Rental settings

Rental Settings is where you configure the defaults that apply to all spaces and bookings. Most sites set these once during install and revisit them when policies change.

Navigate to NetterTech Events → Rental Settings to access.

Initial configuration checklist

If you just installed Rentals, walk through these in order before creating your first space:

1. Set default operating hours (fallback for spaces without their own schedule)
2. Configure deposit requirements (percentage or fixed amount)
3. Enable or disable auto-approval rules
4. Set booking expiry windows
5. Review email notification toggles
6. Optionally enable the iCal feed and generate an access token

Deposit configuration

• Require deposit – Toggle deposit collection on or off for all bookings
• Deposit method – Percentage of total, or fixed dollar amount
• Deposit percentage – Default: 50%
• Deposit fixed amount – Dollar amount (if using fixed method)

Deposit settings apply globally. For per-space deposit rules, use the nte_rentals_calculate_deposit filter.

Balance payments

• Balance due days – Days before the event when full payment is due (default: 14)
• Grace period – Extra days after the due date before escalation (default: 3)
• Reminder timing – Days before due date to send the balance reminder email (default: 7)

Cancellation policy

Set the tiered refund schedule that applies when a booking is cancelled:

You can add or remove tiers, and change both the day thresholds and refund percentages. The cancellation policy is enforced automatically when a booking transitions to the Cancelled status.

Email notification toggles

Each notification can be independently enabled or disabled.

Renter emails

Admin emails

Customizing email templates

To override an email template in your theme:

1. Create the directory {your-theme}/nettertech-events-rentals/emails/
2. Copy the template from the plugin’s templates/emails/ directory into that location
3. Modify the copy – the plugin will use your theme override instead of its default

Theme templates take precedence over plugin defaults. Templates receive booking data as PHP variables ($booking_id, $renter_name, $space_name, etc.).

Auto-approval rules

Auto-approval lets bookings skip the manual approval step when they meet all criteria:

• Auto-approve maximum total – bookings below this dollar amount are eligible
• Eligible spaces – only these spaces auto-approve
• Trusted customer only – only customers with prior bookings can auto-approve

All criteria must pass for a booking to auto-approve. See Bookings for how this fits into the lifecycle.

Booking expiry windows

Configure how long bookings can sit idle before auto-expiring:

• Inquiry expiry – Default: 14 days
• Pending approval expiry – Default: 5 days
• Awaiting payment expiry – Default: 3 days

Expiry is handled by the plugin’s cron service. The cron needs to run reliably for expiry to work – if your site has WP-Cron disabled, configure a real system cron that hits wp-cron.php on a schedule.

iCal feed

Enable the iCal feed to expose bookings to external calendar applications (Google Calendar, Outlook, Apple Calendar). See iCal Feeds for setup and URL formats.

Rate limiting

Rate limits are not configurable from the UI but are documented for context:

• Availability, calendar, and pricing endpoints: 60 requests per minute per IP
• Booking creation: 10 requests per minute per IP

Admins with the manage_nte_rentals capability bypass rate limiting on all endpoints.