Boat rental booking system: the license question

A group planning a birthday on a lake picks a boat from the photos, then a time that suits them. The booking then asks whether everyone is licensed to operate that boat, and whether the number of people fits the rules. A group with no license holder must go back and choose a smaller or different boat, and the time they picked may not exist for it. The calendar showed them a slot that is no longer theirs. Some will not start the process again, and the owner sees a flow that ended after the calendar.

• Pick the largest boat and a group of four. Does the license question come before a time?
• Is the group size limit shown on the boat page, or only after the form is sent?
• Does the page say which boats need a license holder aboard and which do not?
• Do life jacket choices ask for sizes, and can a child size be picked?
• Does the payment step show the deposit and the cancellation rule before the card field?

The license and capacity rules can sit on different screens for different boats, so the order can change from one rental to the next. Walk your own flow from the first boat pick to the payment step, and note the screen where each rule first appears. If the license question comes after a time is chosen, a group with no license holder has already picked a slot it cannot use. Move each rule to the screen where the group makes the choice it affects.

Customers pick the boat they picture, not the one they are allowed to take out. A large pontoon looks like the easy choice for a family, so a group clicks it before any license check. The fix is to show the rule on the boat itself, not in the fine print. A short line under the name, saying who must hold a license and the most people the boat carries, lets a group pick the right boat in one go. Test this with a group size near the limit. If the boat is still offered at a size it cannot take, the page lets the customer build a booking that fails later.

Life jackets are usually a second list with sizes, and a family with a child needs a size the form may not offer. A deposit or a weather policy often sits on the payment step, so the test reaches that step and stops. Visitors have an email inbox, so a confirmation reaches them, but they cannot pay with a real card. The run also cannot check whether a license a group states is valid, whether the boat is in good shape, or whether the weather allows a trip. License rules differ by place, so confirm your local rule before you change any copy.

The first run finds the step where the rules appear. The fix moves a license line, a group limit or a life jacket size, and a new boat or a new season can put it back. Run the same group of four through the pontoon after each change, then one group with a child and no license. Repeat it before a busy weekend, because a rule that surfaces late costs the most when the calendar is full.