Resources (Rooms & Equipment)

Define the rooms, chairs, machines, and other physical assets your venue needs to deliver services. OpenChair uses resources to prevent double-bookings, manage blocked time, and support resource-only services without inventing fake staff members.

Where to find it Web: Sidebar -> Resources Mobile: More -> Resources

TL;DR

• Resources prevent double-bookings by tracking physical assets (rooms, chairs, equipment) per booking
• Requires PRO subscription
• Group interchangeable resources into categories. OpenChair picks from the pool automatically using your chosen strategy
• Use Balanced Rotation for even wear; use Preferred Order for predictable room assignment

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Overview

Resources let you:

• Create named resources with a capacity, category, priority, and lifecycle state
• Group similar resources into categories so services can use any eligible item in a pool
• Set category or resource hours and add blocked time for maintenance or downtime
• Support both staff-led and resource-only services
• Prevent double-bookings by assigning concrete resource reservations to bookings
• Review operational health, repairs, activity, and utilization insights from the resource hub

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Core Mental Model

Resources, categories, and assignment strategies work together to control how physical assets are allocated to bookings.

• Resource: a specific room, chair, bed, machine, or space
• Category: a pool of interchangeable resources, such as Treatment Rooms
• Resource-only eligible: the resource can be used by services configured as Resource-only
• Preferred order: choose lower-priority-number resources first
• Balanced rotation: spread bookings more evenly across a category

Customers still book services, not named rooms or machines.

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Creating a Resource

On web

1. Go to Resources.
2. Click Add Resource.
3. Fill in the resource form:

Field	Required	Notes
Name	Yes	Internal name, 2-100 characters
Capacity	Yes	Concurrent capacity for the resource
Preferred order	Yes	Lower numbers are chosen first when the category uses Preferred order
Category	No	Optional pool such as Treatment Rooms or Saunas
Resource-only eligible	No	Turn on if this resource can be used by Resource-only services

4. Click Create Resource.

On mobile

1. Go to More -> Resources.
2. Tap Add Resource.
3. Fill in the same fields.
4. Tap Create Resource.

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Managing Categories

Categories help OpenChair allocate any eligible resource from a pool rather than one fixed item.

For each category you can:

• rename or archive it
• set default weekly hours
• choose an assignment strategy:
  • Preferred order
  • Balanced rotation

Use Preferred order when your team wants predictable priority. Use Balanced rotation when you want usage spread more evenly across similar resources.

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Setting Availability and Blocked Time

Each resource and category has its own availability hours and can be taken offline with blocked time for maintenance or downtime.

Resources also support:

• Category hours: default availability for all resources in the pool
• Resource hours: override the category only when a specific resource needs different hours
• Blocked time: take a resource offline for cleaning, maintenance, repairs, or private use

OpenChair uses resource hours plus blocked time when offering slots and assigning resources.

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Assigning Resources to Services

Go to Services and configure resource requirements in the service form.

You can assign:

• a specific resource
• a category or pool
• the quantity required

You can also choose the service booking mode:

• Staff-led: normal service booking with staff plus any required resources
• Resource-only: no staff selection, but valid resource availability is still required

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How Availability Works

When OpenChair calculates a slot, it checks:

1. venue business hours
2. service booking mode
3. category or resource availability rules
4. blocked time
5. existing resource reservations and capacity

If any required resource cannot be satisfied, the slot is not offered.

For pooled categories:

• Preferred order follows resource priority
• Balanced rotation spreads usage more evenly across eligible resources

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Calendar and Operations

Resource operations are visible in the calendar and resource hub:

• see resource bookings and blocked time
• reassign supported bookings
• preview impact before archiving, deactivating, or changing hours
• repair bookings that no longer match current resource rules
• review recent activity and operational health

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Insights

The resource hub provides utilisation insights to help you tune your setup, including occupancy, idle capacity, and bottleneck categories.

It also shows:

• occupancy
• idle capacity
• blocked-time volume
• override and repair pressure
• bottleneck categories
• underused resources
• lightweight guidance for tuning hours, pooling, and assignment strategy

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Editing or Deleting Resources

Edit a resource to update its name, capacity, priority, category, or eligibility, or deactivate, archive, or delete it when it is no longer needed.

Edit

Update the resource name, capacity, priority, category, or Resource-only eligible flag.

Deactivate or archive

Prefer these for live venues. OpenChair previews future impact before saving.

Delete

Only delete resources that are no longer in use. Deleting removes the resource permanently.

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Best Practices

• Start with categories for any interchangeable rooms or equipment
• Use Preferred order when teams care about predictable room choice
• Use Balanced rotation when wear, cleaning load, or utilization fairness matters
• Reserve Resource-only for services that truly do not need a staff member
• Use blocked time instead of fake bookings for maintenance and downtime
• Check the resource hub regularly for health issues, repairs, and bottlenecks

FAQ

What are resources?

Resources are the physical assets your venue needs to deliver services, rooms, chairs, beds, machines, or equipment. OpenChair uses them to prevent double-bookings and manage availability.

Do resources require PRO?

Yes, resource management requires a PRO subscription.

What is the difference between Preferred Order and Balanced Rotation?

Preferred Order always assigns the lowest-priority-number resource first. Balanced Rotation spreads bookings more evenly across all eligible resources in the category.

What happens if a required resource is fully booked?

If all units of a required resource are unavailable for a time slot, that slot is not offered to customers.

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