Rate Restrictions (Minimum Stay, CTA, CTD)
Rate restrictions are rules that limit which stays a guest can book, such as a minimum stay: the fewest nights a guest can book for (Guide on adding and managing booking restrictions, Booking.com for Partners). Closed to arrival (CTA) blocks check-ins on the closed dates, and closed to departure (CTD) blocks check-outs (OTA_HotelAvailNotifRQ, Google Hotel Prices developer docs).
Last updated: October 2026
How minimum stay, CTA and CTD work
Each restriction sits on a date in the calendar and is checked against the dates of a proposed stay. Booking.com pairs the minimum length of stay with a maximum, the most nights a guest can book for, and adds a version tied to a specific arrival date, plus an exact stay rule that fixes the number of nights for guests arriving on that date (Guide on adding and managing booking restrictions, Booking.com for Partners). There, the rules apply per room, unit and rate plan, so one room can carry different conditions on different offers (Guide on setting booking restrictions, Booking.com for Partners).
Which date counts depends on the rule. In the OpenTravel availability message Google uses for hotel prices, minimum and maximum stay are arrival based, while the "forward" minimum and maximum stay are stay-through based (OTA_HotelAvailNotifRQ, Google Hotel Prices developer docs). SynXis lists the same pair, Min and Max Length of Stay and Min and Max Length of Stay Thru, among the restriction types it pushes to OTAs, next to Open, Close, Close to Arrival and Close to Departure (ARI Push - Availability, SynXis Developer Portal). On Vrbo, the minimum night requirement is based on the check-in date (Set a minimum and maximum length of stay, Vrbo Help).
CTA and CTD work on the ends of a stay. Booking.com groups them as "no arrivals and departures", a setting for days when a property cannot check guests in or cannot check them out (Guide on adding and managing booking restrictions, Booking.com for Partners). In the Google message, each one covers a start and end date range, inclusive of both dates (OTA_HotelAvailNotifRQ, Google Hotel Prices developer docs). Setting the Master restriction to closed is a separate control, known as a stop sell (OTA_HotelAvailNotifRQ, Google Hotel Prices developer docs).
Why rate restrictions matter for hotel distribution
A minimum stay suits a string of busy nights followed by quieter ones (The Dos and Don'ts of Length of Stay, eCornell #IMPACT). For a single peak night, a 2-night minimum is the most common choice, for example on a Saturday to help fill Friday and Sunday (Revenue Management 101, Hospitality Net). CTA is used to limit arrivals on a given day, such as a large group arrival that would strain the front desk, and together with a minimum stay to even out peaks longer than one night (Revenue Management 101, Hospitality Net).
Both controls need demand behind them. Without enough demand for longer stays, a minimum stay can lower RevPAR instead of raising it (The Dos and Don'ts of Length of Stay, eCornell #IMPACT). CTA calls for extremely high demand, because closing a day to arrivals also affects the days after it (The Dos and Don'ts of Length of Stay, eCornell #IMPACT).
Restrictions also decide who sees the property. The more restrictions a property sets on Booking.com, the fewer potential guests see it (Guide on adding and managing booking restrictions, Booking.com for Partners). Most Booking.com bookings last one or two nights, so a strict 3-night minimum can hide a property from typical search results there (Guide on setting booking restrictions, Booking.com for Partners). Vacation rentals face the same filter: on Vrbo, a listing with a 4-night minimum does not appear for a traveller searching for 3 nights (Boost your vacation rental bookings with 4 easy tools, Expedia Group Partner blog).
Where the rule is set matters as well. For properties connected through a provider, changes made in the Booking.com Extranet can be overwritten by the provider's feed (Guide on setting booking restrictions, Booking.com for Partners).
Minimum stays also carry a legal question in the US. Common law, US case law and many state statutes oblige a hotel to provide a room to an acceptable guest when one is available, and a 2001 journal article set out to answer whether minimum length-of-stay controls are legal (Minimum Length-of-Stay Requirements as Part of Hotel Revenue Management Systems: Are They Legal?, Journal of Hospitality Financial Management).
Minimum stay compared with stop sell, FPLOS and booking windows
| Control | What it limits | Date it is checked against |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum stay | Stays shorter than a set number of nights | The arrival date, or the stay itself for a stay-through rule |
| CTA | Check-ins | The arrival date only |
| CTD | Check-outs | The departure date only |
| Stop sell | All bookings on the closed dates | Every date in the closed range |
| Full pattern length of stay (FPLOS) | Specific stay lengths for each arrival date, described by SynXis as "Closed to Arrival by LOS" | The arrival date |
| Minimum and maximum advance reservation | How far ahead of check-in a guest can book, not how long they stay Guide on adding and managing booking restrictions, Booking.com for Partners | The gap between the booking date and the arrival date |
Frequently asked questions
How do I set or change the minimum stay on Airbnb?
How do I set a minimum stay on Booking.com?
How do I change the minimum night stay on Vrbo?
Can a guest book a stay that runs through a CTA date?
Related terms
See all termsWhere Jetstream fits
A restriction only does its job when every channel applies it to the same dates; a Saturday minimum that reaches one channel and misses another still lets the one-night stay in. Jetstream builds an AI channel manager that connects a property's reservation system to the channels where guests book and keeps rooms, rates and availability accurate on each one, managed from one place.