Managing large or flexible Meeting Rooms can be tricky when spaces must be combined or blocked as a group. OfficeRnD Flex solves this problem with hierarchical Meeting Rooms, a feature that lets you link rooms together.
When one room is booked, all related rooms are booked automatically. This helps prevent double bookings, ensures room availability, and supports dynamic space configurations.
In this article, you'll learn how parent-child Meeting Room relationships work, when to use them, and what to expect from the system.
Summary
Link Meeting Rooms in parent-child relationships to support multi-room bookings.
Automatically block related rooms when one is reserved.
Prevent availability conflicts between connected rooms.
Set one child resource under multiple parent rooms to reflect flexible setups.
Ensure configuration is correct before accepting future bookings.
Understand booking behavior across past, current, and future periods.
What are hierarchical Meeting Rooms?
Hierarchical Meeting Rooms let you link Meeting Rooms using parent-child relationships. When one room is booked, all its linked rooms are also booked. The connection works both ways depending on how the rooms are related.
Hierarchical Meeting Rooms let you:
Link multiple child rooms under one parent room.
Link one child room to multiple parents.
Automatically reserve all linked rooms when any part of the chain is booked.
Avoid manual availability checks when dealing with connected Meeting Rooms.
When and why to use hierarchical Meeting Rooms?
You may want to use hierarchical Meeting Rooms when your workspace has flexible layouts or divisible spaces. For example, if Room C can be used on its own or combined with Room A and Room B for larger events, it is essential to manage their availability as a group. Without this feature, users might accidentally double-book a shared space.
You can use this feature when:
Rooms can be opened up or combined for larger events.
Meeting Rooms are separated by movable partitions.
One large room can be split into smaller bookable areas.
Teams need multiple connected spaces blocked together.
This setup prevents conflicting bookings and gives you full control over how flexible Meeting Rooms are managed.
Important considerations
Please keep in mind the following limitations before enabling parent-child relationship for meeting rooms:
You cannot edit the availability of resources with a parent/child relationship. Please make sure you set the correct dates before linking the resources.
You will not be able to remove the parent-child relationship until all future bookings for the parent have been removed. Please make sure the setup is correct before committing to making bookings for the parent.
Create a hierarchical relationship between meeting rooms
To create a hierarchical relationship between meeting rooms, you must first enable this feature. To do that:
Go to Settings > Space > Resource Types and click Meeting Room.
In the Edit Resource Type dialog, select Allow parent/child relationship.
Click Update.
Example scenarios
You can create a basic setup by linking two or three meeting rooms, but you can also achieve a more complicated group of interlinked resources that unlocks more advanced use cases.
Scenario 1: Multiple child rooms under one parent
You have a large conference room that can be split into 3 smaller Meeting Rooms. When someone books the full room (the parent), the system automatically books all 3 child rooms.
Scenario 2: One child room with multiple parents
One child resource can have multiple parent resources. If Room C has two parents: Room A and Room B, the following rules will apply:
Booking the child resource Room C automatically books all parent resources (Room A and Room B).
Booking one parent resource (Room A) automatically books all its child resources (Room C and Room D).
Scenario 3: Complex group relationships
Imagine you have the following setup:
Room A and Room B are parents of Room C.
Room A is also a parent of Room D.
Then the following will happen:
Booking Room A blocks Rooms B, C, and D.
Booking Room B blocks Rooms A and C only.
Booking Room C blocks Rooms A and B only.
Booking Room D blocks Room A only.
Tips for success
Follow these tips to avoid misconfiguration and ensure your rooms work as expected:
Configure parent-child relationships only after setting room availability.
You cannot manually edit the availability of linked resources.
You cannot remove the relationship while future bookings for the parent room exist.
Check how bookings behave in past and future dates:
Past bookings are allowed even after hierarchical linking for both child and parent resources.
Duplicate bookings are blocked for the current year.
Future bookings (more than one year in advance) for a child and a parent resource may overlap while the hierarchical relationship is active.
FAQ: Using hierarchical Meeting Rooms
Can I edit the availability of linked rooms after setting up the parent-child relationship?
No. Once rooms are linked in a parent-child relationship, their availability cannot be edited individually. Make sure all availability details are correct before linking.
Can I remove the parent-child relationship after it's set up?
You can only remove the relationship after deleting all future bookings for the parent room. Ensure the setup is correct before creating new bookings.
What happens if I book a child room that has multiple parents?
If you book a child room with multiple parent rooms, all parent rooms will also be booked automatically.
Can a room have more than one parent?
Yes. A single Meeting Room can be linked to multiple parent rooms. This is useful when a space can be combined in different ways with others.
Are past bookings affected when I link Meeting Rooms?
No. You can still create or edit past bookings. However, it's possible to accidentally double-book the same time slot in the past or more than one year in the future if rooms are not already linked.
Can I use this feature for bookings more than a year in advance?
Yes, but the system may allow overlapping bookings if the parent-child link was not active at the time of booking. Always double-check linked room availability when working far ahead.
What happens if I book a parent room?
Booking a parent room automatically blocks all its child rooms for the same time period. This helps prevent accidental overbooking of shared spaces.