Rental Booking — Overview
Rental Booking lets you offer equipment and items for rent to customers. You configure which items are available for rent, set rates based on time intervals (hours, days, etc.), and manage the full rental lifecycle from reservation through return. Customers browse and book rentals through a public-facing booking page.
Key Concepts
- Rental Item — A product in your catalog that has been designated as rentable. Each rental item has one or more rates tied to time units (e.g., $45/hour, $120/day).
- Rental Window — The date and time range a customer selects for their rental, from pick-up to return.
- Rate — A price for a rental item at a specific time interval. Rates are defined using Price Categories and Unit Types (e.g., "1 Hour" at 60 minutes, "1 Day" at 1,440 minutes).
- Reservation — When a customer confirms a booking, the items are reserved and held in inventory so no one else can book them for that time window.
- Handed Out — The status of items after the operator physically gives them to the customer. Inventory remains held.
- Returned — The status after the customer brings the items back. Inventory is released and available for new bookings.
Rental Status Lifecycle
| Status | Meaning | Set When |
|---|---|---|
| Reserved | Booked for a time window, not yet picked up | Customer confirms booking online |
| Handed Out | Physically given to the customer | Operator clicks Check Out on the order |
| Returned | Items are back in inventory | Operator clicks Return on the order |
How It Works
The rental workflow has two sides:
- Admin side — You enable the rental service, create a rental item type, configure products with time-based rates, and manage open rental orders.
- Customer side — Customers visit the public rental booking page, pick dates and times, browse available items, select rates, and confirm their booking.
- Operator side — Staff reserve, check out (hand out), and return rental items using function buttons on the order screen.
Prerequisites
Before setting up rentals:
- The items you want to rent must exist as products in your catalog.
- You need Unit Types configured with time-based multipliers (e.g., 60 for one hour, 1,440 for one day).
- You need Price Categories configured to hold the rental rates.
Admin Setup
Setting up rentals involves enabling the service and configuring your items. See the guides below:
- Admin Setup — Enable the rental service, create a rental item type, and configure products with rates
- Managing Rentals — Reserve, check out, and return rental orders from the POS
Customer Booking
Once rental items are configured, customers can book through the public rental booking page. See Customer Booking for the booking flow.