Availability and time slots

A table is never simply free or taken — it is free relative to a window of time. Availability is worked out for the date and the arrival-to-departure window being asked about.

Why that matters

A venue that turns tables twice a night is selling the same table twice, and Spotly treats that as normal. A booking from 20:00 to 22:30 does not make the table unavailable at 23:00.

The table's detail view shows its whole night as a timeline, so a manager can see exactly what is booked when.

Cart holds appear on the floor

If a guest is mid-checkout for a table, that table shows as held on the live floor. It is not sold yet, and if they abandon the checkout the hold clears itself within a couple of minutes.

This confuses venues the first time they see it. Explain it once: a held table is someone with their card out, and it will free itself if they walk away.

Important notes

Nothing here prevents a venue from deliberately double-booking a table if it drags a second booking onto it. Spotly warns rather than blocks — the venue knows its room better than the software does.