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Back-to-back bookings rejected

Bug huntEasyPython · FastAPIAPI20 min

ROOMS-482: Can't book a room right after another meeting

Ticket #3187 · email · High

From: Priya Raman, Office OperationsFri 30 Oct, 4:48 pm

Hi team, I keep getting messages from people who can't book a meeting room for the hour straight after someone else's meeting. The room is empty, the previous meeting is over, and the booking tool says "Room already booked". This has been happening a lot since most teams switched to one-hour slots in October. People have started booking 10:05 to 11:00 instead of 10:00, which looks silly on the door displays and means the room sits unused for five minutes. Yesterday somebody gave up and took a worse room on another floor, and the all-hands prep ran late because of it.

The one I tried myself: Sam has Orion from 9 to 10 on Tuesday, and when I tried to book Orion for my 1:1 from 10 to 11 the same morning I got that error. Please fix it, it is the most frequent complaint in my inbox.

Priya

Symptom

Support note (Aiko, tier 2): Reproduced on staging with Priya's example (Orion, Tue 3 Nov, 09:00 to 10:00 booked by Sam, then 10:00 to 11:00 for Priya). The second booking is refused with 409 Room already booked, the same message people quote. A booking that really overlaps (for example 09:30 to 10:30) is of course refused, and that is correct and must stay refused. I did not try other rooms. Nothing was deployed on the booking service in the last weeks, as far as I can tell; I think it has always been like this and only shows up now because everybody books full hours.

Steps to reproduce

  1. Book Orion on Tuesday 3 Nov from 09:00 to 10:00 (accepted).
  2. Book Orion on the same day from 10:00 to 11:00 for a different person.

Expected

The second booking is accepted. The first meeting is over at 10:00, so Orion is free from 10:00 onward. Bookings that share any real stretch of time with an existing one are still refused.

Actual

The second booking is refused with "Room already booked".

Ask: let people book a room for the slot straight after (or before) another meeting, without letting real double-bookings through.

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