Group Bookings in MS Bookings

Brass Contributor

I have a requirement to create a sign-up sheet for an event which comprises several different time slots, and for each slot there is a max of 50 attendees. I have used the Bookings app in the past for event sign-ups, although not with so many attendees. According to this page I can do group bookings by setting the "Maximum number of attendees per event" for a service. However, when I enter any number in the Maximum Attendees field and select "Save", that number is not retained - i.e. when I revisit that Service page, the field is empty, and I am unable to make more than one booking for that Service at any one time. Where am I going wrong?

52 Replies

@MitchS-SE  - the challenge with this approach is that if you want your multiple sessions to start at a specific time and not accidentally show time slots as available for which you're not planning to host a group session, you have to juggle and tweak the settings until you see only the correct available time slots instead of just being able to outright select 2 or more specific times on the same day.

 

There is another discussion on the topic of group bookings at https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-bookings-blog/microsoft-bookings-now-supports-onlin...

 

The issue with group bookings on the same day being incorrectly assigned regardless of the time selected by the customer, seems to have resolved itself. I haven't been able to recreate that error.

 

As your said in your response to @Radhika_Khetan_MSFT , not having documentation providing information about the details of group bookings makes this difficult to adopt by a larger user community. People take a look at it, try it out and fail to make it work. If they don't have someone to call on for assistance - since there is nothing published on the internet - they abandon it and turn to other scheduling methods and products.

@MitchS-SE  I've either had a mental/visual block or that + sign wasn't there for us, but I am seeing it now and it does help a lot. Thanks!

 

Now, we're being challenged with how to set up recurring offerings in biweekly and monthly cadences (including 1st, 2nd, 3rd, ... week/specific day) matching the available recurrence patterns we have in Outlook. I haven't found a decent solution for that.

@Steve_Wileman 

 

Hi Steve

I hope the following works for you because I had the same problem it was greyed out.

 

I chose one of my services and in the number of attendees box I clicked 'inspect element' you will see a whole pile of code.  In the code you will see the code and in that specific code for that element.  Click on and delete the word 'disabled'.  You should then have the option to move arrows up and down.  Choose the number of people and then click 'save' at the top of your specific service.  I'll attach some images for you.  Hope it helps.  Take care, Sarah

 

Screen Shot 2020-07-22 at 17.38.51.pngScreen Shot 2020-07-22 at 17.45.50.pngScreen Shot 2020-07-22 at 18.05.28.png

 

thanks @SarahB19 will give it a go :)

Steve

Can I get a more detailed description of the steps you took to make this work for you? Thank you.

@Russ Thomson 

Do you know if you can use buffer time with group bookings? It won't work for me, I have a service for 50 students, but if I enable buffer time, only one person can book the 'service' for that hour.

Any thoughts on this? 

Thank you.

hi

in october 2020, same problems as yours.
Sometimes, it's greyed, sometimes, i can setup the maximun attendees but not save it, sometimes, it's works correctly.
incomprehensible...
Just had opened a ticket to the support.

@SarahB19 brilliant hack! It worked for me. The up/down arrows appeared and I could change my meeting from 1 to 20. Only problem is I'm afraid to go live with anything important. 

Bill_Kaiser_0-1610730233384.png

 

Other option is have 2 versions of the service - one with only 1 attendee, one with more than 2 (group booking). Make the one you want available as appropriate. Its the workaround we have been using.
[In our Tenant, when you add a service, it is either a single person or a group booking (2+), we have never had the option of changing from 1 to multi, or from multi to 1).

Noticed yesterday that admins can now delete users from a group booking :)

Now if only people could book a service after the start time has elapsed.

It works if you make a new service. Does not work for me if i edit a service that was a single attendee at the begining...hope this helps  @thayes2021 

works if you make a new service. Does not work for me if i edit a service that was a single attendee at the beginning...hope this helps
Correct and thanks. We create the 2 of them, one as 1-1 and eta other as a group option. We enable the one we need at the appropriate time.

Was this feature every made available?  There is a field "Maximum number of attendees" but it is greyed out @Russ Thomson