Sell a room for a few hours

Day use means a room is occupied for a few hours during the day (resting between flights, changing, holding a meeting), while the night in that room stays on sale. This article explains how to enable it, set the hours and price, sell a room at the front desk, and check the guest in and out.

Who: the owner or an administrator for the settings; a front desk employee for the sale.

Before you start: rooms and room types are set up — see Rooms, types and room readiness.

Enable selling by the hour#

Selling by the hour is off by default.

1. Open Rooms and press 🏷️ Room types (or 💲 Rates). The Hotel settings window opens.
2. Go to the Stay rules tab and find the Day use (rooms by the hour) block.
3. Turn on Sell rooms by the hour.
4. Add at least one hour block (see below) — without blocks there is nothing to sell.
5. Press Save. You will see "Saved".

How to check: a ☀ By the hour button appears above the calendar. It is hidden while the sale is off or no block is set.

Set the hours and price#

You do not sell arbitrary hours but blocks — preset intervals with a price: for example, "Morning" 09:00–13:00 and "Afternoon" 13:00–18:00.

1. In Hour blocks, press Add block.
2. Fill in Name, From and To. A block cannot be shorter than 30 minutes; up to 12 blocks in total.
3. In Price, choose:
   • Fixed amount — one price per block;
   • % of the night rate — a share of this room's night rate on that date, from 0 to 200%.
4. In Room types sold by the hour, tick the types that can be sold by the hour. Nothing ticked means all types.
5. Press Save.

If the time or price is wrong, the form shows "A block needs a valid time (at least 30 min) and a price".

Cleaning buffer#

Cleaning buffer, min — how many minutes the room needs for cleaning after a day guest and between an overnight guest and an hour block. The default is 60 minutes; 0 to 240 is allowed.

The buffer is applied automatically in every availability check: the room counts as occupied from the start of the block to its end plus the buffer. You do not need to add "cleaning time" to the sale yourself.

Sell a room by the hour#

1. Open Rooms → the Calendar tab.
2. Press ☀ By the hour above the calendar. Alternatively, press an empty room cell and choose ☀ Sell by the hour instead in the new booking form.
3. In the Day use: room by the hour window, choose the Date and the Room — a day-use sale always goes to a specific room.
4. Look at the day timeline Room {room} on {date}: it shows the overnight guest, other day-use sales, cleaning and your sale.
5. Choose a Block. Blocks that overlap this room's bookings are marked "clashes with the room’s bookings".
6. Enter the Guest name (required) and, if needed, Phone and Notes.
7. Need a different price — enter it in Other price (empty means the block price) and fill in Reason for the other price (required).
8. Press Sell. You will see "Room sold by the hour".

How to check: a narrow amber strip appears on the room cell for that day, with the tooltip "☀ {guest} · {from}–{to}". The night in that room is still free to sell.

To change the sale before check-in, open the booking card, Day use block → Change: day, room and block. The dates of such a booking are not changed by the regular date edit.

Clash with an overnight guest#

The system will not sell hours that overlap a stay. The rules, including the cleaning buffer:

If the room is taken, you will see "The room is busy at these hours" — choose another block or another room.

Overnight bookings also take day-use sales into account: a room sold by the hour will not go to an overnight guest whose arrival does not fit after the block and cleaning.

Check a day guest in and out#

1. On the day of the sale, open the strip on the calendar — the booking card opens.
2. Press Check in, as for a regular booking. Guest registration is the same as for a regular check-in.
3. The guest bill gets one line for the hour block — no nights and no tourist tax.
4. Check-out is the regular one: settle the bill and check the guest out. The room goes to cleaning.

A day guest can be checked in only on the day of the sale — on another day you will see "A day guest checks in only on the day of the sale".

The guest decides to stay the night. In the booking card, press Extend to the night: the booking becomes an overnight one until tomorrow at the night rate. The hour line already posted to the bill stays — reverse it if the night rate covers it. You can extend both before and after check-in.

Early check-in and late check-out are not available for a day-use sale: its hours are set by the block. Need more time — change the block.

Not the same as a table reservation#

A day-use sale is a room booking: it lives on the calendar, has a check-in and a guest bill. A restaurant table reservation is a different section, see Table reservations. Rooms do not appear in the table list, and tables do not appear on the calendar.

What is not available yet#

• No online sale. Only the front desk sells rooms by the hour: a guest cannot buy one on the website, and sales channels (OTAs) do not sell such bookings. Online night bookings do take already-sold hours into account.
• Tourist tax is not charged automatically for a day-use sale. If it applies in your country, add a line to the bill manually.
• No arbitrary hours — only the preset blocks. Need another interval — add a block in the settings.

Related sections#

• Check a guest in and out at the front desk
• Create, change and cancel a booking
• Rates, meals and sales restrictions
• Hotel: Rooms, PMS and Guest Service
• Table reservations

FAQ#

Does a day-use sale count towards occupancy and ADR?#

No. A day-use sale is not a night: reports show it separately ("Day use", "Day sales") and it is not included in room revenue, ADR, RevPAR or occupancy.

Can I sell a room by the hour and for the night on the same day?#

Yes, if the cleaning buffer fits between them: for example, a block until 13:00, a 60-minute buffer and the overnight guest arriving at 14:00.

Why is there no "☀ By the hour" button?#

The sale is off or no hour block is set. Check Hotel settings → Stay rules → Day use (rooms by the hour).

Can I sell only some room types by the hour?#

Yes: tick them in Room types sold by the hour. For other types you will see "This room type is not sold by the hour".