Pending Bookings: How to make bookings require confirmation by a nominated user

If you have a room or resource that you would like users to be able to book provisionally - subject to authorisation by an administrator, or specific user, before being confirmed - this article will show you how to set up such Pending Bookings.

How does this work?

If a user makes a booking for a pending room/resource they are advised in their confirmation email that the booking is pending authorisation. An administrator, or a nominated user (known as a Resource Owner), can then activate the booking.

Setting Rooms as Pending

In the coloured navigation bar on the left side of your home page select Bookings > Pending Bookings and then click Adjust Resources in the top left cornerA list of all your rooms and resources will appear. A list of all your rooms and resources will appear.
Tick the box next to those rooms/resources where bookings should be added as pending.
Once you have selected the relevant rooms/resources click on Update Resources with Pending Bookings to save your changes.
If a user now books those room/resources they will be notified in their confirmation email that the booking is pending authorisation. Note that this does not apply when a booking is added by an administrator, all bookings made by admins are automatically added as confirmed bookings.

Setting up the Resource Owner

A Resource Owner is a user that has certain rights over a room or resource. When they log in to their account they can see not only their own bookings, but any bookings that have been made for rooms or resources that they own. A room or resource can have more than one owner.

Go to Users > Manage Users. Click the edit pencil on the record of the relevant user.
Under Your Resources click Add Resources
All resource categories and rooms/resources will be listed. Click on the boxes next to the rooms/resources you would like the user to own.
Once chosen, click on the X at the top right of the popup window and then click Edit User to save your changes.

Updating User Permissions

Once you have set up the Resource Owner, you need to ensure their User Permission allows them to activate pending bookings. If they do not have this permission they would only be able to view the bookings made, but not activate them.

Note: If any of your User Permission sets have Add all bookings as Confirmed selected then users covered by that set would automatically have their bookings added as confirmed, even if you have set that resource to be a pending one under Adjust Resources

Please see How do I set up user permissions if you need further information on setting up User Permissions.

Go to Users > User Permissions and access the relevant User Permission set(s) for the user.
Select Activate pending bookings in owned resources.
Check to ensure Only if the resource is set for pending bookings is selected.
Click on Update User Permission.

Setting up Email Notifications for Room Owners

You can also set up Email Notifications to email Resource Owners when bookings are made, edited or deleted for their resources.

Go to System Settings > Email Notifications from the Administrator Homepage
Click on the box next to Email Room/Resource Owner.
To save click on Update System Settings.

Activating Pending Bookings

Pending Bookings can be activated by Resource Owners or by Administrators. Please see How does a Resource Owner activate pending bookings? or How does an Administrator activate pending bookings? for more details.