Create your product schedules using operating hours – Help Center

Product schedules in ROLLER define the dates and times your sessions are available across the day for guests to purchase. When product schedules are linked to operating hours, session times available to book are automatically generated to fit within these hours. With varying trading hours across the week, this reduces the number of schedules you'll need to manage for each product, saving you time. What's more, any changes including temporary adjustments automatically update the session times available for any linked schedules.

This guide shows you how to create product schedules using operating hours.

For schedules that occur at regular intervals across the day, you can choose to fully link them to your venue's opening and closing times, partially link, or not link to them at at all.

And for schedules with irregular session times or varied resources/tickets, you still have the flexibility to create fully customized schedules.

Creating product schedules using operating hours apply to time-based session pass and party package products. This includes session pass products that are part of the package product type. They do not apply to recurring pass product schedules. Learn how to create schedules for recurring passes

Access product schedules

You can access your schedules in three different ways:

From the Operating hours view, you can easily switch to the Schedules view by selecting Schedules at the top right.
From the product settings page, once you've finished setting the product up, select Save and go to schedules.
From Venue Manager, go to Products > Schedules.

When you access schedules for the first time as a new customer, you're required to set up your operating hours. As an existing customer, you can set up your operating hours at any time without impacting any current schedules. When creating new, regular product schedules, you can then link them to operating hours to take advantage of this feature. You'll need to recreate your regular existing product schedules to use operating hours.

Four types of schedules you can create

Once you've set up your operating hours, there are four main types of schedules you can create.

Link to operating hours for regular schedules with consistent session times, and the same tickets sold and resources used. For schedules that occur at irregular session times or have varied ticket types and resources, you can still create fully customized schedules.

Regular schedules fully linked to operating hours

Session times that occur at regular intervals, such as every 30 minutes, throughout the day, from open to close. For each individual product schedule, the tickets sold and the resources used must be the same for all sessions available. For example:

You sell adult, child and student concession tickets at regular session times across the day (refer to the example in this guide below) with varying opening hours across the week and different hours during school holidays. With operating hours, you'll only need to create one schedule to make these products available for guests to purchase at the right times.
Your product has higher priced tickets for peak periods and lower priced tickets for off-peak periods. You want to make the higher priced tickets only available for sale for weekends and the lower-priced tickets for weekdays. See example

Regular schedules partially linked to operating hours

Session times that run at regular intervals between your venue's opening and closing times but may have a custom start OR end time. For each individual product schedule, the tickets sold and the resources used must be the same for all sessions available.

For example, regular morning sessions that start at 9 AM when your venue opens and end at midday, even though your venue remains open until 8 PM. See example

Regular schedules not linked to opening and closing times

These are schedules that have consistent session start times that begin and end at times unrelated to your operating hours. For each individual product schedule, the tickets sold and the resources used must be the same for all sessions available.

While the sessions are not linked to your opening and closing times, they can be connected to operating hours in that, by default, sessions that fall outside of operating hours are not available for booking.
You can, however, choose to allow session times outside of your operating hours. Read the section Allow sessions outside of operating hours below to see how to enable this.
You can also select a maximum future booking window that automatically extends on a rolling basis each day.

Examples include:

Lunchtime sessions from 12 PM to 2 PM. Bookings outside of operating hours are NOT allowed to make sure that guests can't book if the venue is closed at lunchtime at any point in the future. See example
A special event for Halloween that begins after your venue normally closes for the day. Bookings outside of operating hours are allowed so that session times are available for guests to purchase for this particular product only. Read the section Allow sessions outside of operating hours below to see how to enable this.
A private event that starts earlier and ends later than your regular operating hours. Bookings outside of operating hours are allowed so that tickets are available for purchase.

Fully customized schedules

You can create fully customized schedules with session times that start and end at the times you set, may not run at regular session intervals, and can have varied ticket types sold or resources used for each session time. Customized schedules are not linked to opening and closing times so any changes made to operating hours will not automatically adjust session times.

While the sessions are not linked to your opening and closing times, they are connected to operating hours in that available session times are restricted by default to operating hours.
You can, however, choose to allow session times falling outside of your operating hours. Read the section Allow sessions outside of operating hours below to see how to enable this.
You can also select a maximum future booking window that automatically extends on a rolling basis each day.
If you are an HQ account, you can't create customized schedules at the HQ level. You can, however, create them at the venue level.

Examples include:

Parties with irregular starting times, offering various ticket types, and using different resources to manage venue capacity for different session times.
Fitness classes at irregular hours for the quieter times at your venue. See example

If you're an existing customer making the switch to operating hours, take a look at the recommended steps for migrating to product schedules using operating hours.

Create a regular schedule fully linked to operating hours

A regular schedule fully linked to operating hours is one of the most common product schedules you can create. For example, a schedule that allows guests to book adult, child or other ticket types at consistent session times from open to close, including different hours midweek, on weekends and during school holidays.

By linking to operating hours, you can manage the varying hours across the week and during school holidays with only one linked product schedule.

To create a regular schedule fully linked to operating hours, follow the steps outlined below. Read on for other types of schedules.

First, set up your operating hours

Make sure you've set up your operating hours to include:

Standard hours for the different trading hours for each day of the week.
Temporary hours for school holiday hours.

Create and fully link your schedule to your operating hours

From Venue Manager, go to Products > Schedules.
Select the product you want, then select Create schedule.
Give your schedule a name (eg Skate session - Mon to Sun) and description (optional).

Then complete the options as follows.

Options	Steps
First session starts at	Keep Opening time selected so that your first session starts at the same time your venue opens each day (set up in operating hours). If you want the first session to start earlier or later, you can deselect this option and choose a custom start time (refer to partially linked/not linked examples below to learn more).
Last session ends at	Keep Closing time selected so that sessions are available until the closing time on any given day (set up in operating hours). If you want the last session to end earlier or later, you can deselect this option and choose a custom time (refer to partially linked/not linked examples below to learn more). This setting takes into account the frequency of sessions you set below and the session duration you set when creating the product.
Session starts every	Choose how often you want sessions to start between the time your venue opens and closes. For example, every 30 MINS. Guests will be able to purchase tickets for sessions starting every half hour. ROLLER automatically generates sessions to align with your opening and closing times, with the first session starting when you open. Any future changes to your operating hours will automatically adjust (extend or reduce) the session times available to align within the updated hours.
Tickets and resources	The Tickets and Resources card shows the tickets to be sold for each session and the resources used to manage capacity for sessions available. These autofill from your product setup. You must have a resource assigned to manage the capacity and availability for sessions. Tickets and resources must be the same for each session in a single schedule. You can edit individual tickets available by selecting the card and removing any tickets from the search fields. This will apply to all session times.
Schedule period	Choose when you want the schedule to be available, subject to operating hours: Every day, Selected days per week or Custom dates. Choose Every day for every day of the week, Selected days of the week for some days, and Custom dates for only a specific date or date range. If choosing selected days of the week (eg Mon to Thurs), deselect the days you don't want (eg Fri, Sat and Sun). If choosing custom dates, select the Plus icon to choose the date (double-click) or date range from the drop-down calendar, then Apply.
Start date	Select the Start date for the sessions to be available for schedules available every day or selected days of the week. (Note that this setting is not available for custom date schedule periods.)
Maximum booking window	Select the maximum booking window for guests to be able to book into the future. When deciding, take into account when you might next be changing your hours so that guests don't book into a session that may not be available in the future. The booking window automatically extends on a rolling basis each day. Note that this setting is not available for custom date schedule periods.

Select Save.

Once saved, the sessions are available to book via Venue Manager.
Once added to the online checkout or a POS menu, the sessions and tickets will be available for guests to purchase from open to close at 30 MIN intervals.
Session times available to book will adjust automatically for any temporary hours such as school holidays set up in operating hours or any changes you make to standard opening/closing times.
If not selling online or at POS, you'll be able to take bookings for the sessions available in Venue Manager.

By selecting a date in the schedules calendar, you can see what products are available, the opening and closing times set up in operating hours, and whether they're using standard hours or temporary hours.

Read on to learn about further common scheduling scenarios.

How to set up other types of schedules

Learn how to create other types of product schedules using operating hours.

Limit bookings per session start time

This option appears when you're creating a schedule with two or more single-booking resources (eg party rooms). You can use this option to limit the number of bookings for single-booking resources that can start at the same time. This can help stagger the arrival time of guests for large group bookings during the busy periods at your venue.

To enable this option:

Select Limit bookings per start time.
Choose how many bookings that can start at the same time.

Allow sessions outside of operating hours

The Allow sessions outside of operating hours option appears when creating the following two types of schedules:

Regular schedules not linked to venue opening and closing times
Fully customized schedules

Why is the default to restrict sessions to operating hours?

By default, the option is not selected, meaning that sessions are not allowed outside of your operating hours.

This ensures that session times available for purchase are within the operating hours on any given day. For example, for a lunchtime special schedule, sessions outside operating hours would be restricted to prevent availability if the venue is closed temporarily.

When would I enable this option?

By allowing sessions outside of operating hours, sessions that occur outside of operating hours can be booked.

This option is useful for special events such as a Halloween event that starts after your venue's closing time. Guests can purchase tickets for these types of events without affecting other product schedules tied to operating hours.

Another example is for private events that start before the venue opens and end after it closes. By allowing sessions outside of operating hours, bookings can be made for such events.

As with any product, by not adding the product to the checkout or a POS menu, you could restrict bookings to be controlled by staff by creating bookings in Venue Manager at the times available in the schedule.

View operating hours and products for the day

From Venue Manager, go to Products > Schedules.
Select a date in the schedules calendar.
A banner appears at the top of the right panel showing:
- Operating hours for the day including if they are standard hours or temporary hours.
- Products available for the day and the start and finish times for each schedule.
- You can also see which products are linked in some way to operating hours.

Days already in use schedule conflicts

Scheduling conflicts occur when days in different schedules for a product overlap. To prevent scheduling conflicts, you'll get a Days already in use message with guidance to resolve the issue.

When creating a schedule for a product that already has a schedule, you'll get the Days already in use schedule conflict. This is because all days are selected for new schedules by default. You'll also get this message when duplicating an existing product's schedule, as it copies the same days from the existing schedule.

To resolve, change the days selected to the days you want for the schedule you're creating.

When creating a new schedule using custom dates for your schedule period, you may select a date or dates that another schedule for the product is using. You'll also get a Days already in use message prompting you to either adjust the current schedule period or exclude the days from the other schedule/s. To resolve:

You can either edit the schedule to change the custom dates to remove the conflict.
Or you can select Exclude days from conflicting schedules in the message. A confirmation pop-up appears to confirm moving the conflicting dates to the new schedule you're creating.

Manage your schedules

To edit a schedule, copy an existing schedule from another product, duplicate an existing schedule within a product, or create fully customized sessions, refer to the guide Manage your product schedules

Learn more

Examples