How to Set Up the Space Booking Form

With Timely, you can easily set up a Booking Form so customers can request to rent spaces together with optional resources, services, and fees from your website. The form helps your team collect booking requests online, control which information customers provide, and customize the booking and approval process. 

Use this guide to learn how to enable the form, review the main settings, and understand how each option affects the customer booking experience with Timely.

1. Benefits of Using the Booking Form

The Booking Form helps venue teams simplify how customers request space reservations and how staff review those requests. Instead of collecting booking details through emails, phone calls, or spreadsheets, your organization can guide customers through one structured booking process. 

By using the Space Booking Form, you can:

• Enhance Customer Experience: A clear way to request to reserve spaces, and select optional resources, and services online.
• Centralize Booking Requests: Keep booking submissions in the Bookings dashboard for easier review and management.
• Collect Key Information: Use required fields and custom questions to gather the details your team needs.
• Offer Paid and Free Bookings: Manage reservations with or without charges, depending on your setup.
• Customize Approval Flow: Decide whether new submitters and booking submissions should be approved automatically or reviewed first.

2. Creating a Space Booking Form

The Space Booking Form is enabled in the Bookings menu, from the Settings tab. Once enabled, customers can access the booking flow from your public space view. If your team is still setting up spaces, review how to create event spaces and connect them to venues before enabling the booking form. 

2.1 Enable the Booking Form

1. In the left-side menu, click Bookings > Settings
2. In Form Appearance & Defaults, check Enable booking form

3. Click Save

3. Space Booking Form Setup Options

The Bookings Settings page includes the main options that control how the Space Booking Form will look and work. These settings define what customers see, what information is required, how spaces and resources appear, and how booking submissions are reviewed.

3.1 Form Appearance & Defaults

Use this area to decide which parts of the form should be visible to customers.

You can configure the following options:

• Enable booking form: Turn the Booking Form on or off for this calendar.
• Hide add booking button for event views: Hides the Add Booking button from public event calendar views (this option does not affect your Space View).
• Services and Fees selection required: Requires customers to select at least one item under Services and Fees before submitting a booking.
• Hide booking title field: Hides the booking title field from the form and the system generates the title automatically.
• Hide date and time fields: Hides the start and end date fields. Timezone and recurrence options are also hidden.
• Enable disclaimer text: Displays a disclaimer message at the bottom of the form.

After choosing the options you want to use, click Save.

3.2 Payment

The Payment section controls when payments are processed for bookings. Use this area to define how payment should work when your organization charges for spaces, resources, services, or fees. To configure pricing for individual spaces and resources, review how to set up pricing for paid space reservations and set up pricing for paid resources.

You can configure the payment timing, which controls when payments are processed for bookings. The available options are:

• Charge during booking submission: Customers pay during the booking submission flow.

• Charge after approval: Customers submit the booking request first, and payment is requested after the booking is reviewed and approved.

Note: If you choose Charge after approval and your account uses a payment deadline, the payment window starts when payment is requested, not when the original booking request is submitted. If the customer does not complete payment within the allowed time, the booking expires and the selected space becomes available again. 

After choosing the payment timing option that matches your booking workflow, click Save.

3.3 Spaces

The Spaces section controls how customers select spaces in the Booking Form. 

You can configure the following options:

• Hide add booking button for space views: Hides the Add Booking button from the public Space View. 
• Enable Space booking in the booking form: Allows customers to select spaces when submitting a booking.
• Space is required for bookings: Requires customers to select a space before submitting the form.
• Show only available spaces on Booking Form: Displays only spaces that are available for the selected date and time.
• Hide space price on Booking Form: Hides space pricing from the Booking Form.

After updating the space settings, click Save.

3.4 Resources

The Resources section controls whether customers can select resources during the booking process. Resources can include equipment, furniture, staff support, catering items, or other bookable add-ons. Before enabling resources on the Booking Form, make sure your team has already created resources for space reservations. 

To enable resources in the Booking Form:

1. Check Enable Resource booking in the booking form.

2. Select which resource views should be available to customers.
   1. Grid View: Displays resources in a visual grid layout.

2. Image List View: Displays resources in a list with images.

3. Compact List View: Displays resources in a smaller list format.

3. Choose the default view that should appear first.
4. Click Save.

3.5 Booking Approval

The Booking approval section controls how new submitters and new booking submissions are handled. Use these settings to decide whether bookings can move forward automatically or require review. 

You can configure the following approval options:

• Automatically approve new submitters: New submitters are automatically approved to submit bookings.
• Automatically approve new submissions: New booking submissions are approved without admin review.
• Allow submitters to edit submissions: Submitters can request edits to submitted bookings.
  • When payment is involved, editing may be limited after approval or once payment has started, because changes to spaces, resources, or pricing can affect the booking order and total. 
• Allow submitters to cancel submissions: Submitters can request cancellations for submitted bookings.

After updating the approval settings, click Save. 

3.6 Field Options

The Fields section lets administrators request additional information through custom questions in the Booking Form. Use this section when your team needs to collect details that are not included in the standard booking fields. 

Custom fields can help collect information such as setup instructions, estimated attendance, accessibility needs, billing references, department codes, or special requirements. Custom field types can include text, long text, checkbox, yes or no, dropdown, and document upload fields. If a customer uploads a document through a custom field, the file remains attached to the booking record so internal users can review or download it later. 

To add a custom field:

1. Go to the Fields section
2. Click Add Field
3. Create the custom question or field
4. Configure the field options
5. Check the Required box to make it mandatory
6. Save the field
7. Click Add Field to add more fields if needed
8. Click Save on the Settings page.

If a custom field is required, customers or internal users must complete it before the booking can be submitted or saved. 

For a more in-depth guide on building custom questions, review how to create a custom questionnaire for space bookings.

The Space Booking Form helps your organization collect structured booking requests, allow customers to select spaces and resources, manage payment timing, control approval rules, and collect additional information through custom fields. For broader setup guidance, you can also explore the Venue Management Help Center.

After configuring the form under Bookings, then Settings, your team can receive booking requests and manage them from the Bookings dashboard. This keeps the booking workflow organized, from customer submission to internal review, payment timing, approval rules, and required booking information.

Need Additional Help?

For further guidance and support, please visit our Help Center. Additionally, if you have any inquiries or need assistance, don’t hesitate to contact our customer success team by opening a support ticket from your Timely account’s dashboard.

Moreover, in case you require additional assistance in implementing and using Timely venue management system, we are happy to assist. Explore all the professional services we offer, and feel free to get in touch with us today!