Microsoft Bookings for bay rental

[GenieM2210]

TLDR: Digitally challenged artists' studio wants to use MS Bookings for weekly workshop bay rental - best approach??

I work in an artists' studio where artists can rent workshop bays on a weekly basis for a set fee (1 week = 7 days).

We currently do not use any digital/online system (requests are received by email and a physical wall calendar is updated) and I am researching Microsoft Bookings as a solution. Ideally we would like to see what is going on in the workshop at a glance per month. Also, it would be great if this 'at a glance' visual could be downloaded and printed out for those on my team who are technophobes. 

There are 7 workshop bays and 1 workshop manager who oversees the space and equipment. I have considered creating one Bookings calendar for the workshop and dividing up the bays into services, however I now see that in order to colour code the different services they need to be assigned to a different staff member. Should I create separate calendars for each bay instead? Any other thoughts on how I should approach this?

[#2]

Hi @GenieM2210, 

I am an independent advisor addressing this inquiry. First let me say, you had a lot of great questions. I enjoyed working on this inquiry. 

• Multiple Days Bookings: The Microsoft Bookings app does not support multiple-day bookings at this time. However, it is one of the topmost requested functionalities. However, there is no timeline for when Microsoft will implement this capability.  
  Bookings Feedback Portal Search results for multiple day · Community (microsoft.com) 
   
• Monthly At a Glance  
  Currently, the owner/administrator of the booking service can look at one Service Calendar at a time for all artists for the following views. (See image below) You can also export the data to Excel and create your own ‘At a glance’ report.  
   
   Just to be clear, this app does not support consolidated service reports. Again, many Booking users have requested better reporting functionality. Here is the link to the feedback search results for reports · Community (microsoft.com). I encourage you to add your own request or vote on others’ wish lists. 
   

Color Coding:  
First, please add Color Coding Services and Calendar to the feedback portal. I think this is a great idea. Please add the link to this post so that I can vote on it. :smiling_face_with_smiling_eyes:. This functionality will align greatly with consolidating service calendars and reports. That’s my two cents. 

Nevertheless, when you create a new calendar an email address is created. See the details in the image below. I have not tested it, but you can try the following. 

• Create a calendar for each bay (Bay 1, Bay 2, etc.) and one primary RSVP Bay calendar.
• Try adding the Bay# email address as a staff member in RSVP Bay Service. I also suspect that each Staff Member will get an email. So deselect this option.
  
  
• You should use RSVP Bay as the primary booking link. 
• This method is not ideal, clearly a workaround solution. Let me know if this works. 
   

More Resources:

Lastly, here are some additional Bookings Resources that may be helpful to you.  

• Comparison: Bookings web app vs. Bookings Teams app | Microsoft Docs 
• View Bookings calendar information | Microsoft Docs 
• Microsoft Bookings Frequently Asked Questions | Microsoft Docs 

If you find this information helpful, please mark it as the best answer or like it, which will assist others with the same questions. 

Have a great day! 

/Teresa 

#traccreations4e