Introduction
Feature Summary: System users can define court booking restrictions—such as time limits, court count, or court type—at the membership type level.
Use Cases: Use these settings to manage player or member access to court bookings and enforce club policies. Because these settings directly affect how members can access and reserve club facilities, they should be configured carefully. Example: Basic members may be limited to booking two courts per day, while Tier 1 members can book up to four.
Important Note
By default, booking restrictions apply to all players included on a reservation, not just the booking member. When a reservation is created, the system reviews the accounts of every player on the booking. If any participant does not meet the configured restrictions, the reservation is denied.
To count a membership type’s limits only against reservations the member books themselves, enable Apply Limits to the Booking Member Only for that membership type. See the Outstanding Reservations section below.
The Booking Settings section is made up of several pages. This article explains the Restrictions page.
Want to learn about the others? Click a link below:
Prerequisites
System users should have a clear understanding of the club’s booking rules and regulations.
Setup Requirements
Click Settings on the side menu.
Scroll down the page to BOOKING SETTINGS and click Restrictions.
Scroll down the page and use the checkboxes to enable and disable permissions by membership type (see below).
Click Save Changes.
Note: CourtReserve automatically copies the values entered on these pages to the corresponding fields under Memberships > Membership Type > Reservation Rules. Likewise, any updates made on the Reservation Rules pages will appear on the Booking Settings > Restrictions pages.
Note: Apply Limits to the Booking Member Only is available only on the Booking Settings > Restrictions page. It does not appear under Memberships > Membership Type > Reservation Rules. When a membership type is copied, this setting is not copied and starts as not checked.
Configure the Settings
These settings determine when CourtReserve displays an error message in the member portal and prevents a booking that exceeds the allowed limits (e.g., time, court count, or reservation count).
For example: Use these settings to limit the number of courts a member can reserve per day or the number of prime time reservations a member can make per week.
These fields are optional and can be left blank if not needed.
Note: Entering 0 in a limit field is an active restriction, not “no limit.” It caps the membership type at zero for that rule and blocks all bookings under it. Leave the field blank if you do not want a limit applied.
This applies to the Minutes, Courts, Reservations, Prime Time and Outstanding limit fields. The Concurrent fields work differently: 0 allows one booking at a time and blocks only a second, overlapping one. See Concurrent Reservations below.
For example: If a system user enters 0 in Number of COURTS a Member is Allowed to Reserve per Day, members with that membership type cannot book a court at all that day. If the field is left blank instead, no daily court limit applies.
For example: If a system user enters 0 in Number of Prime Time RESERVATIONS a Member is Allowed to Reserve per Week, members with that membership type are blocked from booking any prime time reservation that week, but can still book outside of prime time (assuming no other restriction applies).
This does not apply to Time Between Reservations, Bypass Restrictions if Time is X Hours Out, or Prevent "Sandwich" Times. For those fields, enter the number of hours or minutes you want, or leave the field blank to skip the restriction.
By Time
MINUTES a Member is Allowed to Reserve per Day – Limit the total daily court minutes a membership type can book.
MINUTES a Member is Allowed to Reserve per Week – Limit the total weekly court minutes a membership type can book.
MINUTES a Family is Allowed to Reserve per Day – Limit the total combined daily court minutes a family can book.
MINUTES a Family is Allowed to Reserve per Week – Limit the combined total weekly court minutes a family can book.
Restrict All Reservations to Same Time - If enabled, players with this membership type must book the same block of court time on the scheduler. Enable this setting for groups/leagues so they can successfully block courts for their league's playing time(s). To work, the member books their first court. All future court bookings must be at the same time. Otherwise, CourtReserve displays an error message.
Example by Time:
If a membership type is limited to 120 minutes per day, a player could book two one-hour sessions on the same day but would receive an error if attempting a third.
By Court Count
Number of COURTS a Member is Allowed to Reserve per Day – Limit the number of courts a membership type can book per day.
Number of COURTS a Member is Allowed to Reserve per Week – Limit the number of courts a membership type can book per week.
Number of COURTS a Family is Allowed to Reserve per Day – Limit the combined number of courts a family can book per day.
Number of COURTS a Family is Allowed to Reserve per Week – Limit the combined number of courts a family can book per week.
Optional: Click the arrow to expand the hidden folder and configure settings for different court types (e.g., hard or indoor courts).
Example by Court Count:
If members with a Basic Membership are limited to two courts per day, they can book up to two courts in a single day. If they attempt to book a third, CourtReserve will display an error message.
By Reservation Count
Number of RESERVATIONS a Member is Allowed to Reserve per Day – Limit the number of reservations a membership type can make per day.
Number of RESERVATIONS a Member is Allowed to Reserve per Week – Limit the number of reservations a membership type can make per week.
Number of RESERVATIONS a Family is Allowed to Reserve per Day – Limit the combined number of reservations a family membership can book per day.
Number of RESERVATIONS a Family is Allowed to Reserve per Week – Limit the combined number of reservations a family membership can book per week.
Include Drop-In Registrations in Reservation Count - Enable this setting to apply a combined reservation limit that counts both reservations and drop-in event registrations across all event categories.
Exception: If your club uses Booking Settings > Event Restrictions, this setting will apply only to the event categories included in those restrictions, in addition to reservations.
Example by Reservation Count with Include Drop-Ins enabled:
In the example below, members are limited to one reservation or drop-in event registration per day. If a member books a court and then attempts to make an additional reservation or drop-in registration on the same day, CourtReserve will display an error message, preventing the second booking.
By Prime Time Reservation Count
CourtReserve displays these Prime Time fields only if one or more prime time blocks have been enabled on the Booking Settings > Prime Times page.
Number of Prime Time RESERVATIONS a Member is Allowed to Reserve per Day – Limit the number of prime time reservations a membership type can make per day.
Number of Prime Time RESERVATIONS a Member is Allowed to Reserve per Week – Limit the number of prime time reservations a membership type can make per week.
Number of Prime Time RESERVATIONS a Family is Allowed to Reserve per Day – Limit the combined number of prime time reservations that a family membership can book per day.
Number of Prime Time RESERVATIONS a Family is Allowed to Reserve per Week – Limit the combined number of prime time reservations that a family membership can book per week.
Example by Prime Time Reservation Count:
If members with a Basic Membership are limited to one PRIME TIME reservation per day, a player who books a 6:00 PM court session (within the designated prime time block) will not be able to make another prime time booking that same day.
Outstanding Reservations
Outstanding reservations include any future bookings recorded on the calendar.
Number of Total Outstanding Reservations Allowed per Member - Limit the total number of active reservations per member in any time period.
Number of Total Outstanding Reservations Allowed per Family - Limit the combined total number of active reservations a family membership can have in any time period.
Example of Outstanding Reservations:
If members with a Basic Membership are limited to three outstanding reservations, a player can have up to three future bookings on the calendar—such as one for Monday, one for Wednesday, and one for Friday. If they try to make a fourth reservation before one of those is played or canceled, CourtReserve will display an error message.
Apply Limits to the Booking Member Only
Enable this setting to count a membership type’s limits only against reservations the member books. Players added to someone else’s reservation are not held to these limits, and those reservations do not count toward their own. The default setting is not checked for every membership type.
Example of Apply Limits to the Booking Member Only:
A player with a Daily membership type is limited to one reservation per day. Earlier today, a member with a VIP membership type added them to a reservation.
If Apply Limits to the Booking Member Only is enabled for the Daily membership type, the VIP member can add the Daily player to another reservation, and the Daily player can still book their own reservation.
If the setting is enabled for the VIP membership type only, the Daily player is still blocked, because limits follow the added player’s membership type, not the booking member’s.
When enabled, this setting applies to these per-member and per-family limits:
Minutes per day and per week
Courts per day and per week, including court type limits
Reservations per day and per week
Prime time reservations per day and per week
Total outstanding reservations
For family limits, only reservations booked by a member of that family count.
These restrictions still apply to every player on a reservation, whether or not this setting is enabled:
Concurrent reservations
Time between reservations
Restrict all reservations to same time
Prevent “sandwich” times
Bypass restrictions
Open match limits
Note: Limits follow each player’s own membership type, not the booking member’s. To let players be added to reservations without their limits being checked, enable this setting for every membership type that has limits. Click the checkbox below the setting name in the left column to select all membership types at once.
Note: If Include Drop-In Registrations in Reservation Count is also enabled, a member’s own drop-in registrations still count toward their reservation limit. Players who sign up for a drop-in event count as the booking member for that registration.
Who Counts as the Booking Member
Reservations made by a player: The player who creates the reservation is the booking member.
Reservations created by a system user: The first player listed on the reservation is the booking member.
Open matches: Players who join an open match count as added players, not the booking member.
Concurrent Reservations
A concurrent reservation is two or more bookings for the same member that overlap in time, even by a few minutes. Back-to-back bookings (5:00–6:00 PM and 6:00–7:00 PM) do not overlap.
Number of Allowed Concurrent Court Reservations per Member – The most bookings a member can hold that overlap in time. Leave it blank for no limit. 0 and 1 both mean one booking at a time.
Number of Allowed Concurrent Court Reservations per Family – The most overlapping bookings a family can hold across all its members.
Include Drop-In Registrations in Reservation Count – Counts drop-in event registrations toward these limits, alongside court reservations. See below.
Example of Concurrent Reservations: A club allows Basic members 1 concurrent reservation. A member books Court 1 from 3:00–4:00 PM. When they try to book Court 2 from 3:00–4:00 PM, CourtReserve blocks the booking and displays an error message. With a limit of 2, Court 2 would succeed and Court 3 would be blocked.
Include Drop-In Registrations in Reservation Count (Concurrent Reservations)
Tick this for a membership type to stop its members from being in two places at once. Their drop-in event registrations then count toward the concurrent limits above, alongside their court reservations. It is off by default.
A member with a court booked can’t register for a drop-in session that overlaps it.
A member registered for a drop-in session can’t book a court, or register for another drop-in, that overlaps it.
Only drop-in (single-session) registrations count. Registrations for a whole event, and events that don’t offer drop-ins, are not counted.
If your club uses Event Restrictions, only drop-ins in the event categories selected there are counted.
Registrations waiting for approval count. Cancelled ones don’t, so cancelling frees the time.
The setting does nothing while both concurrent limit fields are blank.
Overlaps that already exist when you turn it on are left alone. It applies to new bookings and registrations.
A member who hits the limit sees “You have reached your max registrations allowed during this time period.” when registering in the member portal or app. A member added to an overlapping court by staff shows as Ineligible; full system admins can still save the booking.
Note: the By Reservation Count section has a checkbox with the same name. That one counts drop-ins toward the daily and weekly reservation limits; this one counts them toward overlapping bookings.
Tip: to stop members registering for two events at the same time while still allowing back-to-back events, use this setting with a limit of 0. Time Between Registrations can’t do that (see Event Restrictions).
Time Between Reservations
Time Between Reservations per Member – Use this feature to require members to space out their reservations.
Example: If a system user enters 24 hours, a member who books a court for Monday at 5:00 PM can next book for Tuesday at 5:00 PM, but not Tuesday at 9:00 AM, since that is less than 24 hours apart.
Time Between Reservations per Family – Applies the same rule to all members within the same Family.
Example: If one family member books a court for Monday at 4:00 PM, another family member cannot book another court until Tuesday at 4:00 PM if the restriction is set to 24 hours.
Bypass Restrictions
Bypass Restrictions if Time is X Hours Out – Use this feature to allow last-minute bookings and maximize facility use. Restrictions will be temporarily lifted for reservations made within the defined time frame.
Example: If set to 2 hours, members can book any available court within 2 hours of the start time, even if they’ve reached other booking limits.
Prevent "Sandwich" Times
Prevent a “sandwich” time of X Minutes – Use this setting to prevent small, unbooked gaps from appearing between reservations. Enter the minimum number of minutes that would constitute a problematic gap. If a new booking creates a gap equal to or greater than this value, CourtReserve displays an error and blocks the booking.
Example: If you enter 30, any booking that leaves a 30-minute or larger gap between existing reservations will be blocked.
Exclude Sandwich Times from Bypass Restrictions – Enable this option to allow “sandwich” gaps only during the Bypass Restrictions window.
Example: If the Bypass Restrictions period is 2 hours, members can create short gaps (e.g., 30 minutes) only when booking within 2 hours of the start time.
Apply Sandwich Times During Prime Times Only – Use this option to enforce sandwich time restrictions exclusively during Prime Time blocks. Outside of Prime Time, members can book without sandwich gap limitations.
Example: If Prime Time runs from 5:00–9:00 PM, CourtReserve will block any bookings that create sandwich gaps during those hours but will allow them outside of that window.
Notes on Weekly Restriction Reset
Weekly restriction windows reset according to the day your organization has set as the Start of the Week. For example, if the start day is set to Monday, the weekly restriction window runs from Monday through Sunday.
You can adjust this setting under Organization Settings > General > Start Day of Week.
Player Perspective
If a player attempts to book outside the established rules, CourtReserve displays a warning message and prevents the booking. Example below:
Related Videos
Watch a video and learn about settings for bookings.