Toolkit: Advance Notice Blocking

Greys out calendar dates that fall inside your advance-booking window and shows a clear tooltip, so guests never pick a date that fails at checkout with a confusing “internal error” message.

What it does #

Many properties require a minimum amount of advance notice (for example “book at least 7 days ahead”). Without help, a guest can pick a too-soon date, sail through the booking widget, and only hit a generic error at the very end. That is a frustrating dead end.

Advance Notice Blocking fixes this in three places:

• The booking widget calendar greys out dates inside the advance-notice window so they cannot be selected.
• The Explorer range calendar marks those dates unavailable and shows a tooltip when a guest hovers or taps them.
• The checkout error message is rewritten, so if anyone still slips through, the unhelpful “requires 168 hours” style message becomes a clear human-readable note in days.

The result: guests understand the rule up front instead of running into a wall at checkout.

How to turn it on #

1. Enable the module #

Go to HomeRunner Toolkit in your WordPress admin and switch on Toolkit: Advance Notice Blocking.

2. Set your notice window #

Open the Advance Notice Blocking settings panel and enter how many hours of advance notice you require (see Settings below).

3. Save #

Click Save. Blocked dates are greyed out on the calendars right away.

Settings #

• Notice Window (hours) – the required hours of advance notice. The panel shows the rounded day equivalent next to it (for example 168 hours displays as ~7 days). The default is 168 hours (7 days). Set it to 0 to disable blocking.
• Tooltip Message – the text shown when a guest hovers or taps a blocked date. Use %d anywhere in the message and it will be replaced with the rounded-up day count. The default is “Requires %d-day advance booking”.

Tips #

• Enter the window in hours, but think in days: 24 = 1 day, 168 = 7 days. The panel confirms the day count for you as you type.
• Keep the tooltip friendly and specific, for example “This home needs %d days’ notice to book.” The %d keeps it accurate even if you change the window later.
• This module currently applies one global notice window to all properties. Per-property windows are not yet wired up.

See the full module list in the Toolkit overview.