Inventory is where you define every asset your customers can book -- jet skis, pontoons, kayaks, paddleboards, or any other equipment. A guided wizard walks you through creating each item across two phases (inventory setup and pricing), and once published, it appears on your booking widget automatically.
Creating an item
Click + Add Inventory to open the inventory wizard. The wizard is divided into two phases: inventory setup and pricing configuration. Each phase is broken into categories, and each category contains one or more steps.
Phase 1: Inventory setup
| Category | Steps | What you configure |
|---|---|---|
| Basics | Name & Location, Photos, Description, Booking Type | The item's name, location assignment, category, uploaded images, a rich-text description, and whether it is a Rental (customers book a unit for a duration) or a Tour (customers book seats on a guided trip) |
| Capacity & Assets | Capacity & Quantity, Restrictions & Rules, Asset Tracking | People per unit, total units available, minimum booking quantity, buffer time between bookings, minimum age, staff approval requirement, phone-only booking, and individual asset tracking with serial numbers or unit IDs |
| Payments & Deposits | Deposits & Payments, Staff Assignments | Security deposit amount, booking deposit percentage, minimum deposit dollar amount, auto-charge remaining balance days before rental, and required staff skills |
| Enhancements | Add-ons, Amenities, Custom Questions, Waiver | Optional extras customers can purchase, highlighted features included with the rental, intake questions collected during checkout, and waiver template selection |
| Review | Review & Save | Summary of all settings before saving the inventory item |
Phase 2: Pricing configuration
| Category | Steps | What you configure |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing Model | Pricing Model, Season Details | Choose from Daily, Hourly, Daily + Hourly, Category (per-person), Guest-Count Tiered, or Custom pricing. Set up your default season with name and date range |
| Pricing | Opening Schedule, Daily Pricing, Hourly Pricing, Category Pricing, Discounts, Advanced Pricing | Operating hours per day of week, daily rates, hourly rates with time slots, per-person category rates (Adult, Child, Senior), multi-day/multi-hour/quantity discounts, and lead-time pricing rules |
| Finalize | Pricing Review & Save | Review the full pricing configuration before saving |
Steps marked as conditional (Daily Pricing, Hourly Pricing, Category Pricing) only appear when the corresponding pricing model is selected. The wizard automatically skips steps that do not apply to your chosen model.
Booking types
When creating an inventory item, you choose one of two booking types:
- Rental -- customers book a unit for a duration. Best for boats, kayaks, jet skis, and equipment where each customer gets exclusive use of the asset.
- Tour -- customers book seats on a guided trip. Best for tours, charters, and excursions where multiple customers share the same departure.
Switching between types resets type-specific fields. Tours do not support "Sell By Assets" mode, and rentals do not support private tour settings.
Managing inventory
Switch between views depending on your workflow:
- Grid view -- visual cards with photos, category, capacity, and pricing details at a glance
- List view -- compact table for scanning many items quickly
- Bulk editor -- edit multiple items at once using a spreadsheet-style interface for pricing, status, and availability
Click any item to open the detail panel, where changes auto-save as you make them.
Additional management tools
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| Bulk Pricing Matrix | Side-by-side pricing comparison and bulk editing across all inventory items |
| Dry Dock Manager | Take assets out of service for maintenance, with conflict detection for existing bookings |
| Asset Pool Manager | Manage shared asset pools across inventory items |
| Pricing Seasons | Create seasonal pricing schedules with date ranges and independent rate tables |
| Import from Website | Import inventory details from an existing website using AI-powered extraction |
| Reorder | Drag items to change the display order on the booking widget |
| Duplicate | Clone an existing item to quickly create similar equipment |
Pricing models
RentalTide supports flexible pricing structures that can be combined:
| Model | Description |
|---|---|
| Daily | Per-day rate with optional multi-day discounts. Different rates for each day of the week |
| Hourly | Per-hour rate with fixed time slots. Configure minimum and maximum hours, and multi-hour discount tiers |
| Daily + Hourly | Offer both daily and hourly rates simultaneously |
| Category | Different prices per person type (Adult, Child, Senior, etc.) |
| Guest-Count Tiered | Flat rate tiers based on group size (e.g., 1-4 guests = $200, 5-8 guests = $350) |
| Custom | Mix and match any combination of the above pricing modes |
Pricing seasons
Each inventory item supports multiple pricing seasons with independent date ranges and their own rate tables. Seasons can have separate opening schedules, daily rates, hourly rates, and discount structures. When a booking date falls within a season's range, that season's pricing applies automatically.
Advanced pricing
- Lead-time pricing -- adjust rates based on how far in advance a customer books
- Schedule exceptions -- override standard pricing for specific dates (holidays, events)
- Weather rules -- dynamic pricing adjustments based on weather conditions
Add-ons
Add-ons are optional extras that customers can include with their booking. Each add-on has a name, price, and optional configuration:
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | Display name shown to customers |
| Price | Dollar amount charged |
| Required | Automatically included and cannot be removed |
| Multiply by time | Price scales with the rental duration |
| Per booking | Flat charge regardless of quantity |
You can add up to 20 add-ons per inventory item.
Capacity and restrictions
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| People per unit | Maximum number of passengers or riders per unit |
| Capacity | Total number of units available for booking |
| Minimum booking quantity | Minimum number of tickets a customer must purchase |
| Buffer time | Minutes between when one booking ends and the next can begin |
| Minimum age | Customers below this age cannot book |
| Require staff approval | Bookings require manual staff approval before confirmation |
| Phone-only booking | Customers must call to complete a booking (disables online checkout) |
Asset tracking
Enable asset tracking to manage individual units with serial numbers or IDs. When enabled:
- Define asset types to categorize units (e.g., "Standard", "Premium", "Electric").
- Generate assets in bulk by specifying a prefix and count (e.g., "JetSki-1", "JetSki-2", etc.).
- Individual assets appear on the manifest and can be assigned to specific bookings.
Deposits and payments
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Security deposit ($) | Refundable amount charged for potential damages |
| Booking deposit (%) | Percentage of total collected upfront to secure the booking |
| Minimum deposit ($) | Floor amount for the booking deposit regardless of percentage |
| Auto-charge remaining (days) | Automatically charge the remaining balance this many days before the rental |
Heads up on platform fees for deposit-plan bookings: when the customer pays a deposit now and the balance is auto-charged later, the full booking's platform fee is collected on the deposit charge, not split across both payments. This is intentional — it guarantees the fee is captured even if the customer eventually pays the balance in cash at the counter. Your deposit payout will look smaller than a simple percentage of the deposit amount would suggest; the balance payout has no platform fee. See Deposit payment plans for a worked example.
Use high-quality photos -- they are the first thing customers see. Set buffer time between bookings to allow for cleaning and preparation. Archive items instead of deleting them to preserve booking history. Drag items to reorder how they appear on the booking page. Use the Duplicate feature to create a copy of an existing item when adding similar equipment.
Item not appearing on booking widget -- The item must be published and have available dates configured. Check that the status is set to active and that the schedule includes upcoming dates.
Pricing looks wrong -- Check whether a promo code, membership discount, or seasonal pricing rule is overriding the base rate. Verify which pricing season is active for the booking date.
Cannot delete an item -- Items with booking history cannot be deleted. Archive the item instead to remove it from the booking page while preserving records.
Photos not uploading -- Verify the image format (JPG, PNG, WebP) and file size. Large files may time out on slower connections.
Wizard progress lost -- The wizard saves your progress at each phase boundary (after "Review & Save"). If you leave mid-step, return to the wizard to resume where you left off.