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Set up a booking link

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A booking link is a page where people pick a time with you, like /b/northwind/intro. You make and change them in Settings → Calendar → Booking links. This page covers the settings on each link. What the people booking see is in What people see when they book you.

Lengths

Length (minutes) is the length people see first. Under it, Other lengths they can pick adds up to three more, like 15 minutes for a quick question or 1 hour for a working session. The booking page then asks How long? before the times, and only shows times that fit the length they picked. A move keeps the length they booked.

Times you offer in an email always use the first length.

How many you take

In the When card:

  • Most per day, Most per week (Monday to Sunday) and Most per month cap how many bookings of this link you take, counted in your own time zone. Leave one empty for no cap.
  • On a team link, each host has their own caps.
  • A request waiting for your yes counts toward the caps, since its time is held.

Public holidays

Skip public holidays in, also in the When card, takes a country. That country's public holidays aren't offered, on each host's own calendar day. A new link starts with the country your time zone is in; pick Nowhere: offer them to offer holidays like any other day.

  • Only public holidays, the days off by law for the whole country. Regional holidays (a state's or a province's), bank holidays that aren't public holidays, and half days aren't included.
  • To work on one holiday, add hours for that date in your working hours (Settings → Calendar). Hours you set for a date win over the holiday.
  • The list ships with Rookery, so nothing about you or your bookings is sent anywhere to look a holiday up. It covers this year and the next two, and is refreshed every January. The holiday data comes from the date-holidays project (CC BY 3.0), credited in Settings → Your account → Credits.

A host at every booking, the rest taking turns

On the Team plan, a link can have one person at every meeting while the others take turns: a recruiter with a rotating interviewer, or an account manager with a rotating specialist.

  1. In the Who takes it card, pick Round robin (or The client's owner, then round robin).
  2. Tick the Hosts. Beside each one, pick Takes turns or At every booking.
  3. Tap Save booking link.

How it works:

  • A time is offered only when every host at every booking is free and at least one host who takes turns is free, each by their own working hours, calendars, caps and the link's public holidays.
  • Among the hosts who take turns and are free then, the booking goes to whoever has had the fewest bookings of this link in the last 30 days. Times held while someone fills in the form, and requests waiting for a yes, count too, so two people booking one after the other go to different hosts. A tie goes to whoever was booked least recently.
  • Everyone at the meeting gets it on their Rookery calendar and is on the invite. The conversation goes to the host whose turn it was. If every host is set to At every booking, it goes to the first of them.
  • Caps count for each host: someone at every booking reaches Most per day sooner than the hosts who take turns.

Approve bookings

The Approve bookings card decides whether a booking waits for your yes:

  • Book straight away: the time is theirs as soon as they pick it. This is the default.
  • Ask me first at short notice: bookings closer than Short notice is less than (hours ahead) wait for you; the rest go straight in. Good for last-minute calls you may not be ready for.
  • Ask me first, always: every booking waits for you. Good for a first consultation, when you check for conflicts or screen people before you meet.

When a booking waits for you:

  1. They tap Ask for this time instead of Book it. The time is held for them, and they get an email saying you'll confirm. It has a link to withdraw the request.
  2. The request opens their conversation in your inbox, under Your turn with Asked for a time. A Booking request card at the top shows the time and their answers.
  3. You choose:
    • Accept books it. They get the invite with the change and cancel links, as with any booking.
    • Offer other times opens Offer times in your reply, so you can send a few times that suit you. If they book one of those, the time they asked for is let go.
    • Decline frees the time. You can tell them why; the email adds a link to pick another time.

On a team link, the request goes to the host at every booking if there is one, else to the person the booking would go to. Any host on the link can accept or decline it, so a request isn't stuck while someone is away; accepting books it for the people already picked, not for whoever tapped Accept. Once it's booked, the conversation goes to the host whose turn it was. Teammates who aren't on the link see the card and who it's waiting for. If nobody answers before the time comes, the request lapses and the time is freed. Times you offer in an email never wait for a second yes.

Show times in your time zone

Show times in my time zone, in the Where card, is for meetings in a place, like a viewing or a tasting. The booking page shows your times, says whose time and which city they're in, and doesn't offer to change the time zone. Leave it off for calls, so everyone sees their own time.

Why isn't this time offered?

On a saved link, the Why isn't this time offered? card checks one time. Pick a Day and a Time (in your own time zone) and tap Check. You get one line for each reason, the one to fix first leading, like:

  • "It's less than 4 hours ahead. Change “Nobody can book less than” to offer it."
  • "You have “Site visit” 9:30–11 am."
  • "You don't work on Saturdays, going by your working hours."
  • "Fri 25 Dec is Christmas Day, a public holiday in United Kingdom. Set “Skip public holidays in” to “Nowhere”, or add hours for that date to your working hours, to offer it."
  • "That week already has 8 bookings of this link, the most “Most per week” allows."

It checks the saved settings, so save your changes first. On a team link, it names each host who can't take it. With a host at every booking, it says what keeps them away ("Mateus is busy 10–11 am."), and when nobody who takes turns is free, it says "No host who takes turns is free then." and why for each. Your teammates' calendars only ever say they're busy, never what the event is.