> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.riservahq.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Party size, cutoffs and who can book Three settings decide who gets to book a time: party size limits, the online booking cutoff, and who can book. All three hold guests to the rule and let your staff past it in some way. The table at the end shows what staff can override. *** ## Party size limits Party size limits set the smallest and largest party an experience takes. Set **Min party** and **Max party** on each experience, under **Capacity & party**. Guests are held to them strictly. The booking window's guest stepper won't go outside the range. The experiences list tells them the range up front: "For 2–8 guests". If a guest somehow submits a party outside the range, they're told: > That party size can't be booked online for this time. Try a different party > size or contact us. ### Groups per slot **Max groups per slot** caps the number of *distinct parties* in one seating, regardless of headcount. It sits behind **Advanced** on the same card. Leave it blank for no limit. Twelve seats can be twelve solo guests or two parties of six. Those are very different services. If your team can only handle four conversations at once, cap the groups at four. ### Sharing a table Whether strangers share a table is set on the **table**, not the experience. Tick **Communal seating** on a bar or farm table in the venue's floor map. It then takes several parties until its seats run out. See [Tables and the floor map](/getting-started/tables-and-floor-map). *** ## The online booking cutoff The online booking cutoff is how close to a seating you'll still take a reservation from the website. Set it under **Booking rules → Online booking cutoff (min)**. The template you start from sets it, and you can change it: * 60 minutes for a tasting * 30 for restaurant service * 120 for a tour * a day for a private buyout The help text says exactly what matters: > How close to a start time online reservations close. **Staff can always book > past this.** So a 60-minute cutoff means the 3:00 tasting drops off the website at 2:00. Your team can still book someone into it at 2:55 from the admin. Availability search, the host desk and the waitlist all ignore the cutoff. Set the cutoff to match your actual prep. A tour that needs a guide briefed wants 120 minutes; a walk-up-friendly bar might want 15. A guest may have the booking window open when the cutoff passes. They see: > That time can no longer be booked online. Please pick a later time or contact > us. *** ## Public or members only **Who can book** decides whether anyone, only members, or only your staff can book an experience. It sits in the experience editor's right-hand rail, with three options: * **Anyone** * **Members only** * **Unlisted — staff book it** Staff always see and can always book members-only experiences. ### Members only Only recognised members can book a members-only experience online. What a non-member *sees* is your choice, per experience. When you pick **Members only**, a checkbox appears beneath it: **"Show it to non-members as locked, with a link to join"**. It is ticked unless you untick it. **Ticked (the default): listed, with a way to join.** In your store's Experiences list, a non-member sees the card like any other: photo, **Members only** chip, price and **Book** button. A date search shows them no times. Pressing **Book** opens the booking window on a "Reserved for members" notice. It shows your message, your join button ("Join to book" unless you change it) and **Sign in**. The ticked setting sells the club. Guests see what membership opens up, and the pitch comes when they reach for it. **Unticked: not listed.** Non-members never see the experience in the Experiences list. Use this for a private members' event you would rather not advertise. **Either way, nothing a non-member clicks books it.** Their times are never returned, and a reservation attempt is refused. An experience marked members-only carries a **Members only** badge on its own page, in the experiences list, and in staff availability search. > **Set up member recognition first.** If no member tags are set up, a > members-only experience can't be booked by *anyone* online. The editor warns > you when you pick "Members only" in that state: "No member tags are set up > yet, so no guest can book this online". **Riserva knows members by their Shopify tags.** It matches the customer's tags against the member tags you set in **Settings → Memberships → Member recognition**. See [Member benefits](/memberships/member-benefits). **Members must be logged in to book as members.** A guest counts as a member only when **logged in** to your store as a customer whose tags match your member tags. A club member browsing while logged out is, as far as your website is concerned, a stranger. Tell members to sign in before booking, and expect some phone calls either way. The notice is set once for your store, under **Settings → Memberships → Members-only experiences**: * **Message to non-members** — blank uses "This experience is reserved for members of our wine club. Join to book it, or sign in if you're already a member." * **Join link** — a page on your store, such as `/pages/wine-club`, or a full web address. Leave the link blank and the window offers **Sign in** only. * **Join button label** * **Which button leads** — "Join first, Sign in underneath" (the default) or "Sign in first, Join underneath". The leading one is the big button; the other is a quiet link under it. A single Experiences list or Experience booking block can use a different link and label from its own settings in the theme editor. The same notice opens when a non-member lands on the experience's **own product page** and presses its booking button. They may arrive from a shared link or a search engine. They never meet a dead calendar. A logged-in customer without member access sees your message and your join button. They also see a quiet line saying their account doesn't currently have member access. There is no **Sign in** for them, which would only bring them back. A recognised member sees the normal calendar. ### Unlisted **Unlisted** is for private events booked by phone or email rather than self-serve, such as buyouts and industry dinners. An unlisted experience is fully operational for your team: admin and POS book it normally. But it is invisible online. * It never appears in the experiences list. * Its times are never served. * Its Shopify product is published to the **POS channel only**, so there is no product page for a guest to find. Guests who *hold* a reservation on it can still manage it with their confirmation code and email, including rescheduling. Flip it back to Anyone and the product returns to the Online Store on the next save. *** ## What staff can override, in one table Staff can override most of these rules; guests can't. | Rule | Guests | Staff | | - | - | - | | Party size limits | Enforced | Enforced, with an "Overbook — apply this change anyway" override on edit and "Seat anyway" at the host desk | | Online booking cutoff | Enforced | Ignored | | Members only | Listed with no times; **Book** opens a "Reserved for members" notice with your join button (or not listed, if you untick the checkbox) — never bookable by non-members | Visible and bookable | | Unlisted | Hidden entirely — no listing, no product page | Visible and bookable | | Capacity / tables sold out | Enforced | Can override with an explicit confirmation | | Which experience a reservation is for | Can't change it | Can change it, with the money worked out | Every override is recorded on the reservation's timeline with the staff member's name against it. *** **What things mean on this screen:** [What things mean: Experiences](/reference/experiences) ## Related * [Capacity strategies explained](/core-concepts/capacity-strategies) * [Member benefits](/memberships/member-benefits) * [Edit a reservation](/daily-operations/edit-a-reservation) This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.