Priority desk booking feature

What priority desk booking does

Priority Desk Booking helps admins allocate desks well. It gives specific users priority access to desks and makes the most of your office space. This article shows how to set up and use the feature.

Set up priority desk booking

To set up priority desk booking for specific users or user groups, create custom booking window policies.

1. Go to Manage > select a campus > select a building.
2. Scroll down to the "Resource policies" section.
3. Select the Desks tab.
4. If it is off, turn ON the Booking Window setting.
5. Select Manage Priority Policies.
6. Select the + Create a priority policy button at the top right.

7. On the map, choose which desks the policy applies to. Add the whole floor of desks (+ Add whole floor button), or select specific desk pods and then select + Add selected desk group.

   You can add desk groups that include assigned desks, but the policy only applies to hot/hotel desks.

   

8. Select Next. The priority policy module opens.
9. Name the policy.
10. Select + Add a Priority Member.
11. Search for specific users or user groups to add to the policy.
12. In the Booking Window drop-downs, set how far in advance the user or user group can book the selected desks.
13. Choose the days of the week these permissions apply to for the user or user group. For example, the Engineering department may have a 3-week window M-F, while the Product team might have a 2-week window on Mondays and Tuesdays only.
14. After you define the policies for the priority users or user groups, set the booking window for everyone else (non-priority users).
15. Select Create. You see a list of the building's active priority policies.

Example

The Engineering department has critical access needs, so the admin sets up this priority policy:

• Engineering Group: 3-week booking window for all days.
• Product Group: 2-week booking window, only for Mondays and Tuesdays.
• Everyone Else: 1-day booking window for all days.

With this setup, the Engineering team always gets first access to desk booking. The Product team comes next on its set days. Other users have limited access.

Edit or delete a priority booking policy

You manage existing policies on the building management page.

Edit a policy

1. Open the Priority Booking Window section under "Resource policies" on the building management page.
2. Select the policy you want to edit. The creation flow opens with the existing information filled in.
3. Make your changes and save them.

Delete a policy

1. Open the Priority Booking Window section under "Resource policies" on the building management page.
2. Select the policy you want to delete.
3. Confirm the deletion. Robin removes the policy.

Deleting a policy does not affect existing reservations. The policy no longer affects future bookings.

Limitations

Priority booking is flexible, but it has limits. Keep these in mind when you create and apply policies.

One policy per resource

A desk group or a whole floor can have only one policy at a time. You cannot assign multiple policies to the same resource. A desk group that is part of a floor-wide policy can still have its own custom policy. In that case, the desk group policy takes precedence over the floor policy for the desks in that group.

User and group priorities

• Users can appear in multiple policies, as individuals or as members of groups. If a policy includes a user both in a group and as an individual, the individual user priority window takes precedence over the group window. This way, group policies do not block users with specific needs.
• When a user is part of multiple policies, Robin resolves the conflict in this order: first within the same policy (individual over group), then across different policies.
• Tip: If a user belongs to groups with different policies, give that user their own individual policy so the right rules apply.

Specific days vs. all days

• If a policy defines only Specific Days, the priority window applies on those days, and the "everyone else" window applies to other users on those days. On the other days of the week, the general office booking window applies, unless a separate policy applies.
• If a policy defines both Specific Days and All Days windows, the anchor day rules take precedence on the specified days. On the rest of the week, the all days booking window applies. For "everyone else," the "everyone else" window applies on all days.

Floor and desk group policies

You can define a floor policy for the whole floor and a desk group policy for a group of desks (desk group) on that floor. The desk group policy overrides the floor policy for the desks in the desk group. This gives you finer control of specific areas within a floor policy.

For example, if a policy covers the whole floor and a separate policy covers a desk group on that floor, Robin uses the desk group policy when people book desks in that desk group.

These limits prevent booking conflicts and keep each user's priority access clear, while admins can still create detailed, flexible booking policies.