How it works
A no-show is a booking with no confirmed use. The booking system knows a booking exists; a check-in in the app, at a room display or kiosk, or an automatic presence signal confirms someone used it. When the check-in window passes without one, the booking counts as a no-show.
No-shows have three usual causes: plans change and people do not cancel, recurring bookings outlive the need, and people use the space but forget to check in. The last is a data problem rather than a behavior problem, which is why automatic check-in from network presence or badge data lowers apparent no-show rates.
Auto-release is the operational fix: it frees a booking a few minutes after its start time if nobody checks in, so the space returns to the pool. The no-show rate is the planning signal: high rates on one floor, team or room type show where booked demand overstates real demand.
Formula
No-show rate = (Bookings with no check-in ÷ Total bookings) × 100
- Bookings with no check-in
- Bookings in the period that passed their check-in window without a manual or automatic check-in.
- Total bookings
- All bookings in the same period that were still live at their start time, excluding bookings cancelled in advance.
Worked example · illustrative figures
- A floor records 600 desk bookings in a month, excluding bookings cancelled in advance.
- 90 of them have no check-in.
- 90 ÷ 600 = 0.15.
No-show rate: 15%.
How to measure it
- Exclude bookings cancelled before the start time; count only bookings that were still live.
- Split by space type, floor, team and weekday, because rooms and desks behave differently.
- Separate forgotten check-ins from true no-shows by comparing bookings with presence data.
- Watch recurring bookings separately; they are the most common source of repeat no-shows.
Examples
- A six-person room shows as booked all week, but half its bookings have no check-in: a recurring series that stopped meeting months ago.
- After automatic check-in from the office network is switched on, a team's no-show rate falls sharply, because people had been coming in but not tapping to check in.
Benchmarks
Denbighshire County Council reported fewer ghost bookings inflating its usage figures after moving to Kadence.
Kadence customer story: Denbighshire County Council
Common mistakes
- Counting cancelled bookings as no-shows.
- Treating every no-show as absence when many are forgotten check-ins.
- Setting auto-release so short that people arriving a few minutes late lose their space.
- Planning capacity from bookings without taking out no-shows.
How Kadence helps
Kadence auto-releases desk and room bookings nobody checks in to, and Workplace Insights reports no-shows next to occupancy and attendance. Check-ins can happen in the apps, on Kadence Room Displays (WorkOps Pro), at kiosks or automatically through the Kadence Agent on the office network, which keeps forgotten check-ins out of the no-show count. Admins can also cap how far recurring bookings run.
Workplace analytics · Room booking software · Desk booking software
Frequently asked questions
What is a no-show in desk booking?
A no-show is a desk booking that nobody checks in to before the check-in window closes. The desk sat reserved but unused, so a colleague could not book it and the booking data overstated demand for that day.
How do you reduce booking no-shows?
Turn on auto-release so unused bookings return to the pool, cap how far recurring bookings can run, remind people before their booking and make cancelling easy. Automatic check-in from network presence stops people who did come in from being counted as no-shows.
What is the difference between a no-show and a ghost booking?
They describe the same event from two sides. A no-show is the metric: bookings with no check-in. A ghost booking is what it leaves behind: a desk or room that shows as taken but sits empty.
Should no-shows count in occupancy reports?
No. Occupancy should count confirmed use. Keep no-shows as a separate metric, because they tell you something different: where booked demand overstates real demand and where booking rules need to change.
Related terms
- Ghost booking A desk or room that is booked but never used, so it shows as taken while it sits empty.
- Auto-release A booking rule that frees a desk or room automatically when nobody checks in within a set grace period.
- Desk check-in Confirming that you are at the desk or room you booked, by app, QR code, badge or Wi-Fi presence, so unused bookings can be released.
- Desk utilization The share of available desk-hours people actually use, measured desk by desk from check-ins or presence data.
- 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.
- Walk-in usage Desks or rooms used without a booking. If it isn't captured, utilization reports undercount real demand.
Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed