# Equipment rental booking: kayaks, bikes and boards by the hour

> Renting kayaks, bikes or paddleboards by the hour is a capacity problem disguised as a price list. How to model items and lengths, why every slot a hire covers must be held, deposits and late fees at the desk, and the board of what is out.

*Source: https://itravel.cloud/blog/equipment-rental-booking · published Nov 1, 2026 · topic: Attractions & venues*

An equipment rental booking system for kayaks, bikes or paddleboards has to rent items, not people. Each item type needs its own count, each hire length needs a price per item, and a booking must hold every slot its length covers, so a two-hour kayak from 10:00 can't be sold again at 11:00. Then the desk hands items out against a deposit, takes them back and charges your late fee.

Most rental trouble comes from treating a hire like an admission ticket: one time, one place. A hire takes an item away for a stretch of time. The rest of this post is the mechanics of that stretch.

## Rent items, not people

A double kayak carries two people but it is one boat. A family of four on bikes might need two adult bikes, one child's bike and a tag-along. If the system counts people, it sells boats it doesn't have.

So the unit of a rental is the **item type**, each with its own count:

- Single kayak (8), double kayak (2)
- Bikes by size: S (6), M (10), L (6)
- Paddleboards (12), wetsuits by size, lockers, cabanas

In iTravel Attractions a rental is a ticket of the kind "Rented by the hour". It has up to 12 item types, each with its own count and its own pool of availability. Items belong to the rental product and are kept apart from the guest types (adult, child) that admission tickets use. Changing a count from today reaches the days already open for sale.

## Lengths, starts and closing time

A rental needs three settings besides its items.

- **Lengths.** Pick from 30 minutes, 1, 1½, 2, 3, 4, 6 or 8 hours, or "until closing". Each length is priced per item. An item left without a price for a length is not rented for that length, so you can offer doubles for two hours and up, but never for 30 minutes.
- **How often a hire can start.** Every 15, 30 or 60 minutes between opening and closing.
- **The hours you are open.** A length longer than your opening hours is refused when you save. A start whose length would run past closing is never offered. "Until closing" is due back at closing.

The shop asks "How long" and then "When it starts". The box office has the same lengths as buttons.

## Why every slot a hire covers must be held

This is the rule that separates a rental system from a ticket shop. A two-hour hire from 10:00 is not a sale at 10:00. It is a sale at 10:00 **and** 11:00. If the system holds only the start, the 11:00 kayaks look free and get sold twice.

In Attractions, a booking holds one item on every slot its length covers. The hold is all or nothing, so a hire is never half held. What a start has left for an item is the **lowest** number left across all the slots that hire would cover. A guest who asks for more than that is told in words: "Only 3 left of Single kayak at that time." The shop's month calendar shows, for each day, the most items one start can offer. It never adds up places across slots, which would promise a fleet you don't own.

An item that comes back early puts the rest of its time back on sale, and a cancelled hire gives back every slot it held.

## Worked example: ten kayaks, three lengths

Say a lake centre has 10 single kayaks and is open 09:00 to 17:00, with a hire starting every hour. It sells three lengths: 1 hour, 2 hours and 4 hours. A 1-hour hire can start from 09:00 to 16:00. A 2-hour hire can start up to 15:00, and a 4-hour hire up to 13:00, because each must be back by 17:00.

By mid-morning it has sold three bookings: 3 kayaks for 4 hours from 09:00, 4 kayaks for 2 hours from 10:00, and 2 kayaks for 1 hour at 12:00. Here is what each hour holds:

| Hour | 4 h from 09:00 | 2 h from 10:00 | 1 h at 12:00 | Left |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:00 | 3 | 4 | | 3 |
| 11:00 | 3 | 4 | | 3 |
| 12:00 | 3 | | 2 | 5 |
| 13:00 | | | | 10 |
| 14:00 | | | | 10 |

Now a guest asks for kayaks from 11:00:

- **1 hour from 11:00** covers 11:00 only: 3 left.
- **2 hours from 12:00** covers 12:00 and 13:00: the lower is 5.
- **4 hours from 11:00** covers 11:00 to 14:00: the lowest is 3, even though 10 are free from 13:00.

A group of four wanting four hours from 11:00 is offered 3, or a later start. That answer is right. Selling them four would leave a fourth kayak promised at 11:00 that is already out on the water.

## Pricing by length: a decision table

How you price lengths decides how your fleet is used. Because a long hire holds every slot it covers, a cheap long hire on a busy afternoon takes a boat away from several short ones. Illustrative prices in your own currency:

| Approach | Example | Good for | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Same rate every hour | 1 h 20 · 2 h 40 · 4 h 80 | Simple to explain; every hour earns the same | No reason to stay longer, so quiet mornings stay quiet |
| Falling rate per hour | 1 h 20 · 2 h 35 · 4 h 60 | Fills quiet mornings; fewer handovers a day | On a peak afternoon a 4-hour hire displaces four 1-hour ones |
| Blocks only | 2 h 35 · 4 h 60, nothing shorter | Bikes for a day out, tours, picnics | Fewer starts to sell; early returns go back on sale |
| Until closing | 70, whatever the start | Late-afternoon trade, all-day bikes | The price is the same at 09:00 and at 15:00 |

There is no right row. A centre that sells out every summer afternoon prices long hires to protect short ones. A centre with quiet weekdays prices them to fill the day. Both are your call.

## Out and back at the desk

Selling the hire is half the job. The other half happens at the counter, twice.

**Handing out.** Staff hand out a booking's items together and can note the number painted on each kayak or bike. They take the deposit you set for that item type, in one of four ways: cash or card on the cashier's open shift, an ID document held, or nothing. If it is a document, the desk writes what it is ("driving licence"), never its number. Handing out marks the ticket as used. It is refused if a waiver or required guest details are still owed, with a link to the order, which is where [digital waivers](/blog/digital-waivers-for-attractions) meet the rental counter. The deposit is taken here, when the items go out, not at booking.

**Taking back.** The late fee is worked out from your rule. It is settled in cash, by card, from the deposit, or waived with a reason. The deposit goes back the way it came. Part of it can be kept, for damage say, but only with a reason. If the fee changed while the panel was open, because the clock moved on, the desk is refused and shown the new fee. Deposits and fees in cash are counted on the shift, so they appear on the [box office cash-up](/blog/box-office-cash-up).

### Late fees, worked

Your late fee has three parts: an amount, a period (15, 30 or 60 minutes) and a grace (0, 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes). Once the grace has passed, the fee is charged for each **started** period, counted from the due time.

Say the fee is 10 per started 30 minutes after a 10-minute grace, and the deposit is 50 a kayak. The 2-hour hire from 10:00 is due back at 12:00:

| Back at | Late by | Fee | Deposit back |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12:08 | 8 min (inside the grace) | 0 | 50 |
| 12:25 | 25 min | 1 period: 10 | 40, if the fee comes from the deposit |
| 12:40 | 40 min | 2 periods: 20 | 30 |

Note the 12:25 row. Once a guest is past the grace, the first period counts from 12:00, not from 12:10. Say so in your terms, because that is the row guests argue about.

## The board of what is out

On the water, the question all day is "where are my kayaks?". In Attractions, a Rentals page shows the day in three lists: out (late ones first, each with the fee owed so far), still to hand out, and back. Anything still out from an earlier day is shown too. The page refreshes every minute while no panel is open.

The Today screen gives the desk's position at a glance: out now, late, due back within the hour, still to hand out. "Rentals past their due time" appears under Needs a person, because a late kayak is somebody's job to go and look for.

## Changing the fleet, moving a hire, and weather

- **A new boat or a lost one.** Change the count. It applies from today, including days already on sale.
- **Dropping a length.** It stops being sold. Hires already sold for that length keep it.
- **A guest wants another time.** A rental is not moved on the ticket page, because it holds several slots at once. The desk cancels it and sells it again.
- **Wind or a storm.** Closing a start from the calendar blocks every item at that time. It tells every guest whose booked hire runs across it and who has not had their items yet. The full routine is in [weather closures](/blog/weather-closures-attractions).

How places are held per slot, the idea underneath all of this, is explained in [timed-entry slot capacity](/blog/timed-entry-slot-capacity). The rest of the activity toolkit is on [activity booking software](/activity-booking-software).

## Checklist before you open for hire

- [ ] Each item type is listed with its real, working count (not counting the one in for repair).
- [ ] Every length has a price for every item that may be hired for it; the gaps are deliberate.
- [ ] The start interval matches how fast your crew can turn a boat round.
- [ ] Your latest starts make sense: a 4-hour hire is back by closing.
- [ ] Deposits are set per item type, and staff know which ways they may take them.
- [ ] Your late fee, period and grace are written in your terms in plain words, with an example.
- [ ] The kayaks or bikes are numbered, so the number on the item matches the booking.
- [ ] Someone watches the Rentals page, and owns "past their due time".
- [ ] You have tested one hire end to end: sold, handed out, brought back late, deposit returned.