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CWWC Reservations Docs

Blackout Date Settings

Intro

Blackout dates allow you to prevent tours from being booked on specific dates or times. This is useful for holidays, maintenance periods, special events, or any time when tours should not be available for reservation.

A blackout date contains the following settings:

  • Title: An optional title for this blackout (e.g., “Christmas Day”, “Annual Maintenance”)
  • Date Range: The start and end dates for the blackout period
  • Set Specific Times: Option to apply the blackout only to specific time ranges
  • Apply to All Tours: Whether the blackout applies to all tours or specific ones
  • Tours to Blackout: (When not applying to all) Which tour templates should be blacked out
  • Exclude Tour Templates: (When applying to all) Which tour templates should remain available
  • Exclude Tour Schedules: (When applying to all) Which specific schedules should remain available

Who’s allowed to create blackout dates?

  • Owners & Managers: Can create, edit, and delete blackout dates

Creating a Blackout Date

  1. Navigate to the Blackout Dates page (under Settings)
  2. Click the “Create Blackout Date” button
  3. Fill out the form with your desired settings
  4. Click “Create”

Basic Settings

Title

An optional descriptive title for the blackout. This helps identify the blackout later (e.g., “Christmas Day”, “Annual Maintenance”, “Special Event”).

Date Range

The date range when the blackout will be active. You can select a range using the date picker that spans from a start date to an end date.

Note: When “Set Specific Times” is enabled, you’ll use separate start and end datetime fields instead of the date range picker.

Set Specific Times

When enabled, the blackout will only apply during specific time periods on the selected dates, rather than the entire day. This is useful when you want to block certain time slots while keeping others available.

Example: Block all tours between 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM on a specific date, but allow morning and evening tours to be booked.

When this option is enabled:

  • You’ll use separate start and end datetime fields instead of the date range picker
  • The blackout will only affect tours scheduled during the specified time range

Tour Selection Options

Apply to All Tours

When enabled, the blackout applies to all tour templates by default. You can then choose to exclude specific tour templates or schedules that should remain available despite the blackout.

Default: This option is checked by default.

When “Apply to All Tours” is enabled:

  • All tours are blacked out except those you explicitly exclude
  • You can exclude specific tour templates that should remain bookable
  • You can exclude specific tour schedules (time slots) that should remain available

When “Apply to All Tours” is disabled:

  • Only the tours you specifically select will be blacked out
  • All other tours remain available for booking

Tours to Blackout

This option is only available when “Apply to All Tours” is disabled.

Select one or more tour templates that should be blacked out during the specified date range. Only the selected tour templates will be unavailable for booking; all other tours will remain available.

Use Case: You want to block only “Standard Tour” on a specific date, but keep “VIP Tour” and other tours available.

Exclude Tour Templates

This option is only available when “Apply to All Tours” is enabled.

Select one or more tour templates that should remain available for booking despite the blackout. These tour templates will continue to show scheduled times in the reservation system, even though all other tours are blacked out.

Use Case: You have a blackout for “Maintenance Day” that applies to all tours, but you want to keep “VIP Tour” available because it uses a different area.

How it works: When a tour template is excluded:

  • The template itself remains available
  • Any tours created from that template will also be available
  • Scheduled times for that template will appear in the reservation system

Exclude Tour Schedules

This option is only available when “Apply to All Tours” is enabled.

Select specific tour schedules (time slots) that should remain available for booking despite the blackout. This gives you granular control to exclude specific times while blocking others.

Use Case: You want to black out all tours on a date, but keep the 9:00 AM “Standard Tour” slot available.

How it works:

  • Only the selected schedules will be excluded from the blackout
  • The dropdown automatically populates with all schedules that occur during your selected date range
  • Each schedule is displayed as “Tour Template Name - Time” (e.g., “Standard Tour - 9:00 AM”)

Examples

Example 1: Holiday Blackout

Scenario: Block all tours on Christmas Day (December 25th).

  1. Set Title: “Christmas Day”
  2. Select Date Range: 12/25/2025 to 12/25/2025
  3. Leave “Set Specific Times” unchecked (block entire day)
  4. Check “Apply to All Tours”
  5. Leave exclusions empty (all tours blocked)

Example 2: Partial Day Blackout

Scenario: Block all tours between 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM on maintenance day, but allow morning and evening tours.

  1. Set Title: “Afternoon Maintenance”
  2. Check “Set Specific Times”
  3. Set Start: 12/15/2025 2:00 PM
  4. Set End: 12/15/2025 4:00 PM
  5. Check “Apply to All Tours”
  6. Leave exclusions empty (all tours blocked during this time)

Example 3: Specific Tour Blackout

Scenario: Block only “Standard Tour” on a specific date, keeping all other tours available.

  1. Set Title: “Standard Tour Maintenance”
  2. Select Date Range: 12/20/2025 to 12/20/2025
  3. Leave “Set Specific Times” unchecked
  4. Uncheck “Apply to All Tours”
  5. Under “Tours to Blackout”, select “Standard Tour”

Example 4: Blackout with Template Exclusion

Scenario: Block all tours on a date except “VIP Tour”.

  1. Set Title: “VIP Day Exclusive”
  2. Select Date Range: 12/31/2025 to 12/31/2025
  3. Check “Apply to All Tours”
  4. Under “Exclude Tour Templates”, select “VIP Tour”
  5. All tours except “VIP Tour” will be blacked out

Example 5: Blackout with Schedule Exclusion

Scenario: Block all tours on a date except the 9:00 AM “Standard Tour” slot.

  1. Set Title: “Holiday - Morning Only”
  2. Select Date Range: 01/01/2026 to 01/01/2026
  3. Check “Apply to All Tours”
  4. Under “Exclude Tour Schedules”, select “Standard Tour - 9:00 AM”
  5. Only that specific schedule remains available

Best Practices

  1. Use descriptive titles: This makes it easier to identify and manage blackout dates later
  2. Plan ahead: Create blackout dates for holidays and known maintenance periods well in advance
  3. Use exclusions thoughtfully: When applying to all tours, carefully consider which templates or schedules should remain available
  4. Test your blackout: After creating a blackout, verify in the reservation system that it works as expected
  5. Review regularly: Periodically review your blackout dates to ensure they’re still needed and accurate

Understanding How Blackouts Work

When a blackout date is active:

  1. Reservation System: Blacked out tours will not appear in the available schedules when creating reservations
  2. Tour Templates: Excluded tour templates continue to show their scheduled times
  3. Specific Schedules: Excluded schedules remain visible and bookable
  4. Time-Specific Blackouts: When using “Set Specific Times”, only tours scheduled during that time range are affected

Note: Blackout dates are enforced at the schedule level. This means that if a tour template is blacked out, none of its scheduled times will appear in the reservation system, unless that specific schedule has been excluded.