Hour and day options and hour buffers

Use Hour and day options when one product is rented both by the hour and by the day, for example 2 hours, 4 hours, 1 day and 1 week. Each option has its own unit and its own total price. The customer picks one option:

Hour options ask for a date and a start time. Start times are on 15-minute steps, and an hour option can be up to 24 hours.
Day options ask for a pickup date only. Use 7 days for a week and 30 for a month.

If customers should choose any window and be charged the next price step, use Tiered (round up) pricing instead.

Set up a product

Open Products → your rental product.
In the duration settings, choose Hour and day options.
Select Add duration for each option and set:
- Duration and Unit: Hours (date + start time) or Days (date only).
- Label, for example 2 hours or 1 week.
- Total rental price for that option.
- Max add-ons (optional): the total add-on quantity a customer can pick with this option. Leave it empty for no limit.
Optional: enter a Base price for multipliers and type a × base price value on an option to fill its price. Only the final price is saved.
Save the product.

You can also link the product to a pricing template. A product that already uses Hour and day options keeps this duration type when a template is applied.

How hourly options use stock

Rentshelf counts availability per calendar day. An hourly option holds a unit on the day its time window touches. If the window crosses midnight, for example a 6-hour option starting at 21:00, it also holds the next day.

Max add-ons per option

Max add-ons applies to every duration option that shows the field, including fixed-day packages and tiers. When a customer picks more add-ons than the option allows, the quote shows an error and the reservation is refused. Manual bookings follow the same limit.

Buffer hours before and after

Day buffers (Buffer before and Buffer after, Starter and Growth) block whole days around a booking. Buffer hours before and Buffer hours after add turnaround time in hours instead. They apply where the pickup or return time is known, such as hourly options and tiered round-up bookings.

Because stock is counted per day, an hour buffer only matters when it reaches into another day:

A booking returned at 22:00 with Buffer hours after of 4 also holds the next day, because the buffer runs past midnight.
A booking returned at 14:00 with a 4-hour buffer stays within the same day, which the booking already holds, so no extra day is blocked.
Buffer hours before works the same way before the pickup time: a 10-hour buffer before an 08:00 pickup also holds the previous day.

If a booking has no known time on one side, the hour buffer on that side adds nothing. Use day buffers when you need a guaranteed full day for cleaning or shipping.

Test before you publish

Book an hour option and a day option and compare the cart lines.
Book an hour option that crosses midnight and check the next day’s availability.
Pick more add-ons than Max add-ons allows and confirm the storefront refuses it.
With hour buffers set, book a late return and check the next day’s availability.