# Booking rules, sports and courts

> The settings behind bookings: online booking rules, guest fees, peak times, sports and their hours, courts and tables, and names on the court board.

Who this is for: Anyone with “Club settings” (by default: Administrator).
Last checked in release 2026.10.23, on 23 October 2026.
Source: https://sportsclubos.net/help/bookings/booking-rules/

These settings decide what can be booked, when, and what members may do online. They are on Admin > Settings, on the tabs **Booking rules** and **Sports & courts**, with two more on **Club** and **Membership types**. Only the Administrator can change settings by default. Your club can give this to other roles on Roles & permissions.

**Booking rules**, **Sports & courts** and **Club** are saved together with **Save settings** at the top of the page. **Unsaved changes** shows beside it until you do.

## Who the rules apply to

The online booking rules apply only to members booking for themselves on **Make booking**. The office's bookings on the calendar are not limited by them: only a clash with another booking or a closed time stops the office. So the office can always book outside the rules when it needs to.

## Booking rules tab

**Rules for bookings members make online:**

| Setting | What it does | Starts at |
|---|---|---|
| **Bookings open this many days ahead** | How far ahead a member can book. With 7, a member can book up to 7 days from today. | 7 |
| **Longest booking (minutes)** | The longest single booking a member can make. | 90 |
| **Bookings per member per week** | How many bookings a member can hold in one week, Monday to Sunday. Cancelled bookings do not count. 0 means no limit. A membership type can set its own (below). | 0 |
| **Online cancellation cut-off (hours before start)** | How close to the start a member can still cancel online. After that they must contact the club. Changing a booking's times is not limited by it. | 2 |
| **Adult guest fee** | The fee for each adult non-member guest on a booking, in dollars. | $20 |
| **Junior guest fee** | The fee for each junior non-member guest. | $5 |

The guest fees apply to the office's bookings too. See [Guests and guest fees](https://sportsclubos.net/help/bookings/guests/index.md).

**Peak times:** the days (each pressed to tick or untick it) and the hours, **Peak from** and **Peak to**, that count as peak. They start at Monday to Friday, 5pm to 8pm. Members on a membership type marked off-peak only cannot book online at those times.

## Sports & courts tab

**Sports**, one row each:

| Column | What it does |
|---|---|
| **Name** | The sport's name, on the calendar's tabs, on Make booking and on the court board. |
| **Called a** | **Court**, **Table**, **Lane** or **Room**: the word used for one of them. |
| **Grid step** | How far apart the **+ Book** times on the office calendar are: 30, 45, 60 or 90 minutes. Bookings themselves can start and finish on any quarter-hour. |
| **Usual booking** | How long a new booking starts out on the office calendar. |
| **Opens** and **Closes** | The sport's hours. The calendars show these hours, and **Make booking** does not let a member book outside them. |

**Add sport** asks for the sport's name. **×** at the end of a row removes a sport, once it has no courts: otherwise it says, for example, **Move or delete the Squash courts first.**

**Courts and tables** lists every court and table with its **Sport**, **Surface / notes**, **Order** and **Status**: **Bookable**, or **Hidden**. Press **Add court / table**, or a row to change it. The panel has:

- **Name**, for example "Squash 5".
- **Sport**.
- **Display order**: where it comes among its sport's columns.
- **Surface / notes**, for the office's own use.
- **Bookable (untick to hide it from the calendar)**: untick it for a court that is out of use for a long time, rather than deleting it. Use a closure for a short time. See [Close courts for an event or repairs](https://sportsclubos.net/help/bookings/closures/index.md).

Press **Save** in the panel. **Delete** removes a court or table.

## On other tabs

- **Club**, under **Foyer wallboard**: **Names on the public screen** chooses how a member's name shows on the court board in the foyer: **Full name (Olivia Hartley)**, **First name and initial (Olivia H.)**, **Initials only (OH)** or **Just "Reserved"**. It starts at first name and initial. See [The court board in the foyer](https://sportsclubos.net/help/bookings/wallboard/index.md).
- **Membership types**, in each type's panel:
   - **Sports included**: the sports its members can book online. None ticked means every sport.
   - **Online bookings per week**: the type's own weekly limit. 0 uses the club-wide rule.
   - **Off-peak only (no online bookings in peak times)**.

## The booking types

The types a booking can have, and their colours on the calendar, are fixed: **Member booking**, **Public / non-member**, **Club booking**, **Coaching**, **Competition**, **Junior program** and **Maintenance**. They cannot be changed in Settings.