How do I add a special date?

Add a date or a run of days, change only what's different in the step-by-step window, and see a Christmas Day example from start to finish.

Part of What's different about Christmas Day? (Special dates). This part covers adding a date on Settings → Bookings → Special dates (/dashboard/settings/special-dates), setting what's different about it, the rest of a date's card, plans and your team, and a Christmas Day example.

Add a special date

• In Add a special date, type a Name (for example "Christmas Day") and pick the Date. For a stretch, like a festive fortnight, tick Several days in a row and set the Last day too — up to 93 days, counting the first and last.
• Click Add special date. A step-by-step window opens — New special date — the same kind as New promotion and New campaign. It asks one question at a time, with every rule on Same as normal: Which date? → Is it open? → Who can book online? → How many? → Money → Pre-orders → Review. Click Next to move on; a step you leave alone changes nothing. A summary beside the steps shows what you've changed, with Change to go back to a step. The step numbers work both ways: once the date has its name and day, click any step to go straight to it — going ahead, it stops where something is still needed and says why.
• The Review says exactly what happens when you save — for example "Money: £10 deposit a head for 6+" and which of your everyday rules the date beats. Click Save date — nothing is saved before. Close the window first and the date stays on your list unsaved, for Save changes on the page.

Bank holidays lists the bank holidays in the next year that aren't on your list yet (one already offered under Coming round again isn't listed twice). Bank holidays for picks the region — England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland or Ireland (it starts from your address and timezone). Click Add to set one up in the same window as a date you add yourself — or Ignore to stop it being suggested.

Your dates are listed under Your special dates, soonest first, each with a one-line summary of everything it changes. Click Change to open a date in the same step-by-step window, on its Review — every step is one click away. Save changes there keeps what you changed; closing the window leaves the date as it was. Click Use again beside a date to start a new one with the same rules (see How do I use a special date again next year?).

You can also type it into the search: "we're closed Monday 12th" opens the window with the new date and that change set, waiting for your Save date — see What can I type into the search?.

Set what's different about it

Rules counted in hours, like Cancel or change online until, can be typed in hours or days: pick hours or days beside the number (14 days is saved as 336 hours, and a whole number of days always shows as days).

Every rule on a date shows either Same as normal — with what normal is on that date, for example "Same as normal — Open 12:00–22:00 (your Friday hours)" — or Custom. Choosing Custom starts from your own everyday value, so nothing changes until you edit it. Each rule says where it applies (Applies to: Online · Your team · Walk-ins · Waitlist).

The rest of a date's card

On the Which date? step:

• Special date on — switch a date off to keep it without applying any of its rules.
• Copy rules from… then Copy — take another special date's rules, then change what's different.
• Make it several days / Make it one day — turn a date into a stretch, or back.
• Remove this date (when you change a date you already have) — the Review then says the date and every rule it set will go; click Remove date to remove it.

Before you save, each date is checked. Anything that would stop it working — a deposit of £0, sittings with no times — is shown on the rule and keeps Save date off until it's fixed. Anything worth a second look is flagged on the rule itself — for example a date closed all day whose online times can never apply, set sittings closer together than one booking plus your clean-down time (with 2 hours 30 minute bookings and a 15-minute clean-down, a table used at 12:00 can't take a 14:30 sitting — the line says which length or sitting time would fit), a date with set sittings and no How many at once of its own (your everyday limit of guests arriving every 15 minutes, or seated at once, applies to each sitting), or two dates that set the same rule on the same day. When two special dates overlap and set the same rule, the more specific one wins — the one covering fewer days, so Christmas Day beats a Festive season around it on the 25th (if they cover the same number of days, the one that starts first wins) — and both dates say so (see Which rule wins on a special date, and what are day-and-time rules?).

Plans, and your team

Rules your plan doesn't include wait in each group's More options, with a padlock and the plan that adds them. A rule saved before a plan change stays at the top of its group, says "Saved but not applied — your current plan doesn't include it. You can switch it off." and has a working Switch off. Switching things off always works on every plan: marking a date Closed all day, choosing No card on this date, and putting any rule back to Same as normal.

A date's payment rules — its deposit, pay in full, the rest of the payment, paying at the venue, card to hold and refund cut-off — are changed only by someone who can edit deposit, pay-in-full, no-show and event-refund rules (owners and admins; a Manager once the owner turns it on in Roles and permissions). Anyone else sees them on the date's card but can't change them, and can't remove, switch off or move a date that has one; everything else on the date they can still change.

Your team is warned, not stopped, by a date blocked for online bookings. To stop them too, switch on Also stop your team on blocked dates in the page's Your team section (off to begin with). Whether your team can book a day you're closed is set on Settings → Venue → Hours (Also stop your team on days you're closed).

A Christmas Day example

To open Christmas Day for booking in September, 12:00–16:00 only, with two sittings, no more than 60 guests and a deposit:

• In Add a special date, name it "Christmas Day", pick 25 December and click Add special date.
• Is it open? — Opening hours → Custom → Open at these times, 12:00 to 16:00. Next.
• Who can book online? — When it opens for booking → Custom → From a day and time, and choose the day in September (and a time, if you want bookings to open at, say, 10:00); Online booking times → Custom → Set sittings, then Add sitting for 12:00 and 14:30. Next.
• How many? — How many at once → Custom, and set the limit to no more than 60 guests in the whole day. Next.
• Money — Deposit → Custom, with its amount a head. Optional — to take the rest two weeks before: The rest of the payment → Custom, due 14 days before, with a set price per person (and Paying at the venue → Custom → Both — the guest picks to let guests pay in cash or by card at your venue). Next.
• Review — check what it says will happen, then click Save date. The list now reads Christmas Day back in one line.

To check it does what you meant, open Try a booking on Booking rules at a glance and try 25 December at 12:00 — it names every rule that applies and why.

Related: What's different about Christmas Day? (Special dates) · How do I set a special date's hours, limits and who can book online? · How do I set what guests pay and pre-order on a special date? · How do I check which rules apply to a booking?