Capacity Booking

The Capacity pattern is for businesses that offer fixed time slots with a limited number of seats. Customers choose a time and specify how many people are coming. The system tracks remaining capacity per slot.

Who uses this

• Restaurants - Reserve a table for 4 at 19:30
• Escape rooms - Book a session for 6 people at 15:00
• Guided tours - Sign up 2 people for the 10:00 AM tour
• Tasting experiences - Book a wine tasting for 3
• Theme parks / attractions - Reserve entry for a specific time slot

Setup

When creating a Capacity business, the operator configures:

1. Capacity slots - Time slots with seat limits

   • Day of week, start time, end time
   • Total capacity (e.g., 40 seats)
   • Minimum and maximum party size

2. Tables / zones (optional) - Subdivide capacity into named areas

   • Terrace (12 seats), Indoor (20 seats), Bar (8 seats)
   • Customers can express a preference or let the business assign

3. Operating schedule - Which days and times accept reservations

   • Different capacity per day (e.g., more weekend capacity)
   • Holiday and closure dates

The booking flow

Step 1: Date selection

A calendar shows available dates. Dates where all time slots are at full capacity are grayed out.

Step 2: Time slot selection

Available time slots for the selected date appear with remaining capacity shown (e.g., "19:00 - 12 seats left"). Slots at full capacity are disabled.

Step 3: Party size

The customer enters their party size. If the requested size exceeds remaining capacity, a message shows the maximum available. If it exceeds the slot's max party size, validation prevents submission.

Step 4: Customer details

The customer enters name, email, phone, and any custom fields (e.g., "Dietary requirements", "Celebrating something?", "High chair needed?").

Step 5: Confirmation

A summary shows the date, time, party size, and any notes. The customer confirms. A confirmation email includes the reservation details.

Admin management

Reservation overview

A day view showing time slots as rows with reservation blocks. Each block shows customer name and party size. Color-coded by status. See total capacity vs. booked vs. remaining at a glance.

Walk-in support

The admin can manually add a reservation for walk-in customers, instantly reducing available capacity for that slot.

Booking detail

Customer contact, date/time, party size, table/zone preference, custom field responses, internal notes. Quick actions: confirm, seat, cancel, mark no-show.

How availability works

1. For each time slot on a given date, the system sums the party sizes of all confirmed reservations
2. Remaining = Total capacity − Sum of confirmed party sizes
3. If remaining < minimum party size, the slot is shown as full
4. Row-level locking during confirmation prevents overbooking even under concurrent requests
5. If a confirmation would exceed capacity, the customer sees the closest alternative slot

Configuration

Key settings for Capacity businesses:

• Default capacity - Seats per time slot (can be overridden per day)
• Party size limits - Minimum (e.g., 1) and maximum (e.g., 12) per booking
• Booking window - How far in advance customers can book
• Minimum notice - How close to the slot customers can book (e.g., 1 hour)
• Auto-confirm - Whether reservations are confirmed automatically
• Overbooking buffer - Optional extra seats to account for no-shows (e.g., 10% buffer)