How to create a round-robin booking type

Create a round-robin booking type: in your team's Booking types, click the New booking type arrow and pick Round robin. Bookings go to the top-priority free host.

Overview

A round-robin booking type shares one booking page across several team members. Clients pick a time without choosing a person, and TidyCal assigns ONE free host to each booking. It suits sales teams, support staff and any meeting that needs only one team member. Round robin is part of Teams, which need Pro or the Agency Plan.

Benefits of Round Robin Scheduling

• Priority-based distribution — Bookings are assigned to the available team member with the highest Priority setting. When multiple members share the same priority, one is selected at random.
• You control distribution — Raise a host's priority to send them more bookings, or lower it to send fewer. There is no automatic workload balancing: Round Robin picks the highest-priority free host and breaks ties randomly.
• Team efficiency — Maximizes team availability and utilization
• Automatic assignment — No manual intervention required for booking distribution
• Client simplicity — Clients do not need to choose between team members

How does TidyCal pick the host for each booking?

When a client selects a time, TidyCal:

1. Builds the list of hosts who are free for that slot (based on the availability schedule selected for them in the Team tab — their default schedule unless you change it — their connected calendars, existing TidyCal bookings, and the booking type's restrictions).
2. Shuffles the free hosts randomly.
3. Sorts them by priority (Highest first).
4. Picks the first host in the sorted list.

This means the Highest-priority free host is always chosen when available. When multiple free hosts share the same priority, one is picked randomly (because of the shuffle step). Round Robin does not rotate sequentially (A-B-C-A-B-C); assignment is slot-by-slot based on who is free plus priority.

What do the five priority levels do?

In the booking type editor's Team tab, each host has a priority dropdown with five options:

• Highest priority — picked first whenever free (default for newly added hosts).
• High priority
• Medium priority
• Low priority
• Lowest priority — picked only when higher-priority hosts are unavailable.

Set different priorities to favor certain hosts (for example, Highest for senior reps, Medium for juniors).

Important nuances

• Every host uses their own schedule: each host — including the plan owner — is checked against the availability schedule chosen for them in the Team tab (a per-host Availability schedule dropdown; it defaults to that host's Default schedule), in their own timezone. There is no separate owner exception or second filter, and Round Robin booking types have no Availability tab of their own.
• Ignore external calendar conflicts toggle (in the booking type editor's Restrictions tab): applies to the whole booking type, not per host. When enabled, TidyCal skips calendar Busy events and cross-booking-type conflicts — only existing bookings on this exact booking type block slots for the free-host check.
• Hosts need TidyCal accounts: each team member needs their own TidyCal account to be selectable as a host — see Teams to invite them.
• The booking goes on the host's calendar: each booking is added to the assigned host's own primary calendar. For Google Meet links, every host needs a Google calendar set as their primary calendar.

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Round Robin Booking

1. Go to Booking types in the sidebar and click your team's name above the list (or, on the Teams page, open the team card's ⋮ menu and click Booking types)
2. Click the arrow next to New booking type and choose Round robin. The new booking type starts with Per booking pricing once you have Stripe or PayPal connected, and as a free booking type otherwise; change it under Pricing & Subscriptions
3. In the booking type editor, open the Team tab and check that Round Robin is selected
4. Under Select team members:, tick every team member who should take bookings (only the first member is ticked on a new booking type), then set each one's priority and availability schedule
5. Set the duration, buffers, and any other settings as needed
6. Click Save

Which times do clients see on a round-robin booking page?

It's important to understand the logic TidyCal uses:

• Pooled Availability: The booking page shows clients the union of slots from every team member in the pool. If Person A is free at 10 AM and Person B is free at 11 AM, the client will see both 10 AM and 11 AM as options.
• Per-host signals: For each team member in the rotation, TidyCal checks four signals when computing available slots:
  1. The availability schedule selected for them in the Team tab (their default schedule unless you change it), in their own timezone
  2. Their connected calendar's Busy events — events marked Busy on their connected calendars block that time
  3. Their existing TidyCal bookings from other booking types (personal or team)
  4. The booking type's own restrictions — minimum notice, padding, how far in advance, and booking limits (applied once, uniformly for all hosts)
  A slot is only offered when a host is actually free across all of these. Hosts in different timezones see correctly filtered slots.
• Priority-based assignment: When a client books a time, TidyCal picks the available team member with the highest Priority setting. When multiple members share the same highest priority for that slot, one is selected at random.

Round Robin vs Other Team Features

Understanding how Round Robin differs from other TidyCal features helps you choose the right scheduling method.

What is the difference between Round Robin and Collective?

Round Robin vs Group Bookings

These are completely different features:

• Round Robin: Distributes meetings among different HOSTS (your team members)
• Group Bookings: Allows multiple ATTENDEES (your clients) to book the same time slot

Note: Round Robin and Group Bookings do not combine into one multi-attendee session. On a Round Robin booking type, each booker at the same time goes to a different free host. For a webinar with several attendees, use a single-host or Collective booking type with Group Bookings turned on.

When to Use Round Robin

Perfect for:

• Sales teams rotating demo calls
• Support teams distributing consultations
• Customer success managers sharing client onboarding
• Any scenario where only one team member needs to attend each meeting

Not ideal for:

• Meetings where everyone must attend (use Collective instead)
• Single-person booking types (no need for Round Robin)

Troubleshooting

"Please select at least one host."

You saved the booking type with no team member ticked. Open the Team tab, tick at least one member under Select team members:, then click Save.

No times show on the booking page

Only ticked hosts contribute times, and a host whose selected schedule has no available hours contributes none. Check each host's schedule in the Team tab, their connected calendars, and the booking type's minimum notice and scheduling window. See TidyCal Calendar Not Showing Dates.

Google Meet warning about round robin hosts

The editor shows "Round robin bookings are added to the assigned host's primary calendar. At least one host does not have a Google calendar set as their primary, so those bookings will have no Google Meet link." Ask each host to connect Google and set a Google calendar as their primary calendar on Integrations → Calendars. See How to Use Google Meet with TidyCal.

"Your plan is limited to 4 team members. Upgrade to Pro for unlimited seats."

Agency Lifetime purchased on or after September 1, 2026 includes 4 team members including the owner, and pending invitations count. Remove a member or a pending invitation, or subscribe to Pro. Still stuck? Contact support@tidycal.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which plan do I need for Teams?

Teams require Pro ($12/month or $99/year) or Agency Plan ($79, one-time lifetime payment).

How many team members can I add?

Pro has no team-member limit, and neither does Agency Lifetime purchased before September 1, 2026. Agency Lifetime purchased on or after that date is limited to 4 team members including the owner — the owner plus 3 invitees. Pending email invitations count against the limit. Subscribe to Pro for unlimited seats.

Does a rescheduled booking keep the same host?

Not necessarily. When a booking is rescheduled, TidyCal picks the host again for the new time, using the same priority rules.

Related Articles

• Set Up Collective, Round Robin and Managed Booking Types
• TidyCal Teams: Create a Team and Add Members
• Availability Schedules in TidyCal