What Are Shared Room Bookings?
By default, a room can only be assigned to one booking at a time. The Allow Shared Rooms setting changes this — it permits multiple overlapping bookings to be assigned to the same room simultaneously, up to that room's capacity limit.
This setting is found under Settings > Booking Rules > Allow Shared Rooms.
Use Cases
Bunkhouses and dormitory-style rooms A bunkhouse with 8 beds can host multiple separate bookings at once as long as the total guest count stays within the room's capacity. Separate groups share the space and each booking is tracked independently.
Shared cabins Some lodges rent shared cabins where solo travelers or pairs are paired with other guests. Each booking is its own entity with its own trip prep forms, guides, and payments, but the room is occupied by multiple parties.
Base camp or communal lodging For wilderness operations with a central lodge or sleeping quarters used by all guests regardless of booking, shared rooms let you track occupancy without creating artificial conflicts between bookings.
How Capacity Is Enforced
When shared rooms is enabled, Hookset totals the guest counts across all overlapping bookings assigned to a room and compares that to the room's Capacity setting.
- If the combined guest count would exceed capacity, Hookset blocks the assignment and shows a capacity warning.
- If there is enough capacity remaining, the assignment is allowed.
For example, a bunkhouse with a capacity of 8 and two confirmed bookings of 3 guests each (6 total) still has room for a third booking of up to 2 guests.
Note: Capacity enforcement applies during both manual assignment and, if your room assignment mode is set to guest selects, during public checkout.
Enabling Shared Rooms
- Go to Settings > Booking Rules.
- Toggle Allow Shared Rooms to on.
- Click Save.
This setting applies lodge-wide. If you only want certain rooms to be shared, keep this setting off and assign shared rooms manually, bypassing the conflict check.
Viewing Shared Occupancy
On the occupancy calendar, rooms with multiple overlapping bookings show stacked blocks for each booking. Each booking is labeled with the guest name and reference number. The combined guest count for the night is shown in the room row header.
If the combined count approaches or exceeds room capacity, the row header turns yellow as a visual warning.
Tip: For bunkhouses and shared spaces, make sure the Capacity field in Settings > Rooms is set to the total number of guests the space can sleep, not the number of bookings. Capacity is measured in guests.
Turnover Days and Shared Rooms
Turnover day buffers still apply when shared rooms is enabled. The buffer is triggered when the last active booking in a room checks out, not when each individual booking ends. This ensures the room gets its full cleaning window before any new guest arrives.
Related Articles
- Setting Up Rooms — Set room capacity and configure room details
- Room Occupancy and Heatmap — View stacked occupancy on the calendar
- Room Turnover Days — Understand cleaning buffers between bookings