What each table status means
What this covers
The four table statuses, and the two settings that decide them. This page explains why a table you think is free shows as taken — the most common question about Live View.
Note these are table statuses, describing a table right now. They are not the same as booking statuses, which describe one booking's progress — see The reservation lifecycle.
The four statuses
| Status | Means |
|---|---|
| Available | Free now, and with no booking due soon. You can seat someone. |
| Reserved | Empty, but a booking is due shortly — so do not give it away. |
| Occupied | Guests are there now, either arrived or seated. |
| Delayed | A booking's time has passed and nobody has checked in. The guests are late. |
A fifth label, Held for event, appears when an event has taken the table. See What the Events module is for.
The two settings that decide all this
1. How far ahead a booking makes a table "Reserved"
This is the table reserved window, and it starts at 60 minutes. With that setting, a table with a booking at 20:00 turns Reserved at 19:00.
- Shorter — tables stay Available longer, so you can seat more walk-ins, but you risk giving away a table you need in 20 minutes.
- Longer — safer for bookings, but tables sit empty looking "taken" for an hour or more.
A busy restaurant with quick turns usually wants this shorter; a fine-dining room with long sittings wants it longer.
2. How long before a late booking stops holding its table
This is the no-show grace period, and it starts at 2 hours. It does two things at once:
- A booking whose time has passed shows as Delayed rather than silently holding the table.
- Once the grace period is up, the booking stops blocking the table entirely — and Tabledoo marks it as a no-show. See Automatic no-shows and completion.
Without that second part, one forgotten booking would block a table for the rest of the night.
Both settings live in Property Settings → Restaurant — Booking rules reference.
"But that table is empty!"
Work down this list:
- Reserved — a booking is due within your reserved window. Check the Next: line on the table to see who and when.
- Occupied but nobody is sitting there — the guests left and nobody pressed Complete. Complete the booking and the table frees immediately. This is by far the most common cause.
- Delayed — late guests still inside the grace period. Decide whether to hold the table or give it away and mark the booking a no-show.
- Held for event — an event has it.
- Merged — the table is part of a larger party sitting across several tables. See Merging tables for a large party.
Point 2 is worth repeating to the whole team: completing tables as guests leave is what keeps this screen truthful. Everything else on it is calculated correctly.
Why the Dashboard agrees with this screen
The Dashboard's "tables available" figure uses exactly the same two settings and the same rules, so the two screens can never contradict each other. If both look wrong, the cause is uncompleted bookings, not a disagreement between screens.