Create Rooms

This guide walks you through creating and configuring facility rooms in StationOne.

Prerequisites

• Brigade admin or organisation admin role
• Access to your brigade’s StationOne instance
• Room details (name, capacity, location)

Steps

1. Navigate to Rooms

1. Log in to StationOne
2. Select your organisation and unit (if applicable)
3. Click Rooms in the main navigation
4. Click the New Room button

2. Enter Room Details

Fill in the room information form:

Basic Information

Name (required)

• Clear, descriptive room name
• Must be unique within your unit
• Example: “Training Room”, “Meeting Room A”, “Conference Room”

Description (optional)

• Detailed room information
• Available equipment or features
• Any special notes or rules
• Example: “Main training room with projector, whiteboard, and tables for 20 people”

Location (optional)

• Physical location within facility
• Example: “First Floor, East Wing”, “Building B, Room 103”

Capacity (optional)

• Maximum occupancy number
• Helps users plan appropriate bookings
• Example: 20, 50, 100

Room Settings

Active

• Check to make room visible and available
• Uncheck to temporarily hide room
• Default: Checked

Bookable

• Check to allow booking requests
• Uncheck for reference-only rooms
• Default: Checked

Requires Approval

• Check if bookings need administrator approval
• Uncheck for automatic approval
• Default: Unchecked
• Note: Public bookings always require approval

Availability Period (optional)

Use this for items that are only bookable for a limited time, such as a training prop, a piece of loaned equipment, or a pop-up space — rather than creating a permanent room record for something temporary.

Available From

• Date the room/item becomes bookable
• Leave blank if it’s available immediately (no start restriction)

Available Until

• Last date the room/item can be booked
• Leave blank if it has no end date (available indefinitely, subject to Active/Bookable)

How it works:

• Outside this date range, the room is treated as not bookable — same effect as unchecking Bookable, but automatic
• The booking date/time picker (web, public page, and mobile app) will not let anyone pick a date outside this range
• Rooms with a period set show an “Until DD/MM/YYYY” badge in room lists so admins can see at a glance when something expires
• The room automatically becomes bookable again if today falls back within the range (e.g. if you edit the dates later)
• Leave both fields blank for a normal, permanent room — this is the default and does not change existing rooms

Public Access (optional)

Enable Public Access

• Check to generate a public URL for this room
• Allows viewing room details without login
• Generates secure unique token

Enable Public Booking

• Check to allow public booking requests
• Requires “Enable Public Access” to be checked
• All public bookings require approval

3. Save Room

Click Create Room to save.

The room is created and:

• Added to your unit’s room list
• Available for booking (if bookable)
• Generates public token (if public access enabled)
• Ready for use in events and training

Next Steps

After creating a room, you may want to:

View Room Details

1. Click on room name from rooms list
2. View room information and settings
3. See availability period, if one is set
4. See upcoming bookings
5. See pending approval requests
6. Access public URL (if enabled)

Edit Room Settings

1. Open room details
2. Click Edit button
3. Update any fields
4. Click Update Room

Changes take effect immediately.

Enable Public Access Later

If you didn’t enable public access during creation:

1. Open room details
2. Click Enable Public Access button
3. Public token generated
4. Copy public URL to share
5. Optionally enable public booking

Share Public Room URL

If public access is enabled:

1. Open room details
2. Find Public URL section
3. Copy the unique URL
4. Share with community or website
5. Anyone with URL can view room and bookings

Regenerate Public Token

If you need to change the public URL:

1. Open room details
2. Click Regenerate Public Token button
3. Confirm regeneration
4. New URL generated
5. Previous URL stops working

Warning: Regeneration invalidates all existing links. Update any shared URLs.

Disable Room Temporarily

To make room unavailable without deleting:

1. Open room details
2. Click Edit button
3. Uncheck Active or Bookable
4. Click Update Room

Active unchecked:

• Room hidden from lists
• Cannot receive bookings
• Existing bookings remain valid

Bookable unchecked:

• Room visible but not bookable
• Cannot receive new bookings
• Existing bookings remain valid

If you already know the date it should come back: set an Available Until date (and Available From, if it starts later) in the Availability Period fields instead of unchecking Bookable manually. The room disables and re-enables itself automatically on those dates, so nobody has to remember to flip it back on.

Delete Room

To permanently remove a room:

1. Open room details
2. Click Delete button
3. Confirm deletion

Warning: Deletion removes room and all associated bookings. This cannot be undone.

Tips

Choosing Room Names

Good names:

• “Training Room”
• “Meeting Room A”
• “Conference Room”
• “Community Hall”
• “Equipment Bay”

Avoid:

• Generic numbers without context (“Room 1”)
• Temporary designations
• Names that may change frequently

Setting Capacity

Include capacity if:

• Room has fire code limits
• Seating is fixed
• You want to help users plan appropriately
• Important for event planning

Skip capacity if:

• Flexible space with moveable furniture
• Capacity varies by use case
• Not a constraint for bookings

Requiring Approval

Use approval when:

• Limited room availability
• Shared with community groups
• Special equipment needs supervision
• Want to coordinate usage manually
• Need to track who books space

Skip approval for:

• Internal team coordination
• High availability rooms
• Casual booking spaces
• Simple scheduling needs

Note: Member bookings can bypass approval, but public bookings always require it.

Booking Temporary Items

Rooms aren’t only for physical rooms — brigades commonly use them to track and book anything that needs a reservation and a usage record, including temporary items:

• Training props on loan for a set period
• Borrowed equipment with a fixed return date
• Pop-up spaces set up for an event or exercise

Setup:

1. Create a room-type entry named for the item (e.g. “Extrication Prop”, “Loaned BA Trailer”)
2. Set Available From / Available Until to the loan or usage period
3. Leave Active and Bookable checked — the availability period handles the automatic on/off

Result:

• The item appears in booking lists and the date/time picker only accepts dates inside the window
• It disappears from bookable lists automatically once the period ends — no manual cleanup needed
• Booking history is retained for the record, the same as any other room

Public Access Strategy

Enable public access for:

• Community meeting rooms
• Shared facility spaces
• Public event venues
• Spaces available for rent

Keep private for:

• Internal staff areas
• Sensitive locations
• Limited availability spaces
• Equipment storage areas

Public booking considerations:

• All public bookings require approval
• Public bookers provide name/email
• You review each request manually
• Can enable viewing without booking

Common Issues

”Name has already been taken for this unit”

Each room name must be unique within your unit.

Solution:

• Choose a different name
• Add distinguishing details (“Training Room - East”)
• Check if inactive room has same name

Room Not Appearing in Booking List

If room doesn’t show when creating bookings:

Check:

1. Room is marked Active
2. Room is marked Bookable
3. Today’s date falls within the room’s Availability Period, if one is set
4. You’re in correct unit context
5. Room belongs to your unit (not another unit)

Booking Rejected for Being Outside the Availability Period

If a booking is refused with a message about the item’s availability dates:

This means:

• The room has an Available From and/or Available Until date set
• The requested start or end time falls outside that range

Solution:

• Check the room’s Availability Period on its details page
• Choose dates within that window
• Ask an administrator to extend the Available Until date if the item is still needed

Cannot Enable Public Booking

Public booking requires public access first.

Solution:

1. Enable Public Access first
2. Then enable Public Booking
3. Both must be checked

Public URL Not Working After Regeneration

Regenerating token invalidates previous URLs.

Solution:

1. Copy new URL from room details
2. Update all shared links
3. Notify anyone with old URL
4. Consider email or announcement about change

Room Shows Too Many Bookings

Large number of bookings may clutter the view.

Solution:

• Room details show next 10 upcoming bookings
• View all bookings from room’s booking list
• Filter by date range in booking list
• Archive or cancel old bookings if needed

Best Practices

Room Organization

Create separate rooms for:

• Different physical spaces
• Spaces with different purposes
• Areas with different access rules
• Locations requiring different approval processes

Don’t create:

• Duplicate rooms for same space
• Rooms you’ll never use for booking

For temporary arrangements (a training prop, borrowed equipment, a pop-up space), create the room but set an Availability Period rather than leaving it as a permanent entry — see Booking Temporary Items above.

Description Content

Include in description:

• Available equipment (projector, tables, chairs)
• Special features (kitchen access, outdoor space)
• Access restrictions or requirements
• Contact for questions
• Rules or guidelines

Managing Access

For internal rooms:

• Keep public access disabled
• Use approval if needed
• Allow direct member booking

For shared spaces:

• Enable public viewing
• Enable public booking if appropriate
• Require approval for oversight
• Include contact in description

For mixed use:

• Enable both internal and public booking
• Use approval to coordinate
• Clear description of intended uses

Regular Maintenance

Periodically review:

• Are all rooms still in use?
• Are inactive rooms needed?
• Do descriptions need updates?
• Is capacity still accurate?
• Are approval settings still appropriate?

Related Guides

• Rooms - Feature overview
• Create Room Bookings - Booking rooms
• Public Room Booking - Public booking process