Create a Rental Product

Quick path: Resources → Products → + New product → Rental → Fill details → Save

What this helps you do

A Rental product lets you sell equipment hire — SUP boards, wetsuits, kayaks, bikes, or any gear your school manages. Unlike Flexible Sessions products, rentals use duration-based pricing: you define how much an hour costs, how much a full day costs, and Bloowatch handles the rest.

Each rental product is linked to a gear category from your inventory. When a customer books a rental, Bloowatch assigns a specific gear unit and blocks it on the Rental Agenda so it can’t be double-booked.

Before you start

• At least one Gear category with units exists (Resources > Gears). If not, create one first — the rental product needs gear to link to.
• You know the hourly and/or daily price you want to charge
• You know which tax rate applies to this product

Steps

1. Go to Resources > Products

Click Resources in the left sidebar, then click the Products tab. You’ll see a searchable list of all existing products with their type, price, and tax rate.

2. Click ”+ Create new product”

Click the + Create new product button in the top-right corner. A panel opens asking you to choose the product type.

3. Choose “Rental”

Select Rental from the product type selector. This is the right choice for any equipment that customers hire for a set duration — surfboards, kayaks, bikes, scooters, ski gear, or dive equipment.

Not sure which type? Use Rental if customers pay for a time slot and you track physical gear units. Use Flexible Sessions if the product is a lesson or guided activity. Use Item if you’re selling gear outright (no return). See Key Concepts in Bloowatch for a comparison of all six product types.

4. Fill in the Information tab

The Rental product form uses horizontal tabs across the top. Start with the Information tab:

Field	Value	Notes
Name *	e.g. “SUP Board Rental”	Required. Shown in POS, product list, and eCommerce catalog.
Short code	e.g. “SUP”	Optional. Helps identify this rental quickly in the Agenda.
Product positioning	e.g. 1	Optional. Sort order in POS and catalog.
Product category	Select from dropdown	Optional. Groups products for POS and eCommerce navigation.
Gear category *	Select from dropdown	Required. Links this product to the gear inventory you want to rent out.

Watch out: The Gear category dropdown only shows categories you’ve already created under Resources > Gears. If the dropdown is empty, go create your gear categories and units first.

5. Set up duration-based pricing

Switch to the Price tab. This is where rental pricing differs from other product types — you define prices by duration rather than per person.

Click + Add Pricing to add a duration-price row. Add one row for each rental duration you offer:

Field	Value	Notes
Duration	e.g. 1 hour, 2 hours, half day, full day	The rental period for this price tier.
Price (tax included)	e.g. 15	The price the customer pays for this duration.
Tax rate *	Select from dropdown	Required. Select the applicable rate (e.g. “Tax 0%”, “VAT 21%”).

You can add multiple rows to create degressive pricing — for example, 1 hour at 25 EUR, 2 hours at 40 EUR (20 EUR/hr), full day at 60 EUR. Customers see all options and pick the duration that suits them.

Watch out: Duration pricing is cumulative. If you offer both “1 hour” and “2 hours,” make sure the 2-hour price reflects the discount you want. Bloowatch doesn’t automatically calculate degressive rates — you set each price independently.

6. Configure add-ons (optional)

Switch to the Add-ons tab if you want to offer extras alongside the rental — like insurance, a waterproof bag, or a helmet. Add-ons must be created first as Item-type products.

7. Configure eCommerce (optional)

Switch to the eCommerce tab to make this rental bookable online. You can add a product description, photos, and enable the rental in your booking widget.

8. Save the product

Click Save. The form closes and you’re returned to the products list where your new rental product now appears.

What should happen next

• Your rental product appears in the Products list under Resources with the “Rental” type label
• It’s immediately available for bookings through the POS
• If you enabled eCommerce, it will appear in your online booking widget
• Rental bookings show up on the Rental Agenda (Planning > Rental tab), where you can see gear availability on an hourly timeline
• Each booking automatically blocks the assigned gear unit so it can’t be double-booked

Common mistakes

Mistake	Why it happens	Fix
”No gear categories in the dropdown”	No gear has been created under Resources > Gears	Go to Resources > Gears and create a category with units first
”Product type says Rental but I can’t set session times”	Rental products don’t use activity calendars or sessions — they use duration-based time slots	This is correct behavior. Customers choose a start time and duration, not a session.
”Price shows 0 for a duration I configured”	The pricing row wasn’t saved or the tax rate is missing	Edit the product, check each pricing row has a duration, price, and tax rate
”Gear unit shows as available but booking fails”	The unit may have an unavailability set (maintenance, hold)	Check Resources > Gears for unavailabilities on that unit

If it still doesn’t work

If your rental product isn’t behaving as expected:

• Verify the Gear category link is correct (Resources > Products > click your product > Information tab)
• Check that gear units exist in the linked category (Resources > Gears > expand the category)
• Look at the Rental Agenda (Planning > Rental) to see if the gear timeline displays correctly
• Contact Bloowatch Support via the chat widget with your product name and a description of the issue