warning icon.
Customers opening your booking page see "This rental station is currently not available for booking." followed by your location's email or phone, if you have entered them.

To avoid it:

Create next season's period well before the current one ends. The easiest way is Copy timeperiod on this season's period, then set the new dates.
Make periods meet. A gap between two periods is a dead zone: nothing can be booked on those dates.
A period that ends on 31 December means nothing can be booked in January. If you are open year-round, give the period a far end date.

Weekly opening hours, and what the times really mean

Each weekday has Open, Close, a To end of day checkbox, a Closed checkbox, and two dropdowns, Pickup hours and Return hours.

Start and return times run on the location's Booking interval, from Open up to and including Close. With a 1h interval, 08:00–17:00 gives start and return times 08:00, 09:00 … 17:00.

Open and Close always sit on the booking interval. On a 1h interval only whole hours can be picked; with 30min also :30; with 15min also :15 and :45. A time you type between two steps is moved for you: Open to the next step (09:20 becomes 10:00 on a 1h interval) and Close to the step before (17:30 becomes 17:00), so no time is ever offered outside your real hours. So an opening time such as 09:30 on an hourly location can no longer leave a weekday without bookable times. Check the field after typing, because it shows the moved time.
Close is the last time a rental can start or end, not when you lock up. With a 1h interval and Close 17:00, 17:00 is the last start and the last return. Nothing after it is offered.
00:00 is the start of the day, not midnight. To stay open until midnight, tick To end of day. Close then shows 24:00 (Midnight on an account with the 12-hour time display) and cannot be edited, and customers can also return at 24:00. In the booking window that return time also reads 24:00 or Midnight; the booking itself then ends at 00:00 (12:00 AM) on the next day. Whether 24:00 is offered follows the tick on the 23:00 hour in Return hours. A weekday cannot run past midnight. For overnight rentals, keep the day open to the end of the day and continue on the next day's hours.
Open must not be after Close, or you get "Closing time must be the same or after opening time." and the tab does not save. A day with only one of the two times filled in does not save either.
Equal times give exactly one start time. 09:00–09:00 saves and offers only 09:00. It looks open but offers almost nothing.
Odd values are corrected, not rejected: minutes above 59 become :59 and an hour above 23 becomes 23:59, and then the time is moved onto the interval.

With a 15- or 30-minute booking interval

Customers are offered every step from Open up to and including Close, and nothing after Close. With Close 17:00 and a 15min interval, 17:00 is the last start and return time. To offer 17:30, set Close to 17:30. The Pickup hours and Return hours ticks work per whole hour, so 10:00, 10:15, 10:30 and 10:45 all follow the 10:00 tick.

Close one weekday

Tick Closed on that row. The times are cleared and the pickup and return dropdowns disappear. Untick it to get your previous hours back (or 09:00–17:00 if there were none).

Allow only some hours

Pickup hours and Return hours list each hour of the day's window with a checkbox and a counter, for example "Pickup hours (9)". Untick an hour to stop it being offered. Select all / Select none at the top of each list ticks or clears every hour.

Warning. Nothing stops you from unticking every hour. A day with 08:00–17:00 in the time fields but zero ticked pickup hours looks open on this screen and offers customers nothing. If one weekday is unbookable, open both dropdowns and check the counters.

On Fixed time slots locations each period also says "For day rentals with fixed daily times, only Pickup hours apply — the return time follows from the rental length." The return hours still set a limit: a day rental whose return would be later than the last ticked Return hours on the return day is not offered.

High and low season pricing

Each period has Price table for time period, with High season or Low season. The tooltip explains it:

"High season vs low season: Your products can have different prices for high season and low season. This choice decides which seasonal price applies when someone books inside this opening period. Changing it affects pricing if your products use separate high and low season rates."

So the season lives on the time period, not on the product. A product's high and low season prices are set on the product; which of the two applies depends on the period the booking falls in. If your products have only one price, the choice makes no difference. A common setup is a low season period on each side of a shorter high season period.

Close a single day: storms, holidays and days off

Use the Custom dates card: "Override regular open hours for specific dates — fully close them or allow only selected pickup and return hours."

Pick the day in Select date. A past date is refused with "Cannot add a past date."
Press Add.
The date appears in the list with its own Pickup hours and Return hours dropdowns, with every hour unticked: the day is fully closed.
To close it completely, leave it like that. To open it partly, tick only the hours you want to allow.
Press Save.

The bin icon next to a date removes it; press Save afterwards, and the day goes back to its normal weekly hours.

Good to know:

A custom date can only narrow a day. Only hours inside that weekday's normal Open–Close window can be opened again.
It stops customers from starting or returning on that date. A multi-day rental that runs through the day is not stopped.
It does not change bookings that already exist for that day. If any exist, saving shows Affected bookings (see below). After Save anyway those customers still have their booking and their codes, so move or cancel them yourself and tell them.
Use Custom dates, not your locks, to close for bad weather. Switching every lock to inactive hides all products until you switch them back on. Customers then see an unavailable booking page, not just a closed day. Custom dates close only that day and reopen by themselves.
To close for several weeks, shorten or split the time period instead of adding many dates.

Blocking time after a booking (buffer between rentals)

Under Booking Rules: Blocking time after booking, "Buffer time before the next booking can start."

Choose from 0 up to 8 hours, in steps of your booking interval. After every booking, that unit stays blocked for this long before anyone else can start. This is your time to clean, dry, charge or check the equipment. The buffer only affects availability. It is not added to the customer's rental and they do not pay for it. It also limits extensions: a customer who extends must leave the buffer free before the next booking.

The blocking time works both ways. A new booking must also leave its own blocking time free before the next booking that is already on the same unit. Example with 2 hours of blocking time and an existing booking 14:00–16:00: a new booking 12:00–14:00 or 11:00–13:00 is refused, because its blocking time would run into the 14:00 booking; 10:00–12:00 fits.

Size it for the whole turnaround, not just the cleaning. For example, an electric boat that needs about three hours to recharge after a trip gets a blocking time that covers the whole recharge, so it can never be rebooked before it is ready.

If you use Igloo code locks, keep in mind that a customer's code keeps working until at least the full hour after their booking ends. If the next customer must not share that time with the previous one, set the blocking time to at least 1 hour. The lock guide explains code timing.

Blocking time for day rentals appears only on Fixed time slots locations that sell day rentals. It sets a separate buffer after day rentals. It is set to "Same as Blocking time after booking" unless you choose another value. Whether day rentals are shortened to include the blocking time is set with Include blocking time in day rentals on the Booking experience tab.

On Fixed time slots locations, customers always get the full session length, and the blocking time comes after the slot. For example, for a 2-hour rhythm with 30 minutes to prepare, use 1.5-hour sessions and 30 minutes of blocking time.

There is no separate buffer setting for before a booking. The only buffer is Blocking time after booking: no new booking can start on a unit until the blocking time after the previous booking on it has passed, and a new booking must end early enough to leave its own blocking time before the next one. Preheating a sauna doesn't block any time either. A Harvia heater (beta) is started before the booking: by you, with the button in the start email (the default), or by Automatic start, Preheat time minutes before the booking, if you have switched it on (see the Harvia guide). With Automatic start, a heater that is preheating for the next booking stays on when the previous booking ends, but only if that next booking is paid. Without it, the end of the previous booking switches the heater off, so if you started it early for the next guest, start it again from the next booking.

Booking interval, and the warning when you change it

Booking interval (under Booking Rules): "Time increments customers can book in." Choose 15min, 30min or 1h.

Change the interval first, not last. The interval decides which values the length and blocking-time dropdowns offer. If you switch from 15min to 1h, values that no longer fit are rounded for you: minimums up, maximums and blocking time down. Set the interval, then the lengths, then check the blocking time still says what you meant.

Opening and closing times that no longer fit the new interval are moved too: open later, close earlier (for example 09:30–17:30 becomes 10:00–17:00 when you switch to 1h). You see "Opening and closing times on {count} days were moved to match the booking interval." Check the weekly hours of your time periods and press Save.

On Fixed time slots locations, a new interval can make session lengths stop fitting. If saving would leave products with no bookable session length, you first get Products will disappear from the booking flow, listing the products (or saying "None of the location’s session lengths match the new booking interval, so no products will be shown to customers."). Choose Keep current interval to back out, or Save anyway. Then fix the session lengths on the Booking experience tab. See the customer flow and booking experience guide.

Booking length limits

Booking Length Limits (flexible-time locations only) has Minimum booking length and Maximum booking length, each set with Hours plus Days (0 to 14 days). Days and hours add up: 2 days + 4 hours = 52 hours.

A value of 0 means "no limit".
The maximum is 14 days. If you pick 14 days and more hours, you see "You can't select more than 14 days".
Minimum cannot exceed maximum: "Minimum booking length cannot exceed maximum booking length". The tab does not save.
In the booking window, times that are already taken are shown greyed out with a Booked tag. A start time is greyed out with Min … (for example Min 2h) when the minimum length would run into another booking. When the minimum runs past your closing time instead, there is no tag: those start times just can't be completed. A minimum longer than a day's opening hours makes that day look fully booked. Example: with a 2-hour minimum and Close at 23:00, a sauna cannot be booked from 22:00, because the latest return is 23:00. Ticking To end of day allows a return at 24:00 and makes the 22:00 start bookable.

Time before start that you can book (lead time)

At the bottom of each period: Time before start that you can book (-59 = possible to book 9.00 untill 9.59). It controls how close to a start time customers can still book. Each period has its own value.

-59 minutes (the default): the start time of the current hour stays bookable for the whole hour. At 09:40 a customer can still book the 09:00 start. For walk-up QR bookings at a lock, customers can start right away at any minute.
-30 minutes: in the normal booking flow this works like -59. For walk-up QR bookings, customers can start right away only in the first half of the hour; after that, the QR booking starts at the next full hour.
0 minutes: the current hour can no longer be booked once it has started.
30 to 1440 minutes (in 30-minute steps): required notice. The first start time offered is the next full hour after the notice. With 120 minutes at 09:40, the first start today is 12:00.

A lead time that reaches past midnight closes all of today, and also blocks tomorrow's first hours up to the same point. With 1440 minutes (24 hours) nothing can ever be booked for today, which looks exactly like "fully booked".

A positive value is also the cut-off for customers moving their own booking's start time, if you have turned that button on. With 120, customers cannot move a booking that starts in less than two hours. See the guide on editing, moving or cancelling a booking.

When your changes clash with existing bookings

Shortening a season, closing a date or changing hours can leave bookings that are already sold outside your new hours.

On save you may get Affected bookings: "Your new open dates are affecting existing bookings. The following bookings are being affected:" with a link to each booking. Save anyway saves your change. Cancel and Undo Changes backs out. Saving anyway does not move or cancel those bookings. They stay as they are, so contact those customers and move or cancel them in the booking list.
Deleting a period: the delete icon on the period opens Delete time period ("Are you sure that you want to delete the time period?"). If bookings fall inside it, the dialog lists them: "The following bookings will be affected if you delete this time period. You can still delete it, but your customers may experience problems with their bookings." The button then reads Delete anyway. The period is deleted immediately when you confirm, without pressing Save ("Time period has been deleted").

Read the list before you press through. Deleting a period does not delete the bookings inside it. It leaves them outside any open period.

If nothing is bookable, check in this order

Is there a period whose dates cover the day you are testing, marked Active or Scheduled?
Does that weekday have Open and Close times, with Closed unticked?
Do Pickup hours and Return hours still have hours ticked?
Is Close late enough for the times you expect (nothing after Close is offered, and 00:00 is the start of the day)?
Is Minimum booking length short enough to fit in one day's hours?
Is the date listed under Custom dates with its hours unticked?
Is Time before start that you can book so large that it closes today?
Did you press Save?

Other causes, such as locks, products or payments, are covered in the troubleshooting guide for when customers can't book anything.

Common questions

Why can customers only book until 31 December (or the end of the month)? Your time period ends on that date. Create the next period, or extend Period end, on the Open dates tab.

How do I close for a thunderstorm tomorrow? Add the date under Custom dates and leave all hours unticked, then press Save. Bookings already made for that day stay, so contact those customers.

Why is one weekday completely unbookable? Usually every hour under Pickup hours is unticked, or Closed is ticked. Open the dropdowns and check the counters.

I typed 09:30 but it changed to 10:00. Why? Opening and closing times always sit on the location's Booking interval. On a 1h interval, an opening time between two hours moves to the next hour and a closing time to the hour before. Choose a 30min interval if you need half hours.

Why does it say the time period ends and nothing is set after it? The current season ends within 14 days and no period follows. Create next season's period (for example with Copy timeperiod) and press Save, and the warning goes away.

Why can't customers pick 24:00 as return time? Tick To end of day for that weekday. Setting Close to 23:59 or 00:00 does not give a 24:00 return.

How do I get time to clean between rentals? Set Blocking time after booking under Booking Rules. The unit then stays blocked for that long after every booking.

How do I give every day the same hours as Monday? Click the copy icon on Monday's row and pick All days, then press Save. Pickup and return hours are copied too.

Why can't a customer book the slot right before another booking? Blocking time after booking works both ways: a new booking must leave its own blocking time free before the next booking on the same unit. With 2 hours of blocking time and a booking at 14:00, the latest booking that fits ends at 12:00.

Why does the week start on Sunday on the Open dates tab? The weekday order follows your account's Country, for example Sunday first in the US. Only the order changes; your hours stay on the same days.

The same kayak was rented twice in a row with no break, why? There was no blocking time. Set Blocking time after booking so each unit gets a break after every rental.

Customers can't book in the next hour, why? Time before start that you can book is set to a lead time. Set it to -59 minutes to let customers book the current hour.

What do "Booked" and "Min 2h" mean next to times in the booking window? Booked means that time is already taken. Min 2h means a booking starting then would run into another booking before your minimum booking length is reached.

I can't find the open dates setting. It is a tab on each location: Locations → the location → Open dates.

Can I add buffer time before each booking, for example for preheating? No. The only buffer is Blocking time after booking, which comes after a booking (and that a new booking must also leave free before the next one). Preheating a Harvia heater (beta) blocks no time: you start it with the button in the start email, or Automatic start starts it Preheat time minutes before the booking if you have switched it on. Without Automatic start, a heater you start while the previous booking is still running is switched off when that booking ends, so start it again from the next booking.