Minimum stay, maximum stay, and booking rules for direct bookings
A booking form with no rules accepts a one-night stay in peak week, a check-in on cleaning day, and a reservation two years out. Rules are how you say no politely and automatically. This guide walks through every rule RentalBeam enforces on your own booking form, where each one lives, and which ones also travel to Airbnb and VRBO through your calendar export.
The rules, and where each one lives
| Rule | What it does | Where to set it |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum stay | Fewest nights a guest can book; seasons can override it | Booking settings, Pricing |
| Maximum stay | Most nights in one stay; empty means no limit | Booking settings, Availability |
| Booking window | How far ahead guests can book | Manage dates, on the rental's Home row |
| Allowed check-in and check-out days | Arrivals and departures only on chosen weekdays | Booking settings, Availability |
| Cutoff time | No same-day booking after this time | Booking settings, Availability |
| Advance notice | Minimum days between today and check-in | Manage dates, Availability rules |
| Prep time | Cleaning gap around every booking | Manage dates, Availability rules |
| Pending request timing | How long a request holds its dates | Booking settings, Availability |
| Guest limits | Maximum guests, adults, children, pets | Booking settings, Guests and Policies |
Minimum stay, and a longer one in season
- 1
Set the default
On the Pricing tab, enter the default minimum number of nights. It applies to every date that has no override.
- 2
Override it by season
Add a date range with its own nightly rate and its own minimum stay. A seven-night minimum in August and a two-night minimum the rest of the year is one range.
- 3
Watch the form enforce it
The booking form applies the minimum before a guest can request, so a too-short stay never reaches your inbox.
Maximum stay and booking window
A maximum stay caps one reservation in nights. The form greys out check-out dates past the cap while the guest is picking, and a request over the limit is turned down with a clear message. Leave it empty for no limit.
The booking window decides how far ahead anyone can book: any future date, a rolling number of days from today, or a fixed end date. It is set under Manage dates because it belongs to the rental, not only to the form: it also shapes your availability calendar and your iCal export, so a platform importing your calendar sees the same closed horizon.
Check-in days and the same-day cutoff
- Allowed check-in and check-out days: restrict arrivals and departures to the weekdays you can turn the property around, for example Friday and Saturday only.
- Cutoff time: after this time of day, today is no longer offered for a same-day booking. Pair it with advance notice for a full lead-time policy.
- Both apply to your own booking form. The calendar shows the resulting closed days so guests are not surprised.
How long a request holds its dates
When a guest sends a request that needs your confirmation, you choose what happens to the dates:
| Hold option | What happens |
|---|---|
| Off | The dates stay open until you confirm |
| Expire automatically | The dates are held for a window you set, then released if you have not answered |
| Never expire | The dates stay held until you confirm or decline |
A pending reminder can nudge you before a held request expires. Inquiries follow the same setting only if you turn on Do inquiries block your dates?; by default an inquiry blocks nothing.
Guest limits
Set a maximum total guests for the whole booking. If you want the party size broken down, turn on separate adults and children counters, each with its own optional limit, and a pets counter the same way. Children count toward the total like adults, unless you set an age under which a child does not take a bed; a baby in a cot then stops using up capacity. That age has nothing to do with price; child rates are set separately on the Pricing tab.
Which rules reach Airbnb and VRBO
Calendar rules travel. Advance notice, prep time, and the booking window are written into your export link as blocked ranges, so any platform importing your calendar enforces the same dates. Stay rules do not travel: the minimum and maximum number of nights, check-in days, and guest counts are enforced on your own form and are set inside each platform's own settings. Keep them consistent by hand, once.
Summary
Every rule has one home: stay length and seasons on the Pricing tab, day-of-week and cutoff rules on the Availability tab, the booking window and buffers under Manage dates, guest counts under Guests and Policies. Set them once and the booking form says no for you, before a bad request ever reaches your inbox.