Setting Up the System for Rental Companies: Units, Reservation Orders, and Lease Contracts

This guide explains setting up the system for a rental company (cars, equipment, apartments, halls, rooms): defining the units and their prices, creating reservation orders for short rentals by the hour or the day while preventing double booking, long-term lease contracts with installments and a deposit, issuing invoices, and following the revenue of each unit.

First: Choose the Right App for Your Business

App	Suits	Example
Rental and Unit Management	Renting an actual unit for a short period by the hour or the day, with checking that the unit is available	Renting a car for 3 days, construction equipment by the hour, a chalet for a weekend
Lease Contracts (requires the previous app)	A long-term rental with periodic installments and a deposit amount	An apartment on an annual contract with a monthly installment, a car on a 6-month contract
Booking	Appointments for services provided by employees (not renting a unit)	A photo session, a car wash appointment

What Will You Need to Enable?

Feature	Where to Enable It	Mandatory?
Sales and clients	Apps Manager	Mandatory
Rental and Unit Management	Apps Manager (the Operations Management section)	Mandatory
Lease Contracts	Apps Manager	Optional (for long-term contracts)

Brief Workflow

1. Enable the apps → 2. Pricing rules → 3. Unit types → 4. Units → 5. Configuration and statuses → 6. Seasonal prices → 7. A reservation order or a lease contract → 8. Invoice and collection → 9. Availability and revenue reports

Step 1: Enable the Apps

• From the “Apps Manager”, enable “Rental and Unit Management”.
• If you rent with long contracts, enable “Lease Contracts”.

When it is enabled, the system automatically creates the reservation order statuses: Confirmed, Pending, Canceled, Ended, and makes Pending the default status.

Step 2: Create Pricing Rules

From Rental Pricing Rules, create a rule for each pricing method:

Field	Options	Explanation
Pricing Method	Days / Hours / Days and hours	How the rental price is calculated.
Type	Basic / Advanced	Basic: one price for the day or hour. Advanced: a different price for each day of the week (for example, Friday is more expensive).
Day Price / Hour Price	An amount	According to the pricing method.
Currency	—	The rule’s currency.

Example

The “Economy Cars” rule: the pricing method is days, the type is advanced: from Saturday to Wednesday 200 per day, and Thursday and Friday 250.

Step 3: Create Unit Types

From the Rental and Units settings, open Unit Types:

Setting	Options (Default)	What It Does
Name	Unique text	Such as: sedan car, two-bedroom apartment, forklift.
Pricing Rule	Choose	The pricing method in the type must match the method of the chosen rule.
Check-in / Check-out	Time	When pricing by days: the default pick-up and return time.
Minimum Hours	A number	When pricing by hours.
Time Period	A duration	When pricing by hours or days and hours.
Taxes, Images, Description	Optional	Taxes are applied to the invoices of this type.

Step 4: Add the Units

From Units, add each actual unit: the name (such as the plate number or the apartment number), the unit type, the priority level (used by automatic reservation to choose the unit), the status, the description, and the additional fields (such as the model and the kilometers).

Step 5: Configuration, Statuses, and Fields

From the Rental and Units settings, open Rentals and Reservations Configuration:

Setting	Options (Default)	What It Does
Show Reservation Invoice Lines	One line / Multiple lines	Multiple lines = a line for each day in the invoice.
Status of Invoices Created for Reservation Orders	Draft / Issued	Whether the reservation invoice is created as a draft for review or issued directly.
Client Creates the Reservation Online	On / Off	Allows the client to reserve from the client portal.
Client Pays the Reservation	On / Off	Allows the client to pay the reservation invoice online.
Default Status for Client Reservation Requests	Choose a status	Mandatory when online reservation is enabled.

• Order statuses: edit or add statuses such as “Handed Over to Client” and “Returned.”
• Custom fields for reservation orders and additional fields for units: such as the driver’s license number or the odometer reading.
• Print templates for reservation orders: to print the reservation order or the pick-up form.

Step 6: Seasonal Prices (Optional)

From Seasonal Prices, set a different pricing rule for a certain period (such as summer or the holidays): choose the rule, the unit types, the from/to date, and the days of the week.

Step 7: Create a Reservation Order (Short Rental)

From Reservation Orders, choose one of the two methods:

Method	When to Use It	The Steps
Add Automatic Reservation Order	The client wants “any sedan car” in a certain period	Choose the unit type, the start and end date and time, and the number of units, and the system chooses the available units, then choose the client.
Add Manual Reservation Order	The client wants a specific unit	Choose the client, the unit, the start and end date and time, and the currency, and enable creating an automatic invoice if you want.

• The system prevents reserving a unit that is reserved or rented by a contract in the same period.
• To add another unit for the same client, use Additional Units Reservation.
• Change the status from Change Status (Confirmed, Ended, Canceled…).

Example

A client rents a sedan car from Thursday 10 am to Saturday 10 am (two days) with the previous pricing rule: Thursday 250 + Friday 250 = 500 before tax.

Step 8: The Reservation Order Invoice

• If you enabled creating an automatic invoice, the invoice is created as soon as the order is saved (a draft or issued according to the configuration).
• Otherwise, click Create Reservation Order Invoice from the order page, and the lines that haven’t been invoiced are calculated.
• Record the payment on the invoice as usual.

Step 9: Lease Contracts (Long-Term Rental)

From New Lease Contract:

Setting	Options (Default)	What It Does
Client and Unit	Choose	The unit must be available throughout the contract period.
Contract Period	A number + day / week / month / year	Such as: 1 year.
Start and End Date	Date	The end must be after the start and after the last installment.
Installment Amount	An amount	The value of each rent installment.
Payment Rate	Daily / Weekly / Monthly / Yearly	It must not exceed the contract period.
Deposit Amount	An amount (optional)	Added as a separate deposit installment.
Tax and Sales Account	Choose	The account in which the rental revenue is recorded.

After saving, the system creates the installment schedule. To collect an installment, open Lease Contracts Installments and click Pay on the installment (or select several installments from the same contract), and a paid invoice is created with the installment’s value.

Example

An apartment on a one-year contract from January 1, the installment amount is 5,000, the payment rate is monthly, the deposit amount is 5,000: the system creates 12 rent installments + a deposit installment, and the installments are paid in order.

Step 10: Expenses and Reports

• When recording an expense (car maintenance, an apartment’s electricity bill), choose the unit in the expense form so it is calculated against this unit.
• Available Units: a unit availability schedule with the ability to create an automatic reservation from it.
• Unit Pricing: the units’ prices.
• Rental Reports: the units’ revenue and expenses by unit type, by unit, or daily/weekly/monthly.
• Lease Contracts Installments: following the paid and due installments.

Permissions

From the employee roles: Manage Rental Settings for the manager, Manage Reservation Orders for the reservations employee (it includes viewing and managing lease contracts), View Reservation Orders for viewing only, and Delete Reservation Orders for whoever is allowed to delete.

The Appointment Booking App (for Services)

If you provide services with appointments (not renting units), enable Booking and use the Bookings app: define your services and their duration, the employees, and the shifts, then create the booking and convert it to an invoice. This app doesn’t check unit occupancy but rather the availability of the employee or the service provider.

What Is Available and Not Available

Feature	Status
Renting by the hour, the day, or both	Available
Preventing double booking of a unit	Available
Prices by day of the week and seasons	Available
Client booking and paying online	Available
Long contracts with installments and a deposit	Available (Lease Contracts)
Each unit’s revenue and expenses	Available
Recording the actual pick-up and return (Check-in/Check-out)	Not available as an action — use custom statuses
A deposit or insurance on a short reservation order	Not available — record it as a payment or a line
Issuing installment invoices automatically on their due date	Not available — collection is manual from the installments list

Frequently Asked Questions

• Why can’t I reserve the unit? The unit is reserved or rented by a contract in the same period. Review the available units.
• A message appeared saying the unit type’s pricing method doesn’t match. Choose a pricing rule that has the same pricing method chosen in the unit type.
• I can’t edit the reservation order. After an invoice is created for the order, editing is locked; delete the invoice first if editing is necessary.