What Are Seasons?
When fully configured, Seasons allow for boaters on Dockwa to schedule reservations through your booking form within your marina’s opening and closing dates.
IMPORTANT: Marinas who are open year-round still need to set up seasons for upcoming years, as Seasons in Dockwa have a maximum length of one year.
More importantly, Seasons have their own Rate Strategies that help marinas determine the proper rate to charge boaters based on various details, including:
Specific Dates (so you can schedule when holiday rates should apply)
Days of the Week (to set weekday rates and weekend rates)
Date Ranges (to schedule your peak, shoulder, or off-season rates)
Timeframes (to accommodate boaters looking for day trip, week-long, or month-long reservations)
This article will show you how to create a new Season, and how to set your Rate Strategies.
NOTE: Setting Rate Strategies is required in order to accept bookings for the newly created Season. Please see the Rate Strategy section for further instructions.
How to Create a Season
If this is your first Season using Dockwa, you will need to create a Season using the following instructions below. Note that after creating your new Season, you will need to create new Rate Strategies within your Season before mapping to your calendar days.
If you're preparing for the year 2026 bookings, ensure that the "Accept Reservations" date is accurately set. This date controls when bookings for the season become live. Navigate to the settings menu and update this field to today's date or an earlier date to enable immediate bookings for the 2026 season.
Rates staying the same next season? Check out our Guide on how to Duplicate your season to save time!
In your Account menu, click Settings.
Navigate to the Transient Rates tab.
Click Configure New Season in the Seasons section.
Fill out the Name, Space type, Start date, End date, and Accept reservations for this season starting on fields and click Save Season to return to the Transient Rates Settings page.
Ensure the "Accept reservations for this season starting on" field is accurately filled with a date that enables bookings to align with your desired timeline.
Rate Strategies
The instructions below will show how to set the Nightly Rate Strategies, since that is the only timeframe required to have pricing set for your entire Season. At a minimum, setting a Nightly Rate will avoid issues with accepting reservations through Dockwa and your booking form within that Season. For example, you could apply a flat nightly rate of $70 for a specific season. This ensures a consistent rate structure that aligns with customer expectations and operational goals.
The same procedure will apply for each timeframe you wish to set Rate Strategies for, as long as you have Rates created for those timeframes.
In the Seasons section of the Transient Rates Settings page, click Manage Rates under the Season of your choosing.
This will bring you to the Nightly Rate Strategies Mapping page. You can filter your Season’s calendar days in the page based on Days (of the Week), Date Range, or if they’re Mapped or Unmapped.
After filtering, you can take the following actions:
Map Rate Strategies to specific dates using the dropdowns, or
Use a Bulk Action to map a Rate Strategy to all the included calendar days at once.
Using Bulk Actions for Setting Rate Strategies
Bulk Actions are effective in quickly setting rates for your Season, especially for year-round marinas. Once you filter down to the date range and/or days of the week where you’d like to apply a rate strategy. To confirm the accuracy of your seasonal rates (e.g., $3.00 per foot for winter), navigate to Account > Settings > Transient Rates. Then review the Active Strategy to ensure the correct rate and mapping to appropriate dates.
Click on the Bulk Actions dropdown and select Map Strategies.
From there, select which rate you’d like to choose as your Rate Strategy for the filtered date.
Click Submit.
Creating Seasonal or Overlapping Rate Setups
If you need to set rates for a new year or overlapping date ranges, here’s how you can manage it:
Adjust the current season’s end date (e.g., November 30, 2025) to create a gap for a new season.
Define a new season starting December 1, 2025, for the succeeding year’s rates.
Alternatively, create a transient rate strategy (e.g., December-Only Rate) for handling specific dates before creating the next year's season. This strategy ensures flexibility while preventing rate gaps or overlaps.
Troubleshooting Booking Availability Issues
If calendar dates for the upcoming year do not appear available, verify the following:
The "Accept Reservations" date is not set too far in the future (e.g., for 2026 bookings, set this date to December 31, 2025, or earlier).
Rate strategies for the new season are properly added to the rate calendar in the Rates settings. These configurations are crucial for seamless booking availability.
Best Practices for Rate Management
Clearly label rate strategies for easy identification (e.g., 'Winter Standard Rate' or 'Holiday Flat Rate').
Regularly check for date overlaps or gaps between seasons when setting up rates for subsequent years.
Consistently align rate strategies with operational goals for smooth booking processes. Additionally, regularly reviewing and confirming seasonal rates (e.g., through Account > Settings > Transient Rates) helps ensure that rates are mapped accurately to the desired dates. This step can prevent unintended booking issues.