Set peak and off-peak pricing using a time-based price rule rather than separate schedules. A time-based rule automatically adjusts product prices by day, time, or date range (eg weekends and public holidays) across your online checkouts, POS and Venue Manager.
Using a single schedule paired with a price rule lets you offer lower off-peak rates to boost midweek demand while preserving standard rates on peak periods.
Do I need separate schedules for peak and off-peak pricing?
No. A schedule sets when sessions are available. A time-based price rule sets what those sessions cost.
If you link your schedule to operating hours, one schedule covers the whole week, even when your opening hours change day to day.
If you already run separate peak and off-peak schedules with differently priced tickets, that setup keeps working. Moving to a price rule means one schedule and one set of tickets, with prices set per tier, so there is less to update when your prices change.
When to use time-based peak and off-peak pricing
You offer the same product during busy and quiet periods, and off-peak sessions consistently run under capacity.
Demand follows a predictable schedule (eg quiet midweek mornings, busy weekend afternoons).
You have permission to manage product prices and set off-peak discounts.
If that isn't your problem, start somewhere else:
What you're seeing | Start here instead |
|---|---|
Sessions run at the right times but bookings are too small | |
Bookings come in too late to plan staffing | |
Which sessions fill is unpredictable, not tied to a day or time |
Before you begin
The permission required to create and edit price rules is Can manage price rules. The permission required to apply a rule to a product is Can edit products. Administrators have both enabled by default.
You'll also need:
A product that spans quiet and busy sessions: If you currently maintain separate products for peak and off-peak times, a price rule consolidates them into a single product priced by tier.
Attendance reporting data: Identify your lowest-performing sessions using sales and attendance reports.
Minimum (floor) pricing: Establish your minimum acceptable ticket price before creating tiers.
It helps to agree on your floor price before you start, so that conversation happens once rather than at every tier.
How peak and off-peak pricing tiers work
Start with two tiers, not five.
Tier | Covers | Price |
|---|---|---|
Base | Your quiet periods. Monday to Friday for most venues | Your lower price |
Peak | Your busy periods. Saturday and Sunday for most venues | Your current price |
Set your standard rate as the Peak tier and assign a discounted rate to the Base tier.
Once your basic two-tier structure is active, you can add advanced variations:
Holiday tier: Higher rates applied to school breaks and public holidays.
Time-of-day tiers: Discounted rates for specific time blocks (eg Friday mornings). Note: Requires products with scheduled start times, such as session passes or party packages.
Available in English-speaking locales only. If you haven't created any price rules yet, your venue already includes a pre-built Weekday/Weekend Pricing rule (Products > Price rules). It sets every day to your base price except Saturday and Sunday, and can be customized like any other time-based rule.
How to set up a time-based price rule
From Venue Manager, go to Products > Price rules > Create price rule and select Time-based pricing.
Name it for what it does, not for the venue (eg "Weekday off-peak", not "Main pricing"). Staff see this name in the product's Price rule drop-down.
Keep the Base tier and add one tier called Peak.
Assign Peak to Saturday and Sunday. Leave everything else on Base.
Select Save.
Tiers apply in a priority order: custom dates, then override times, then recurring days, then the base tier. A custom date group left in place from last year still wins, which is the most common cause of a price nobody expected.
Then apply the rule to your product:
Go to Products > All products and select your product.
Scroll to Price rule and select your rule from the drop-down.
Set a price for every ticket variation in both tiers.
Select Show price comparisons on checkout below the variations table.
Select Save.
Recommended price gap between peak and off-peak tiers
A price difference of $2 to $5 between off-peak and peak tiers is typically effective. Gaps under $2 rarely shift guest booking habits, while excessively large discounts reduce revenue from guests who would otherwise pay full price. Start with a smaller price gap and adjust based on performance reports after 2–3 weeks.
Benefits of enabling checkout price comparisons
Enabling price comparisons promotes off-peak savings directly to guests during checkout. Online buyers see a "Book a different day" savings banner, and cheaper dates are highlighted on the booking calendar. See Manage checkout display settings for price rules to preview these checkout elements.
For the full setup options, including override times, see Create a time-based price rule. To check this rule type works with your product, see How price rules work with different product types.
Example: Trampoline park peak and off-peak setup
Scenario: A trampoline venue runs 90-minute jump sessions seven days a week. Saturday sessions sell out days in advance, while Tuesday and Wednesday mornings average 40% capacity.
Ticket variation | Base (Mon to Fri) | Peak (Sat and Sun) |
|---|---|---|
Adult | $22 | $26 |
Child | $18 | $22 |
Spectator | $0 | $0 |
Outcome: A $4 price gap with checkout price comparisons enabled drives off-peak bookings without reducing revenue on peak weekend sessions.
These figures are an example. Your gap depends on your margin and your market.
How to test and verify your price rule setup
In an incognito browser window, compare Tuesday and Saturday rates for the product in the online checkout to confirm the price gap appears correctly.
On the Saturday session, verify that the "Book a different day" savings banner appears.
Process a test transaction at POS for a weekday session to confirm it applies the base rate.
If all three are true, the rule is live and pricing on every channel.
Next steps: Once weekday pricing is established, create a holiday tier prior to upcoming school breaks to apply premium pricing to high-demand dates. See Create a time-based price rule.
Troubleshoot peak and off peak pricing
What you're seeing | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
Both days show the same price | The rule isn't applied to the product, or a price is missing from one tier | Open the product and check the Price rule drop-down and every tier column |
Prices differ but no savings message | Show price comparisons on checkout is off | Select it on the product and save |
A weekday shows the peak price | A custom date group is covering that day | Check the rule's custom date groups for a period left over from a past event |
Nothing has shifted after three weeks | The gap is too small to notice, or your quiet sessions are quiet for a reason pricing can't fix (eg staffing hours, school times) | Widen the gap by $1 to $2 and give it another fortnight before changing anything else |
For any other price you didn't expect, see Why didn't my price rule charge the price I expected?.