# Common Mistakes (/docs/getting-started/common-mistakes)



These are the most frequent issues we see from new Resytech users. Save yourself time by avoiding them upfront.

Activity & Equipment Setup [#activity--equipment-setup]

<Accordions>
  <Accordion title="Putting different equipment with different rules under one activity">
    **The mistake:** Creating a single "Boat Rental" activity and assigning a pontoon, speedboat, and sailboat to it — even though each boat has different pricing, duration options, or availability.

    **Why it's a problem:** The activity controls scheduling, blackout dates, and duration options. All equipment under one activity shares those same rules. If your pontoon is available for half-day and full-day rentals but your speedboat is hourly only, you can't express that with a single shared activity.

    **The fix:** Create a separate activity for each equipment type that needs its own rules. "Pontoon Boat Rental", "Speedboat Rental", and "Sailboat Rental" — each with their own equipment, schedule, and pricing.

    See [Activities & Equipment](/docs/getting-started/activities-and-equipment) for detailed guidance and the interactive setup guide.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Not enabling Exclusive Across Activities for unique items">
    **The mistake:** You have a one-of-a-kind item (a specific yacht, a specialty vehicle) assigned to multiple activities, but you don't enable **Exclusive Across Activities** on the equipment.

    **Why it's a problem:** Without this flag, the equipment's availability is tracked separately per activity. A customer could book the yacht for a "Private Charter" activity at 2 PM, and another customer could book the same yacht for the "Sunset Cruise" activity at 2 PM — double-booking a physical item that can only be in one place.

    **The fix:** On the equipment item, enable **Exclusive Across Activities**. This ensures that booking the item for any activity blocks it across all activities for that time period.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Choosing the wrong activity type">
    **The mistake:** Selecting "Tour" when you meant "Equipment Rental", or vice versa.

    **Why it's a problem:** Activity type **cannot be changed after creation**. Each type has fundamentally different scheduling and pricing behavior:

    * **Equipment Rental** — customers pick a duration option and time slot
    * **Tour** — runs at fixed scheduled times with set duration
    * **Dynamic Duration Rental** — customers choose a custom length within a range

    **The fix:** If you chose the wrong type, you'll need to create a new activity with the correct type and delete the old one. No bookings are lost — existing bookings remain in the system. To avoid this, review the [activity types comparison](/docs/getting-started/activities-and-equipment#activity-types) before creating.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Setting equipment quantity to 1 for a fleet of identical items">
    **The mistake:** You have 50 identical kayaks but create 50 separate equipment items, each with quantity 1, instead of one equipment item with quantity 50.

    **Why it's a problem:** You'll have to manage 50 equipment items individually, each needs its own activity assignment, and customers see 50 separate items in checkout instead of one clean option with availability tracking.

    **The fix:** Create a single equipment item (e.g., "Single Kayak") and set the **Quantity** to 50. Resytech automatically tracks how many are available at any given time based on existing bookings.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Confusing equipment capacity with quantity">
    **The mistake:** Setting a tandem kayak's **Quantity** to 2 (because it holds 2 people) when you actually have 10 of them.

    **Why it's a problem:** Quantity is how many units you own. Capacity is how many guests each unit holds. Getting these mixed up means your availability will be completely wrong.

    **The fix:**

    * **Quantity** = how many identical units you have (e.g., 10 tandem kayaks → quantity: 10)
    * **Capacity** = max guests per unit (e.g., a tandem kayak holds 2 people → capacity: 2)
    * **Default Occupancy** = guests each unit inherently carries (e.g., a tandem kayak with 2 riders → default occupancy: 2)
  </Accordion>
</Accordions>

Scheduling & Pricing [#scheduling--pricing]

<Accordions>
  <Accordion title="Forgetting to set buffer time between bookings">
    **The mistake:** Setting up 1-hour kayak rental time slots back-to-back with no gap.

    **Why it's a problem:** There's no time for the equipment to be returned, inspected, and prepped for the next customer. Bookings will overlap in practice even if they don't overlap on the calendar.

    **The fix:** Add a **buffer** to each duration option. Even 15 minutes helps. For example, a "1 Hour" rental with a 15-minute buffer means the time slot actually blocks 1 hour 15 minutes on the calendar, but the customer only sees and pays for 1 hour.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Setting the wrong timezone">
    **The mistake:** Leaving the timezone as the default or setting it to the wrong zone.

    **Why it's a problem:** All time slots, booking confirmations, and availability calculations use the location's timezone. If it's wrong, customers see incorrect times, and your calendar won't match reality. This is especially problematic if you operate near a timezone boundary or in a region with daylight saving time changes.

    **The fix:** Double-check the timezone on both your **Company Settings > General** tab and your **Location > General** tab. The location timezone takes precedence for scheduling.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Not using blackout dates for closures">
    **The mistake:** Manually changing your schedule every time you have a holiday, maintenance day, or special event instead of using blackout dates.

    **Why it's a problem:** It's error-prone and you might forget to change it back. Customers could book during times you're actually closed.

    **The fix:** Use **blackout dates** for known closures:

    * **Location-level blackouts** (Location > Operations Blackout) — block the entire location for all activities
    * **Activity-level blackouts** (Activity Settings > Blackout Dates) — block specific activities while others remain available

    Set these up in advance for holidays and recurring closures.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Using Per Booking pricing when you meant Per Person">
    **The mistake:** Setting pricing to "Per Booking" for a tour that should charge per participant.

    **Why it's a problem:** A group of 8 pays the same as a solo traveler. Your revenue per time slot drops dramatically for larger groups.

    **The fix:** Choose the right pricing model:

    * **Per Person** — use for tours, classes, and experiences where each participant pays (e.g., $45/person)
    * **Per Booking** — use for private charters or fixed-price experiences regardless of group size (e.g., $200 for the boat)
    * **Per Equipment** — use when the price is based on how many equipment items are rented (e.g., $30/kayak)
  </Accordion>
</Accordions>

Checkout & Payments [#checkout--payments]

<Accordions>
  <Accordion title="Publishing activities before connecting Stripe">
    **The mistake:** Publishing activities and embedding the checkout on your website before connecting your Stripe account.

    **Why it's a problem:** Customers can browse your activities and start the booking flow, but checkout fails at payment. This is a bad first impression and you'll lose bookings.

    **The fix:** Connect Stripe first (Company Settings > **Stripe Integration**), then test the full booking flow yourself, then publish your activities and embed the checkout.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Skipping the test booking">
    **The mistake:** Going live without completing a test booking yourself.

    **Why it's a problem:** You won't catch issues with pricing, time slots, equipment selection, confirmation emails, or payment processing until a real customer hits them.

    **The fix:** Before going live, walk through the entire flow as a customer:

    1. Browse your checkout page
    2. Select an activity and equipment
    3. Complete the booking with a real payment (you can refund it after)
    4. Check the confirmation email — does it have the right info?
    5. Verify the booking appears correctly on your dashboard
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Not setting up taxes and fees">
    **The mistake:** Going live without configuring applicable taxes, and then having to retroactively add them.

    **Why it's a problem:** Existing bookings won't have taxes applied, creating accounting headaches. Customers may feel misled if prices suddenly increase when you add taxes later.

    **The fix:** Configure taxes and fees under **Resources > Taxes & Fees** before your first real booking. Set the rate, choose whether it's included in or added to the displayed price, and test that totals look correct.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Forgetting confirmation email details">
    **The mistake:** Going live without configuring what customers receive after booking.

    **Why it's a problem:** Customers don't know where to go, when to arrive, or what to bring. This leads to late arrivals, no-shows, and support requests.

    **The fix:** On each activity's **Communication** tab, configure:

    * **Arrive By** — how many minutes before the activity customers should arrive
    * **What to Bring** — a checklist of items (sunscreen, towel, closed-toe shoes, etc.)
    * **Meeting Location** — where customers should go when they arrive
    * **Email Body** — any additional instructions specific to this activity
  </Accordion>
</Accordions>

Still Have Questions? [#still-have-questions]

If you're unsure about the right setup for your specific business, the [Activities & Equipment](/docs/getting-started/activities-and-equipment) guide has an interactive decision tree that walks you through it step by step.

<Cards>
  <Card title="Activities & Equipment Guide" href="/docs/getting-started/activities-and-equipment" />

  <Card title="Your First Activity" href="/docs/getting-started/your-first-activity" />
</Cards>