In plain words
Booking window is the number of days until the stay, on your property's own calendar. Tonight is 0, tomorrow night is 1. Booking window (days to stay) Less than 7 covers tonight and the next six nights. The count moves every day, so a night slides into a rule's range as it gets closer.
The definition
For each night your rules run on, booking window is the stay date minus today's date, in whole days. "Today" is the calendar date at your property, in your property's time zone, at the moment of the check. A night 30 days away has a booking window of 30. Tonight has a booking window of 0.
The condition has nothing to do with when a guest booked. It is about how far away the night is right now.
The rule builder's label is Booking window (days to stay). Its fields are Compare (Greater than or Less than) and Threshold, which starts at 7. A threshold with a decimal is rounded to whole days when you save.
When you build a cut on low pickup with no booking window row, the builder fills this row in for you, Less than 60, with a "?" beside it that says why. Change the number or remove the row as you like. Read A cut on low pickup, far out.
Compare
- Tonight0
- Tmrw1
- +22
- +33
- +44
- +55
- +66
- +77
- +88
- +99
- +1010
- +1111
- +1212
- +1313
- +1414
Less than 7 covers tonight and the next six nights (0 to 6).
Comparisons are strict, so the threshold night itself is never covered. Each number is days from tonight, on your property's own calendar.
Less than 7 covers tonight and the next six nights.
An illustration with made-up numbers, not your property.
Less than 7 means 0 to 6
Comparisons are strict, so:
| You set | Nights covered |
|---|---|
| Less than 7 | Tonight and the next six nights (0 to 6) |
| Less than 3 | Tonight, tomorrow and the night after (0 to 2) |
| Less than 1 | Tonight only (0) |
| Greater than 45 | Nights 46 days away and further, up to the edge of the 396-night window |
| Greater than 0 | Every night except tonight |
Your rules run on tonight and the next 395 nights, so a Greater than rule reaches at most night 395. A price you type further out is kept, and your rules price that night once it enters the window. Read How rules work together.
Tonight is priced
Tonight is night 0 and is inside every check. A rule set to Less than 1 acts on tonight alone. Past nights are never priced and never re-priced, so a night stops being touched the moment your property's date moves past it.
Combining with occupancy
On its own, a booking window rule acts on every night in its range, busy or quiet. That is rarely what you want. The usual shape is a booking window row plus an occupancy row, and both must be true.
Example: 'Last minute' at The Harbour Inn
"Last minute" has two rows: Booking window (days to stay) Less than 3, and Sellable occupancy (%) Less than 50. It lowers the price by 15%.
- Tomorrow night, 7 of 20 rooms booked (35%): 1 day away and under half full, so the rule acts. Standard drops from $150 to $127.50.
- Tomorrow night, 14 of 20 booked (70%): 1 day away but not under half, so nothing happens.
- Five nights away, 4 of 20 booked (20%): quiet, but 5 is not less than 3, so nothing happens yet. In three days, if it is still quiet, it will.
"Last minute" is a (it has no or condition): its change is on while both conditions are true and comes off when either stops being true. A booking window row on a booking speed or pickup rule, such as the one the builder adds to a cut on low pickup, works the way that kind of rule does instead. If a late booking lifts tomorrow night to 55%, the 15% cut comes off on the next check.
Read Price last-minute nights differently to build it, click by click.
The change log sentence
When a booking window rule acts, the change log says how far away the night was and which mark it crossed:
- Less than 7: "It had 5 days to go, past the 7-day mark you set."
- Greater than 21: "It had 30 days to go, beyond the 21-day mark you set."
- With occupancy on the same rule: "It was 95% full with 17 days to go, past the 90% and 21-day marks you set."
"Past" for a less-than rule means the night has come inside your mark. "Beyond" for a greater-than rule means it is still further out than your mark.
In the Rate Simulator
The Rate Simulator's Stay date counts the days until the stay from your property's date, as a real run does. Read Trying rules out in the Rate Simulator.
The hotel day
Days are counted on your property's calendar. A check that runs at 11 pm on Friday at the property still treats Friday night as night 0. A check that runs at 12:30 am on Saturday treats Saturday night as night 0 and Friday as past.
MAYA's day changes at midnight in your property's time zone, whatever time your night audit runs. MAYA does not read your property system's business date. After midnight, the night before is in the past: MAYA no longer prices it or sends a price for it, and you cannot type a price for it either. Read Time, weekends, currency and holidays.