Booking Rules 101: Limits, Buffers and Fair Use

New to Tidewell, or just inherited the bookings job from someone who has moved on? These four rules do most of the work of keeping booking fair. You'll find all of them in each resource's settings.

Booking limits

Cap how many sessions a member can hold at once. A makerspace might allow two future laser cutter slots per member; a tennis club might allow one court booking per day at peak times. Members can book again as soon as an earlier slot has passed.

Buffers between bookings

Add 10 or 15 minutes between sessions for cleaning, setting up or letting a machine cool down. Members never see the buffer, but it saves a lot of awkward overlaps at the door.

Booking windows

Decide how far ahead people can book. Two weeks is common for shared equipment, while rooms used by regular groups suit longer windows. A short window stops your most organised members claiming every Saturday until summer.

Peak and off-peak

If evenings are always full, mark them as peak and apply tighter limits only there. Daytime slots stay relaxed for the members who can use them.

Our advice: start with one rule, watch it for a month, then adjust. Venues that switch everything on at once usually end up switching half of it off again.