The public booking page automatically calculates which dates are available for guests based on multiple factors. Understanding how availability works helps you ensure guests see accurate options.
How Availability Is Calculated
A date is available for booking when all of these conditions are met:
- Not in a blackout period -- The date does not fall within any blackout date range.
- Within a season -- The date falls within one of your defined operating seasons (so pricing can be calculated).
- Under capacity -- The lodge has not reached its daily guest cap for that date.
- Rooms available -- For overnight packages, at least one room is available for the full stay (respecting turnover days and shared room settings).
- Guides available -- For guided packages, at least one guide is available and under their max guests per day.
- Check-in day allowed -- If the package variant restricts check-in to specific days of the week, the date must be an allowed day.
What "Unavailable" Looks Like
Unavailable dates appear grayed out on the date picker. Guests cannot select them as check-in or check-out dates. No explanation is shown to the guest for why a date is blocked.
Overbooking Mode and Public Bookings
Regardless of your overbooking mode setting (block or warn), the public booking page always blocks overbooked dates. The "warn" mode only allows overrides from the dashboard -- it never allows guests to book past capacity on the public page.
This protects you from accidental overbooking through the guest-facing channel while still giving your staff flexibility to make exceptions from the dashboard.
Checking Availability for a Specific Date
To understand why a date shows as unavailable to guests, check:
- Settings > Policies -- Is there a blackout date covering this period?
- Dashboard Capacity Widget -- Is the lodge at capacity?
- Rooms page -- Are all rooms booked for those nights?
- Guides page -- Are all guides assigned or unavailable?