What's different about Christmas Day? (Special dates)

Add Christmas, a bank holiday or a busy night once, then change only what's different about it — its hours, online times or set sittings, limits, length, what customers pay and more.

Settings → Bookings → Special dates (/dashboard/settings/special-dates) is the one place for the dates that aren't like the rest — Christmas Day, a bank holiday, a busy night, a day you're closed. You add a date once, as one day or several days in a row, and then change only what's different about it. Owners, Admins and Managers can open it.

Which wins: "A special date beats your day-and-time rules, which beat your everyday rules."

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. The date opens straight away, with every rule on Same as normal.
Set what's different about it (below), then click Save changes.

Bank holidays lists the bank holidays in the next year that aren't on your list yet. Bank holidays for picks the region — England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland or Ireland (it starts from your address and timezone). Click Add to put one on your list, 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, Close to fold it away.

Set what's different about it

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).

Opening and online times — "Online booking times can only narrow your opening hours — never widen them."

Opening hours — its own hours (Open at these times, with a break if you like) or Closed all day. Special opening times are Available on Plus plan and above; closing a day works on every plan, and a closed date stays closed even if your plan changes. A special date's own hours also decide its online booking times, unless you set Online booking times below. Because they replace that day's hours completely, a date with no break is how you open straight through for a one-off.
Online bookings closed — All day, or Between times (a booking that would still be at the table during those times isn't offered online). Your team can still book, with a warning.
Online booking times — Between times (a first and a last start, and how often times are offered) or Set sittings: only the start times you add with Add sitting are offered online (up to 12), nothing in between. Online times and sittings are for online bookings only — your team can book any time you're open.
When it opens for booking — Open to book now, or From a day and time: customers can book the date even when it's further ahead than your normal booking window, from the day you choose — and, if you set one, the time ("1 November at 10:00"). Leave the time empty to open at the start of the day. Your plan's own limit on how far ahead still applies.

How many and how long — "Every limit applies at once — a time is only offered online if it fits all of them."

Booking length — any length in 5-minute steps, for online bookings and your team's. On that date it replaces your standard, drinks-only and party-size lengths, and customers don't pick their own. On Plus and above, A different length for bigger parties adds lengths by party size.
How many at once — extra limits for that date, on top of your everyday limits (*Available on Pro plan and above*): no more than a number of guests or bookings seated at once, arriving in any 15, 30 or 60 minutes, or in the whole day — for every party or only parties of a size you choose. Each limit either warns your team (warned, can still book) or stops them (stopped too). Click Add a limit for another (up to 6 on a date).
Party sizes online — the smallest and biggest party that can book online that day; the biggest also applies to customers joining your waitlist from their phone that day. Bigger parties see your "call us" message; your team can still book any size.

What customers pay — "Pay in full beats a deposit; a deposit beats a card to hold." A date's deposit and full payment follow your per person or per booking choice on What guests pay, and its card fee your per booking or per guest choice.

Deposit — an amount, for parties of a size you choose or more (*Available on Plus plan and above*). It applies on that date even if deposits are off on other days.
Pay in full — the whole price, paid when the booking is made online (*Available on Pro plan and above*).
Card to hold — Hold a card: customers booking that date online save a card, with a no-show fee of the date's own and a party size it starts from; or No card on this date (*Available on Plus plan and above*; switching the card off for a date works on every plan). A date that holds a card asks for one even when your everyday card to hold is off, and a booking that pays a deposit or in full never needs a card as well.
Money back if they cancel — the date's own refund cut-off: how long before the booking customers must cancel to get their money back (*Available on Plus plan and above*). After that, what they paid is kept, as your usual refund rules say. A booking keeps the terms it was made under.
Pre-orders — invite parties to choose their food in advance: from which party size, how many days before pre-orders close, whether to tell customers pre-ordering is required, and the menu for that date (none ticked = your full pre-order menu). Available on Pro plan and above. Pre-orders apply on that date even if they're off on other days.

Who can book online, and what they see

Rooms that take online bookings — shown when you have more than one floor plan: only tables in the rooms you tick are offered online that day.
Approving online bookings — Approve every one (every online booking that day waits for your approval) or Confirm straight away (none does). Available on Plus plan and above. A date's own choice wins over your everyday approval rule on its day.
A note for customers — a short line (up to 200 characters) customers see on your booking page when they pick the date, for example "Christmas lunch: four courses, £65 a head."

The rest of a date's card

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 — removes it and every rule it set, when you save.

Before you save, the page checks each date. Anything that would stop it working — a deposit of £0, sittings with no times — is listed as "things to fix before saving". Anything worth a second look is flagged on the rule itself — for example a date closed all day whose online times can never apply, or two dates that set the same rule on the same day. When two special dates overlap and set the same rule, the one that starts first wins, and the page names the one that lost.

A special date stays listed for 90 days after it ends, under Past special dates, so you can look back; it no longer applies.

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.

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).

Day-and-time rules

The page's Day-and-time rules section changes online bookings at certain times of every week, rather than on one date. Click Add a day-and-time rule, give it a name if you like (customers see it if they're turned away), tick the days, set the first and last start time it covers, then choose what it does:

Set sittings — only the start times you add are offered online then: for example Friday and Saturday dinner, 18:00 to 20:30, at 18:00 and 20:30.
Party sizes online then — for example 2 or more at dinner. A rule can only narrow your everyday party sizes, never widen them; the page names a rule that tries to, with a fix.

Every plan can use them, and they're for online bookings only: your team can still book any time and any party, with a warning about a smaller party (or stopped, with Also stop your team beside Smallest party online on How many at once). Which wins: "A special date beats your day-and-time rules, which beat your everyday rules." If two rules set the same thing at overlapping times, the first one wins and the page says so.

The same rules on other pages

A date's rules have one home — this page. When people can book lists your upcoming blocked dates and dates that open early, and How many at once shows a limit for particular dates, each read-only with a link back here; the "Now booking" line on your booking page is still switched on on When people can book, because it's words rather than a rule. On Settings → Payments and deposits → What guests pay, Event deposits, Special pay-in-full dates and the card to hold's Special dates list the dates with money rules of their own, and Special pre-order dates does the same on Pre-orders — each read-only, with a link back here. They're the same rules, not copies.

Until you first save the Special dates page, it reads every date from those lists. After that, if a date's rule is changed on another page, the Special dates page says "Some special-date rules were changed on another page since this page was saved" — the rules still apply, and saving the Special dates page leaves them exactly as they are. Click Bring them onto this page to see and edit them here.

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.
Opening hours → Custom → Open at these times, 12:00 to 16:00.
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.
How many at once → Custom, and set the limit to no more than 60 guests in the whole day.
Deposit → Custom, with its amount a head.
Click Save changes. 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: How do I check which rules apply to a booking? · Where are my booking rules? (Booking rules at a glance) · How do I set holiday hours, seasonal hours and closures? · When can customers book? · How many guests can book at once? · How do I take deposits only on busy days or special dates?