Where are my booking rules? (Booking rules at a glance)

Every booking rule in one list, where each one is changed, which rule wins when two meet, and what your plan includes.

Every setting that decides how bookings are taken, limited, timed and tracked lives in one place: the Bookings group in Settings. Its first page, Booking rules at a glance (Settings → Bookings → Booking rules at a glance, /dashboard/settings/booking-rules), lists every rule you have in everyday words, each with a Change link to the one page where it is set. It is read-only — nothing on it can change a setting by accident.

Where did "Booking rules" go?

The old Booking rules page and the old Service and timings page were split into pages that each answer one question. Old links and bookmarks still work — they open the new home of whatever they pointed at. Nothing you had set was changed by the move: every setting kept its value.

The Bookings group, in order:

• Booking rules at a glance — every rule in one list (the old Booking rules address opens here).
• How people book — online bookings, your team's bookings, walk-ins, the waitlist and letting customers join it from their phone, approving online bookings (all of them, or only some), letting bigger parties send a request, what a fully booked date offers, food and drinks-only bookings, your team's booking sources, your booking page message.
• When people can book — online booking times, the last booking before you close (every way of booking in one row), minimum notice, how far ahead, the dates that open early and the dates blocked for online bookings (listed here, set on Special dates), the time between booking times, and cancelling or changing online.
• How many at once — the largest and smallest party online, most guests seated at once and most guests arriving every 15 minutes (each with an online share if you want one), and pacing rules.
• How long a booking lasts — the standard length for each way of booking, lengths by party size, letting customers choose their length, turnaround time and auto-trim.
• Tables and seating — auto-assign tables, the tables and rooms online bookings can use (and tables kept for bigger parties or walk-ins), joining tables for a big party, the rooms walk-ins and the waitlist use, seating preferences, and table rules and pairings.
• Special dates — every date with rules of its own — Christmas, a bank holiday, a closed day — and everything it changes: its hours, online times or set sittings, when it opens for booking, length, limits, party sizes, payments, rooms, approval and a note for customers; plus day-and-time rules for certain times of every week.
• During service — how your team tracks a service, late arrivals and their alerts, holding a late customer's table, no-shows (and everything a no-show sets off), and freeing a finished table (the old Service and timings address opens here).
• Waitlist — how the queue works, smart fitting and the page customers join from.
• Walk-ins — the walk-in form and Smart walk-in.
• Customers — Auto-VIP and custom tags.

Settings that moved from pages outside the group: online booking times, drinks-only online booking times and blocked dates left Hours for When people can book, and special opening hours (and closing a date) left Hours for Special dates — Hours is now your weekly hours and your seasons; seating preferences and table rules left Tables and layout (it is now your rooms, tables and floor plan); Auto-trim duration on clear left Display and layout; and the on/off switches for late arrival alerts and overstay alerts left Alerts and sounds (how an alert looks and sounds is still set there, under Alert display style).

What the page shows

• A line at the top saying either Nothing here contradicts itself or how many things need a look.
• Things to check (only when there is something): any two settings that disagree, each explained in one sentence with a link to fix it, and any rule that is switched on but isn't on your current plan, with a button to switch it off.
• One section per page of the Bookings group, then Opening hours and What guests pay — each rule as a sentence, such as "No more than 40 guests can be seated at once." or "Online bookings need no notice — customers can book right up to the time."
• Today's real last booking times for each way of booking, worked out from today's hours.
• Try a booking — pick a date, a time and a party size, online or your team, and see whether it can be booked, every rule that applies and why, and the times your booking page offers right now. See How do I check which rules apply to a booking?
• Where two rules meet, a Which wins: line (below).

The four clashes it catches — each is also shown on the rule's own page, with a one-click fix:

• Online cancelling closes before refunds stop (your cancellation deadline is longer than your refund cut-off), so a customer still due a refund has to contact you to cancel.
• You hold a late customer's table for longer than "Mark them after" — automatic no-shows wait until the hold ends.
• A special date's own hours fall outside that weekday's online booking times — the special date's hours are used online that day.
• Your team's last booking before you close is earlier than the last time online customers can start one.

Which rule wins

Wherever two rules meet, the page says which one wins, in the same words everywhere:

• Ways of booking: "Switching a way of booking off beats every other rule for it."
• Online times: "Online booking times can only narrow your opening hours — never widen them."
• The last online start: "Online, the last start is the earlier of your online booking times and the latest time a booking can start and still finish by closing time."
• Limits: "Every limit applies at once — a time is only offered online if it fits all of them."
• Booking length: "A length by party size beats a length the customer picks, which beats the drinks-only length, which beats the standard length."
• Tables: "A customer's seating choice comes first, then your table rules, then the smallest free table that fits."
• Special dates: "A special date beats your day-and-time rules, which beat your everyday rules."
• Opening hours: "A special date's hours beat seasonal hours, which beat your weekly hours."
• Late customers: "An automatic no-show always waits until the table hold has ended."
• Payments: "Pay in full beats a deposit; a deposit beats a card to hold."
• Approving online bookings: "A special date's own approval rule wins on its day; otherwise approving only some bookings works only while approval is on, and a request from a party bigger than your online maximum always waits for approval."
• Fully booked dates: "On a full date, today shows your waitlist and later dates show the Notify me list — each only when it's switched on."

Every rule's own row also says who it applies to — Applies to: followed by the ways of booking it governs: Online, Your team, Walk-ins and Waitlist. For example, "Most guests seated at once" applies to online bookings, and your team's bookings and walk-ins count towards it but are never turned away — unless you switch on Also stop your team beside it. Seven limits carry a switch like that (closed days, your break, blocked dates, minimum notice, how far ahead, the smallest party online and the guests limit), and each of their lines on this page ends by saying whether your team is stopped too or only warned.

What your plan includes

Each page shows the rules your plan includes first. A rule from a higher plan waits in that section's More options, with a padlock naming the plan that adds it — the closed More options line counts them, for example "2 more on Pro". Booking rules at a glance lists only the rules your plan includes, then one line naming the cheapest plan that adds more (for example "More rules on Plus — see what's included", which opens Account → Plan and usage).

• Every plan (Free and up): online bookings, staff bookings and walk-ins on or off; online booking times; the last booking before you close; how far ahead customers can book (30 days on Free, 365 days on Plus, Pro and Complete); special dates open early; a special date's own online times or set sittings, length, party sizes, rooms and note, and closing it for the day; day-and-time rules (set sittings and party sizes at certain times); the smallest party online; the rooms online bookings can use and tables kept for bigger parties or walk-ins; the time between booking times; blocked dates; maximum party size; the standard booking length; auto-assign tables and auto-trim; how your team tracks a service, late arrivals, holding a table, automatic no-shows and clearing finished tables.
• Plus adds: approving online bookings (all of them or only some), letting bigger parties send a request, food and drinks-only bookings, minimum notice, the cancellation deadline, lengths by party size, letting customers choose their length, turnaround time, not auto-assigning big parties, joining tables, seating preferences, table rules and pairings, special opening hours, seasonal hours, deposits and a card to hold (no-show protection).
• Pro adds: most guests seated at once, most guests arriving every 15 minutes, the food and drinks-only limits, pacing rules, an online share inside those limits, pay in full, pre-orders and Auto-VIP.
• Complete adds: the waitlist (and letting customers join it from their phone), Notify me if a table frees up on fully booked dates, and Smart walk-in.

If a plan change leaves a rule switched on that your new plan doesn't include, it is never hidden: it stays at the top of its section with a working Switch off (or Set to 0), and Booking rules at a glance lists it under Things to check as "… is switched on, but it isn't on your current plan." with the same button. Switching a rule off always works, on every plan. And a special date you marked as closed stays closed on every plan — only special opening hours need Plus.

A Most guests seated at once limit left from an earlier plan still applies until you set it to 0 — the page says so and offers Set to 0. After a plan change, your team's bookings use the same booking lengths and gaps between bookings as online bookings: lengths by party size and turnaround time your plan no longer includes stop applying to your team's screens too. Your saved settings are kept, and come back with the plan. Staff signed in through the staff portal are told to ask the account owner about upgrading instead of seeing the plan link.

Related: How do I choose how people can book? · When can customers book? · How many guests can book at once? · How long does a booking last? · Which table does a booking get? · What's different about Christmas Day? (Special dates) · What happens during service? · How do I check which rules apply to a booking?