Block Resources for Maintenance

When you need to make a resource unavailable temporarily – without changing the normal weekly schedule – you use blocked times. Common reasons are maintenance, cleaning, private corporate events or staff kickoff.

Difference from regular opening hours:

• Availability (weekly schedule) = recurring, applies every week
• Blocked times = one-off exceptions for a specific date and time range

Open the block tab:

1. Go to Admin → Bookings → Settings → Resources
2. Click the resource
3. Choose the Blocked times tab
4. Click Add block

Fields:

Common scenarios:

Scenario 1 – Planned maintenance A bowling lane needs servicing. Block the entire day:

• Date: 2026-05-14
• Start: 00:00
• End: 23:59
• Reason: "Service of pin machine"

Scenario 2 – Private corporate event A company booked the entire private room for the evening outside the normal flow:

• Date: 2026-06-20
• Start: 17:00
• End: 23:00
• Reason: "Private booking Volvo – invoiced"

Scenario 3 – Staff kickoff Karaoke room closed for an internal party:

• Date: 2026-08-15
• Start: 18:00
• End: 23:00
• Reason: "Staff kickoff"

Scenario 4 – National holiday Meeting room off-limits on Sweden's National Day:

• Date: 2026-06-06
• Start: 00:00
• End: 23:59
• Reason: "National Day – closed"

How it affects the booking flow: When a guest opens the booking page for that date they see slots greyed out and marked as "Unavailable" for the blocked times. The guest cannot select them.

Safety net: Vendion has built-in protection that guarantees a booking can never be created on top of a block. If a guest tries to book a slot that gets blocked at the same instant, they get a clear error instead of a double booking.

Block vs. cancelling a whole day: If you know the resource is closed every Monday in October, it's smarter to remove Mondays from the regular availability for October. But for individual dates – use a block.

Edit or remove a block:

• Click the block in the list → pencil icon → change time or date → save
• Click the trash icon to delete. Once removed, the time becomes bookable again immediately.

Warning – existing bookings are not affected: If you add a block on a time where a guest has already booked:

• The existing booking remains and is still valid
• The admin UI warns you about this
• You must contact the guest manually to move or cancel
• Future guests cannot book that range

Recommendation: before blocking a larger range, always check the calendar view so you don't accidentally overlap an existing booking.

Using blocks for seasonal closure: Closing the orangery November–March? Don't create 150 blocks. Do one of:

1. Deactivate the resource – toggle "Active" off (resource disappears from the public page)
2. Empty weekly schedule – remove all availability windows for the period

Blocks are for shorter, distinct events (hours to days).

Checkbox before confirming a block:

• Correct date and time
• No existing booking in the range (check the calendar)
• The reason is clear – future-you will understand why
• Guests already booked in the range have been informed (if any)

Blocking multiple resources at once: In today's UI you block one resource at a time. If the entire venue is closing for a day (e.g. inventory or staff party), add the block separately to each resource or use the global "Exceptions & closed days" (see Handle exceptions & closed days) for the whole restaurant.

Export blocks for accounting: If a block corresponds to a private event that is invoiced separately – screenshot or log it manually, because the block table is not currently auto-exported to accounting. A future "Private booking" feature is planned that combines a block + invoice line item in a single action.

Real-world scenarios:

Scenario – Nightclub with three private rooms: "Friday June 20 a company rents the whole venue for a summer party 19:00–02:00." Solution: block all three private rooms with start 19:00 and end 23:59, plus the next day (June 21) 00:00–02:00. Reason: "Private booking Volvo summer party, invoice: 50 000 SEK".

Scenario – Bowling alley with periodic servicing: "The pin machine on lane 4 is serviced the first Monday of each month, 10:00–14:00." Solution: enter 12 blocks per year (one first Monday each) at the start of the year so you don't forget. Reason: "Planned maintenance – lane vendor".

Scenario – Restaurant with private room: "The chef wants to test new recipes every Wednesday afternoon 14:00–17:00 in the Wine Cellar." Solution: 52 blocks per year. Alternatively: change availability to not include Wed 14–17. Both work, but the availability change is more permanent.

Audit log for blocks: Every block is timestamped and the user is visible in the admin log. If someone on staff creates an incorrect block, you can trace who and when.

Related: Resource availability and schedules, Public resource booking