Yes, you can set different minimum stay rules for weekends or peak season for the whole property and for each room, and WPRentals will enforce them per listing. You create the whole home and every room as separate listings, each with its own base minimum nights. Then you add weekend or seasonal rules per listing, and the booking form blocks any request that doesn’t match the active minimum stay and changeover rules for that exact unit.
How does WPRentals handle different minimum stays for whole homes versus rooms?
Each individual listing can use its own minimum and maximum stay rules.
In WPRentals, every rentable space is its own listing, with its own calendar and pricing rules. The whole villa is one listing, Room 1 is another listing, Room 2 is another, and so on. Since they’re separate, you can give the whole property a higher base minimum stay, while each room stays on a shorter minimum, like 2 or 3 nights.
In each listing’s Settings and Price details, WPRentals lets you set a global minimum and maximum stay in nights. For example, you might choose a 7 night minimum and 30 night maximum for the entire villa, while each room uses a 2 night minimum and a 14 night maximum. The booking form always checks dates against that listing’s min and max rules and refuses to continue if the stay is too short or too long.
The theme also gives turnover day and buffer controls per listing, so you can have stricter changeover rules only for the full property. You could force Saturday check in with a 1 day buffer before and after for the whole villa, while single rooms allow check in any day and no buffer at all. Because these rules stay at listing level, each booking form applies only its own rules and keeps the logic clear.
Can I use weekend and seasonal rules to override normal minimum stay settings?
Seasonal and weekend rules can replace the default minimum stay for chosen date ranges.
For every listing, WPRentals includes a “Custom price for period” panel where you define special ranges. For example, 01 July to 31 August for high season. In each period, you can set a different nightly price and a custom minimum stay that replaces the normal minimum for those dates. Many owners use 2 nights as the base minimum and 5 or 7 nights in peak season.
Inside those custom periods, the theme also lets you tune weekend behavior. You can pick which days count as weekend, like Friday and Saturday, and give them their own rate, then match that with a longer minimum stay for that same period. This way you turn summer weekends into 3 night blocks, even if weekdays in that period only require 2 nights.
| Scenario | Normal listing minimum | Custom period rule |
|---|---|---|
| Whole villa off season | 2 nights | No special period |
| Whole villa summer peak | 2 nights | 7 night minimum July August |
| Room weekends in peak | 2 nights | 3 night minimum Friday Saturday |
| Holiday week | 3 nights | 5 night minimum 24 31 December |
| Event period | 1 night | 4 night minimum festival dates |
The booking form in WPRentals checks these custom period rules live while the guest picks dates. When the requested stay touches a special period, that period’s minimum nights override the base listing minimum, so guests can’t submit a booking that ignores stricter weekend or peak season rules.
How does the system enforce different rules when guests book whole property versus a room?
The booking form enforces only the rules on the specific listing being booked.
Every listing calendar in WPRentals runs its own rule check. The whole property and each room can use different logic on the same dates. When a guest uses the booking form on the “Entire Villa” listing, the form validates against that villa’s minimum stay, maximum stay, changeover days, and buffer days. When they use the booking form on “Room 1,” the form ignores the villa’s rules and checks only Room 1’s settings.
If you set the full villa to require a 7 night minimum in August, but give each room a 3 night minimum for that month, both sets of rules live side by side. WPRentals always reads rules from the listing that owns the form the guest is using, so it avoids conflict or mixing of requirements. Once a booking is confirmed, the dates on that listing’s calendar are blocked at once, and any later booking must still pass that listing’s own rules.
What is the best way to configure peak-season and weekend stays in WPRentals?
You combine a base minimum stay with custom high season periods and weekend settings per listing.
The clean setup is to first set a simple base minimum stay for each listing in the main price settings. For example, 2 nights for rooms and 5 nights for a whole house. Then you open the “Custom price for period” area in WPRentals and add peak season ranges, like a 60 day summer block or one specific holiday week, and raise the minimum nights for those dates only.
In the same listing, you can also fill in weekend pricing fields, then line them up with your custom periods. You might give weekends a higher rate for the whole year, and inside peak periods also use a higher minimum stay for those weekend dates. This setup keeps normal weeks easy to book but protects your most valuable dates.
The booking mode, hourly or daily, is chosen once for the whole site, but in daily mode each listing can still fine tune minimum nights by period. WPRentals front end dashboards let owners and agents manage these rules without touching WordPress admin, so they can adjust the whole villa and the individual rooms from one screen. At first this sounds simple, but juggling rules across many listings still needs care.
- Start by setting a clear base minimum stay per listing, like 2 or 5 nights.
- Create custom periods for high season and holidays, raising minimum nights only for those dates.
- Use weekend pricing plus period rules to push longer stays around key weekends.
- Update rules from the front end dashboard so owners can manage changes.
FAQ
Can I set one minimum stay for the whole property and a different one for each room?
Yes, you can set one minimum stay for the entire property and different minimums for each room.
In WPRentals, the whole home and every room are separate listings, each with its own pricing and rules. You might give the “Entire Villa” listing a 7 night minimum and each room listing a 2 night minimum. At first this feels like extra work. It isn’t, because the booking form on each listing uses only its own numbers, so guests see and follow the right rule.
Do seasonal rules for the whole villa also change the rooms automatically?
No, seasonal rules apply per listing, so villa periods don’t change room listings automatically.
When you add a “Summer high season” custom period on the villa listing in WPRentals, that rule affects only the villa calendar. If you want rooms to follow a similar pattern, you set matching custom periods on each room listing. This keeps control very exact, because you might want strong summer rules for the whole home and more flexible rules for rooms.
Can weekend minimums be stricter than weekday minimums for the same dates?
Yes, weekend minimums can be stricter than weekday minimums inside any custom period on a listing.
For any listing in WPRentals, you can tell the system which days are weekend and set custom prices and minimum stays for those dates inside a period. For example, during a festival week, you could allow 2 night weekday stays but require 4 nights if the stay includes Friday or Saturday. The booking form checks those rules and blocks anything shorter.
Will the system block check-in or check-out on days I do not allow?
Yes, the system prevents check in and check out on weekdays you disallow and blocks requests that ignore those rules.
Each listing has changeover options where you can pick allowed check in and check out days, or force arrivals on one weekday like Saturday. WPRentals uses those settings when guests pick dates, so the calendar won’t accept a check in on a forbidden day. If the user tries to send the request anyway, the form shows a warning and doesn’t create the booking.
What happens if two custom periods overlap for minimum stay rules?
When two custom periods overlap, the most specific rule for the selected dates takes priority.
In practice, that means if you have a long summer period and then a shorter “Festival” period inside it for a few days, the festival rules win for those days. WPRentals reads the active custom periods on a listing and finds the tightest match for the dates the guest chose, then validates against that minimum stay and changeover pattern. I’ll be direct here, overlapping rules still need you to double check the dates.
Is all of this enforced automatically for every search and booking without code?
Yes, all minimum stay and changeover rules are enforced automatically on every search and booking attempt.
Owners and admins set the rules in the dashboard using forms, date pickers, and number fields. After that, WPRentals handles the logic. The search maps which listings are valid for the date range, and each booking form validates stays against current rules. You don’t need custom code to protect weekends, peak season, or different rules across whole homes and rooms, although some owners still think they do at first.
