# Availability and rules

> Control when facilities can be booked using notice periods, advance limits, buffers, slot intervals, and cancellation and refund windows.

Canonical: https://www.clubpal.app/docs/facility-hire/availability-rules
Section: Facility hire

Control when facilities can be booked and how bookings are managed.

## Booking windows

Each facility has configurable rules that restrict when members can book:

- **Minimum Notice (hours)**: members must book at least this many hours in advance. For example, a 24-hour minimum notice means bookings must be placed at least one day before the desired slot.
- **Maximum Advance (days)**: members can book no further than this many days in advance. For example, 90 days means members can see available slots up to 90 days from today.

## Availability schedule

Configure **Weekly Availability** to set open/close times for each day of the week. Only slots within the open hours appear to members.

## Booking restrictions

- **Buffer Between Bookings (minutes)**: minimum gap required between the end of one booking and the start of the next. This prevents back-to-back bookings (useful for setup, cleanup, or maintenance).
- **Slot Interval (minutes)**: duration of available time slots. For example, 30-minute intervals mean members can book 30, 60, 90 minutes, etc.

## Cancellation and refund policies

- **Cancellation Window (hours)**: period before the booking when members can cancel. For example, a 24-hour window means members can cancel up to 24 hours before the booking. Bookings within this window cannot be cancelled by members (though admins can override).
- **Refund Window (hours)**: timeframe during which refunds are automatically issued when a booking is cancelled. After this window, no refund is issued (though admins can override).

## Key behavior

- Members can cancel confirmed or pending bookings, but cancellation windows are enforced.
- Admins can cancel bookings even when a member cancellation window has passed.
- Refund eligibility is based on the refund window policy and can be overridden by admins.
- Slot availability checks include existing bookings, pending holds, and configured buffer minutes.