How it works
Ghost bookings come from plans that change: a meeting is cancelled but the room is kept, a recurring series outlives the project, someone books a desk and then works from home, or a manager books desks for teammates who do not come. The calendar still says busy.
Related patterns have their own names. A zombie booking is a desk booked but left empty on an ongoing basis. A pirate booking is the reverse: someone uses a desk they did not book. The two distort booking data in opposite directions.
The fix combines check-in and release. When a booking has no check-in within the grace period, auto-release frees it. Booking data alone cannot reveal ghost bookings; check-in, badge, network or sensor data is what shows them.
How to measure it
- Ghost booking rate: bookings with no check-in divided by all bookings, by space type, team and day.
- Recurring series with repeated no-shows.
- Rooms that show as fully booked but have low measured occupancy.
Examples
- A project team's weekly room booking runs for months after the project ended, blocking the room every Thursday afternoon.
- A manager books five desks for the team each Monday; two teammates rarely come, which leaves two desks empty that others could have used.
Common mistakes
- Counting bookings as occupancy, which turns ghost bookings into fake demand.
- Building more meeting rooms to solve a shortage caused by ghost bookings.
- Relying on people to cancel; most never do.
How Kadence helps
Kadence releases desk and room bookings that are not checked in, and Kadence Room Displays (WorkOps Pro) enforce check-in at the door. Recurring booking end-date controls and booking credits stop people holding space they will not use, and Workplace Insights reports no-shows.
Room booking software · Workplace analytics
Frequently asked questions
What is a ghost meeting?
A ghost meeting is a calendar meeting that holds a room but never takes place, or takes place somewhere else. The room shows as busy all the same. It is the meeting-room form of a ghost booking.
How do you stop ghost bookings?
Require check-in and release bookings that nobody checks in to, cap how far recurring bookings can run, limit how much space one person can hold, and make cancelling easy from the calendar or chat tools people already use.
What is the difference between ghost, zombie and pirate bookings?
A ghost booking is a space booked but not used. A zombie booking is a space booked but left empty on an ongoing basis, often through a recurring booking. A pirate is someone using a space they did not book.
Why do ghost bookings matter for real estate decisions?
Booking data full of ghost bookings makes the office look busier than it is. Decisions based on it, such as adding rooms or keeping a floor, can cost money that measured occupancy would have shown was unnecessary.
How do I stop people holding desks they don't use?
Start with assigned desks: compare each one with check-in data and turn the ones that are rarely used into shared or bookable desks. For shared desks, limit how far ahead and how often people can repeat-book. Showing each team its own no-show rate also helps, because held desks are often habit rather than bad faith.
Related terms
- No-show rate The share of desk and room bookings nobody checks in to, which makes space look busier than it is.
- Auto-release A booking rule that frees a desk or room automatically when nobody checks in within a set grace period.
- Meeting room utilization How often meeting rooms are used and how full they are when used, which shows whether you need more rooms or different ones.
- Meeting room display A screen at a meeting room that shows live availability and lets people book, check in and release the room at the door.
Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed