Release unused Calendar meeting rooms

Supported editions for this feature: Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus; Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Education Plus; G Suite Business.  Compare your edition

You can automatically release booked meeting rooms when all but one person declines the meeting in Google Calendar. You can also customize releases and only exclude certain rooms and users from release. When a room is released, the meeting organizer receives an email notification.

Tip: Use the Room Insights Dashboard to help you analyze room releases for your organization. With this dashboard, you can see the total number of released room hours, rebooked hours, and unreleased hours. Learn more

Turn room releases on or off

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  DirectoryBuildings and resourcesRoom settings.
3. For Rooms are released for declined events, click On or Off.
4. Click Save.

Exclude rooms or user groups from room releases

Exclude a room

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  DirectoryBuildings and resourcesManage resources. 
3. Click the resource name for the room.
4. In the Room settings section, click the Down arrow .
5. For Exempt from room release, select On.
6. Click Save.

Exclude a user group

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  DirectoryBuildings and resourcesRoom settings.
3. In the Global room settings section, click the Down arrow .
4. For Exempt user groups from room release, click Edit groups.
5. Enter the user group and click Save.

Fix unwanted room releases 

You can reduce unwanted room releases with room and organizer exceptions. Google Calendar includes logic to help, but your choice of rooms and user groups are critical. 

Situations where Calendar doesn't release rooms    

Calendar doesn’t release rooms when:

• Guests decline less than 10 minutes before a meeting starts.
• The meeting is set up to occur in the next 30 minutes.
• A room is booked directly on the room's calendar.
• The meeting lasts longer than 4 hours.
• The room was previously released and then re-added for the same meeting.
• There are no guests apart from the organizer or there are external guests.
• The meeting is booked on a secondary calendar.
• The room is large, or it’s booked for a large meeting or event.

Note: This is not a complete list of room release factors, and room release logic is subject to change.

Choose rooms to release   

Google recommends that most of your rooms have automatic room release turned on, except for rooms that are: 

• Frequently used by important employees, such as a CEOs private room.
• Used for business-critical functions (hiring, client meetings, or special events).
• Restricted for most employees.
• Used by external guests not invited to the event.

Choose room organizers

Exclude users from automatic room release who: 

• Create the meetings for VIP employees.
• Frequently book meetings for others but don’t attend.
• Are high-level executives.
• Set up business-critical and external-facing meetings.

Related topics

• Set up Google Calendar room booking suggestions