Check the availability of meeting rooms in Outlook

For office managers, facility managers, and other responsible staff who coordinate multiple meeting rooms daily, managing room availability can be a real challenge. The demand for meeting spaces is often high, and without a clear overview of bookings, double bookings or unused time slots can easily occur. In large companies with numerous rooms and changing requirements, having a reliable and quick way to check availability is particularly important – not only to maintain workflow but also to enhance the user experience for all employees.

Outlook offers a range of features designed to simplify room bookings, but these often fall short for more complex requirements. The Scheduling Assistant in Outlook, however, is a useful tool for keeping track of meeting room availability and avoiding booking conflicts. This guide will show you how to use the Scheduling Assistant effectively to quickly see which rooms are free or already booked, and how to better manage the daily coordination of meeting spaces.

However, it quickly becomes evident that Outlook’s room booking functions have their limitations when used intensively. The ability to view multiple rooms simultaneously is restricted, and there is no central calendar view to display all booked and available rooms at a glance. Especially in organizations with a large number of rooms or multiple locations, administrators often have to check each room individually, which is time-consuming and complicates the process. Additionally, Outlook’s status display is limited: it only shows whether a room is free or booked, without additional details on approvals or specific booking rules. These limitations make it challenging to manage rooms efficiently and fulfill employee requirements quickly and reliably.

This is where arbooMEET provides targeted solutions and significantly simplifies room management. With arbooMEET, administrators gain access to a central calendar view that clearly displays the availability of all rooms. Through intuitive color-coding, it’s easy to see at a glance which rooms are free, requested, or already booked, greatly simplifying organization. Appointments can also be moved directly within the calendar view. Instead of checking each room individually, you can instantly access all relevant information in one clear interface.

Moreover, arbooMEET allows for the setup of flexible approval processes and specific booking rules tailored to your company’s requirements. These features make arbooMEET an ideal complement to Outlook, reducing the workload for office and facility managers while ensuring smooth and transparent use of meeting spaces.