Room Blocking Options Not Clear – Please Explain

[Cindy Haubl]

When blocking a room, there are three options, all three of which can be selected at the same time or in various combinations:

– Not check-in
– Not stay-in
– Not check-out

But it’s not clear in which cases to use these, or in which cases they should be used in various combinations.

EXAMPLE: Say I want to block a room from the normal check-in time of 3pm on August 1 until the normal check-out time of 11am on August 3; which options would I select to prevent others from double booking this room during the same period (such as July 31 to August 4)?

Would I select all 3 in such a case, or just Not check-in + Not check-out, or something else?

And in which situations would we use Not stay-in?

Having clear instructions in your documentation as well as some use case examples would be very helpful.

[Mary Evans]

Hello Cindy,

You may set up the needed restrictions in the Block accommodation rule (Not check-in / Not check-out / Not stay-in).
The “not stay-in” restriction blocks the whole cell. In this way, the whole day will be greyed in the back-end calendar (in Bookings > Calendar), however, on the front-end, you will be able to check-in/out this day (if the restrictions are configured correctly).

When you add a block accommodation rule with All Restrictictions, then all the dates will be unavailable for booking (screenshot http://prnt.sc/tt1ul8). However, (for ex.) if you add a block accommodation rule with the restriction “not check-out” for the last date (screenshot http://prnt.sc/tt1vd2), then the date will be available for check-in (screenshot http://prnt.sc/tt1vp3), but unavailable for check-out (screenshot http://prnt.sc/tt1w5a).

Best Regards,
M. Evans

[Cindy Haubl]

Hi Mary, thanks for explaining this more. But I’m still confused about the purpose of ‘No check-out’. Perhaps your recommendations for a couple of examples will help me…

Example 1: We have a contractor scheduled to do some room renovations at 6:00 AM on August 1 until 10:00 PM on August 3. Which restrictions would we use: No check-out + No stay-in + No check-in on August 1-3?

I presume in such a case that ‘Not check-out’ prevents from someone else from booking the room from say July 28 (3pm check-in) until August 1 (11am check-out); but they would still be able to book July 28 – 31. Am I correct?

Example 2: I have my family coming to stay in a room August 1-3 (2 nights) and they are not paying, so we would want to block this room from anyone else who might try to book it for August 1 (3pm check-in) until August 3 (11am check-out). In this case, would we use ‘Not stay-in’ for the dates August 1-3?

Your answers to the above examples will help me understand how these work much better. Thanks.

[Mary Evans]

Hello Cindy,

The “Not Check-out” restriction does not allow your guests to check-out during the specified date(s).

As for your example 1:
if you need all the 3 days (Aug 1-3) not to be available nor for check-in, nor check-out, all the restrictions should be added to the block accommodation rule (Not check-in / Not check-out / Not stay-in).
Other days will be available for booking (July 28 – 31)

Example 2:
Yes, you would also need to add all the restrictions in this case.
If you add only Not check-in & Not check-out restrictions, it will not be possible to book Aug 1-3 dates. However, it will be possible to book Jul 31 – Aug 4 dates.

Best Regards,
M. Evans

[Thomas Kolnowski]

This is very helpful to know. Out hotelier client has been confused by this as well. I think it would make more sense if the restrictions were shown in both the backend and frontend using “No” instead of “Not” – for example, “No check-in” instead of “Not check-in.”

My client uses this feature a lot.

Thanks!
Thomas Kolnowski
Digitized House Media, LLC
Austin, Texas USA

[Andre Flores]

Hello, Thomas!

Thanks for your suggestion, it is much appreciated. You may easily change the rules text using Loco Translate plugin, e.g. by changing “Not check-in” to “No check-in”.

Regards,
Andre

[Yordi Kathmann]

Thank you! This makes sense.
But one more question. When I sync to booking.com they use one day less.

So I have blocked 26-27 all. 28 I have only checkout. But on booking only 26 is blocked because they count TO instead of up to…

[Andre Flores]

Hello Yordi,

The accommodation blocks in this case are added like this in the .ics file:

DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210526
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210527

Therefore 27th is available at Booking.com. You will need to block 27th at Booking.com manually for now. We already have such a request to make sure the last date is also blocked in .ics file passed to our developers.
Once there is any update on this matter, I will immediately let you know.
Anyone else, who also faces the same issue, kindly let me know by commenting this topic.

Regards,
Andre

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