Set the days customers can book

The Availability page shows, product by product, which days customers can book and how many places are left, and who is booked on each day. Your open days come from your opening hours. It is for owners and managers who run the booking page.

When you'd use this

Opening your booking page to date bookings for the first time.
Closing a day for weather, a holiday or a private charter.
Taking more (or fewer) people on one day than usual.
Limiting one product, for example only one private charter a day.

Before you start

Turn on Customers pick a date from my availability in Settings → Booking page. With it on, Availability appears in the main menu under Operations. See Setting up your public booking page.
Set your opening hours in Settings → Centre info. Customers can only book days you're open there. With no opening hours set, every day is closed.
You need permission to see bookings to open the page, and to edit bookings to change days or the most people a day. Adding products, and changing their days and limits, also needs Dive Menu edit rights.

Set it up the first time

When you first turn on date booking, no product is booked by date yet: every product keeps asking customers for a preferred date, as before. The settings open by themselves on Add a product.

Add the products customers book by date. Press Add a product, search your Dive Menu and press Add next to each one. You're asked How many a day? first: a private product (one price for the whole group) suggests 1 booking a day, a per-person product suggests its max participants. Pick that, type A different number, or choose Any number a day. Products you don't add keep asking for a preferred date.
Shared limit (optional). If your products share one boat or crew, type the most people a day across all of them and press Enter. Leave it blank to use each product's own number only.
Check your open days. They come from your opening hours. To change them, press Change opening hours in Centre info.

Nothing to copy forward and nothing to top up: every day for the next 6 months follows your opening hours on its own.

Availability settings

Everything you set once sits behind Settings (the cog) at the top right of the Availability page. On a computer it opens on the right; on a phone it slides up from the bottom.

Products customers book by date · the products you added, each with the days it runs and how many a day. Edit in Dive Menu opens the product at When it runs, where you change them (with a Back to Availability link). Remove puts the product back to asking for a preferred date. Add a product adds more. A product with no number shows No daily limit set and a Set it link: until you set one, any number can book it each day.
Shared limit (optional) · if your products share one boat or crew, the most people a day across all of them. Blank means no shared limit; each product's own number still applies. Change a single day in Whole centre on the calendar.
Open days · read from your opening hours, for example "Open Mon to Sat, 08:00 to 17:00". A weekday you're closed in Centre info is closed for bookings too.
Date booking · a link to Settings → Booking page, where you turn date booking off.

If you lower the Shared limit below what is already booked on some days, it still saves. The message says how many days now have more people booked and which is first. Those bookings stay, and those days show as full to customers.

Read the page

The product buttons at the top · one for each product customers book by date, plus Whole centre. The page opens on the first product. A product with no daily limit set has an amber dot.
Next 7 days · for the product you picked: how many days are open, nearly full (3 places or fewer left), full or closed. Tap one to pick those days out in the month.
The month, for a product · each day shows its state in a coloured label under the date, like a departure: green "1 left" (or "2 of 10" booked when more than 3 are left), amber "2 left" when 3 or fewer are left, red "Full", grey "Closed" (the centre is closed, or you turned the product off that day). "Doesn't run" (not one of its days) and "No limit · 3 booked" (no daily limit) show as plain grey words. A private product counts bookings, others count people. Days before today fade back and show only how many were booked. Today has a ring round the date. A key under the month explains the colours.
The month, Whole centre · each day shows the people booked on every product together out of your shared limit ("4 of 12", or "2 left" when nearly full), or "No limit · 5 booked" when there is no shared limit. A day you changed by hand has a small dot in its corner (Changed in the key).

The count is the people booked on the products that use availability, whatever the booking came from: your website, WhatsApp or your team. Organised trips and courses with their own set dates don't count against your days.

Change one product's day, or several

Pick the product at the top, then tap a day. To change several days at once, tap a second day: every day in between is picked (up to 63 days).
In the day panel, switch Taking bookings this day off to stop online bookings for that product that day, or change How many this day (bookings for a private product, people otherwise). Blank means the usual number. Press Save. For a service with departure times, the panel shows one row for each time of that day (see below), and one Save writes the switch and every row together.
Turning a day off that already has bookings asks first. The bookings stay; customers just can't book that product that day. To customers, the assistant and the waiting list, the day reads closed, not full.
Back to usual puts that product's day back to its usual number.
Under the switch, Booked this day lists who holds a place: one line per group, with how many people and the status. Press a line to open the booking. Up to 25 groups are listed; past that, See all in Bookings.

You can't set a product's number lower than what's already booked that day: the page says, for example, "1 booking is already on Sat 14 Nov for this product, so its number can't go below 1". Raise the number, or turn the product off for the day.

If the whole centre is closed that day, or the product doesn't run that weekday, the panel says so: open the day in Whole centre, or change the product's days in the Dive Menu.

Past days

Tap a day before today to see who was booked (the same list), with a Past day label. Past days can't be changed.

Close the whole centre for a day

Press Whole centre at the top and tap a day (or two, for a range).
Switch Open for bookings (all products) off to close it for every product, for example for weather, set the most people this day for all products together, or add a note for your team.
Closing a day that already has bookings asks first. The bookings stay; customers just can't book that day.
Back to normal removes your change and every product's one-day change, so the day follows your opening hours and your shared limit again. If that number is lower than the people already booked that day, it says so and keeps your change.

You can't set a day's most people lower than the people already booked: the page says, for example, "5 people are already booked on Sat 14 Nov, so spaces can't go below 5". Raise the number, or close the day to stop all new bookings.

Choose the products customers book by date

In Settings → Products customers book by date, add a product to use your availability. You're asked how many a day when you add it. Its days and number live in one place, When it runs in the Dive Menu; Edit in Dive Menu takes you there:

The days it runs · for example only Saturdays for a wreck trip.
How many a day · this product's own number, on top of any shared limit. On a private, flat-price product it reads How many bookings a day, so "1" means one charter a day, whatever the group size. Any number a day takes any number.

If you set a product's number lower than people already booked on some days, it still saves. The message says how many days are now over the limit and which is first. Those bookings stay, and those days show as full to customers.

What your customers see

On a product that uses availability, the booking page shows a calendar of the month:

Every open day says how much space is left, and is coloured like a traffic light so customers see it at a glance:
- Green: there is room. A day with a limit says how many are left ("12 left"); a day with no limit says Available.
- Amber: 3 or fewer places left on a product priced per person ("2 left").
- Red: Full, with the date struck through. Customers can tap it to join the waiting list.
- A private product (one price for the whole booking, such as a boat charter) counts bookings: "1 left" when you take one a day, "2 left" when you take two. Its days stay green until they are full. The size of the customer's group is never counted against the number of bookings.
- The words are always there too, so the calendar still makes sense to someone who can't tell the colours apart.
A short key under the calendar shows each colour with its word (for example "4 left places that day · 2 left nearly full · Full, tap to join the waiting list · Faded, not running").
When the customer picks a day, it turns your brand colour and is repeated under the calendar with the same word: "Thu 5 Nov · 3 places left", or "1 booking left, just for your group" on a private product.
Closed days, days the product doesn't run and days inside your booking notice are faded and can't be picked.
A day with places left but not enough for everyone the customer ticked shows the places left and can't be picked.
Other things already in the customer's basket on the same day count, so the calendar never offers places the basket has already taken.
Under the calendar, always: Can't see the date you want? with a link to message you. It opens WhatsApp if your centre has a WhatsApp number, otherwise an email, otherwise a phone call, with the product's name filled in. No booking is made.
If no day is open in the next 90 days, the calendar is replaced by No dates open online right now and a Message us button, so the product never looks broken.

A course with its own set dates shows the same Can't see the date you want? line when one of its runs is full.

Products with departure times

A one-day product can have several departure times a day, each with its own number (for example a charter at 07:45 and 12:30, one booking each). Customers then pick the day, then the time:

The calendar day shows the space left across all the times.
Under the calendar, Pick a time lists each time that runs that day, in time order: "07:45 · Morning" with the same coloured word on the right ("1 left", or Full in red). A time you've closed for the day isn't listed.
The chosen line repeats both: "Sat 14 Nov · 07:45 Morning · 1 left".
The booking, the basket and the confirmation email all carry the time. The email says Departs 07:45.
If you use a booking cutoff in hours, the notice counts back from each departure time, so an afternoon time can still be booked when the morning one has closed.

A day takes the times added up; there is no separate number a day.

Changing a time for one day. Pick the service and a day. Under the day's switch, each time has its own row: a coloured word (1 left, 2 left when 3 or fewer are left, Full · 1 of 1, Closed), a switch Taking bookings at 07:45 for that day, and Places at 07:45 (blank means the usual number from the Dive Menu). One Save writes it all or nothing. A time you switch back on goes back to its usual number unless you type one. A number lower than the people already booked is refused with the day; closing a time never cancels anyone. Booked this day lists who is booked under each time, with No set time last, and the waiting list shows the time each person waits for.

Close for a date range (in each time's row) closes one time, or gives it its own number, for a run of days from today on, up to a year at a time: a seasonal timetable, a week in the yard. It writes only the days that time departs. Open as usual (undo) puts those days back. Back to usual on a day removes that day's changes to every time.

Your team can change a booking's time (Change time on the booking) and take phone bookings at a time (the Time box on Add booking). Both warn when a time is full and never refuse. See Bookings.

A product without departure times books by the day exactly as before.

The waiting list for full days

When a day is full, customers can join a waiting list for it instead of booking.

What the customer does

On the calendar, they tap a day marked Full.
A short form opens under the calendar: their name, an email or a phone number (one is enough) and how many people.
They press Join the waiting list and see "You're on the waiting list for Sat 14 Nov". Nothing is paid, no booking is made and no message is sent.

On a product with departure times, the waiting list is for one time: a time marked Full has a Join the waiting list link, and tapping a day that is full shows its times, each with its own link. The customer sees "You're on the waiting list for Sat 14 Nov at 07:45", and the bell names the time when a place frees ("A place freed on Sat 14 Nov at 07:45").

A day full only because of other things in the customer's own basket, or a day with places but not enough for the whole group, has no waiting list: the customer can change their basket or group. A course with its own set dates has no waiting list when a run is full; the customer is offered Can't see the date you want? instead.

What your team sees

The Waiting count at the top of the Availability page shows how many customers are on a waiting list for the next 7 days. Press it to pick out those days in the month.
A day someone is waiting for says 1 waiting (or a small dot on a phone).
Open the day to see the list: each person's name, how many people, the product and how to reach them.
WhatsApp or Email opens a message to them with the day and product filled in, and marks them Contacted.
Booked takes them off the list once you've booked them. Remove takes them off without booking. Neither sends them anything.

When a place frees up

If a booking on that day is cancelled, moved or shortened, you raise or remove a limit (a day's, a product's own number a day, or your shared limit), put a day Back to normal, or open a weekday in your opening hours, and there is now room for someone waiting, everyone at your centre gets a bell: "A place freed on Sat 14 Nov". It says how many people are waiting; pressing it opens that day on that product. You get at most one bell a day for each product and day.

Waiting list entries are deleted 30 days after the day.

When a day is full and you still want to book

Your team can still book a full day from Bookings → Add Booking, for example when you have an extra boat or expect a no-show.

Pick the service and date as usual. If the day is full, a note under the dates says so, for example "This day is full (12 of 12)". It also warns when the day is closed, when the product isn't taking bookings that day, when the product's own limit is reached, or when the product doesn't run on that weekday.
Press Save Booking. You're asked Book anyway?
Press Book anyway to save it, or Pick another day to go back and change the date.

The warning never stops you. Customers on your booking page can't book a full day.

Tips

Closing a day for weather never cancels anyone. Contact the customers yourself, then move or cancel their bookings.
Leave the Shared limit blank in the settings if your products don't share a boat or crew: each product's own number still applies.
Closed on a public holiday? Close that one day on the calendar; your opening hours stay as they are.
A booking set to Cancelled, No show or Postponed doesn't take a place, so Add Booking doesn't warn for those.

Troubleshooting

Customers say no dates show: your opening hours aren't set, or the product isn't added. Set your hours in Centre info, then add the product in Settings on the Availability page.
Every day shows Closed: your opening hours aren't set yet. The page says so and links to Centre info.
A product shows an amber dot or "No daily limit set": it has no number a day, so any number can book it. Press Set it (or Edit in Dive Menu) and set a number, or choose Any number a day.
"Spaces can't go below": that day already has more people booked than the number you typed. Type a bigger number, or close the day.
Add Booking says "Couldn't check spaces for this day": the check didn't load. You can still save; look at the day on the Availability page if it matters.
No "place freed" bell after a cancel: the freed place isn't enough for anyone waiting (a party of 3 needs 3 places), or another day of a course they wait for is still full.
A day you changed went back: only Back to normal does that. Changes you make by hand are kept when you change your opening hours or your shared limit. In a product's view, Back to usual puts that product's day back.