Implementing a Room Booking System: What Matters for Integration, Panels, and Usability

Key points at a glance: 

A room booking system solves a problem that is the same in almost every organisation: rooms are booked in the calendar but remain empty, and anyone looking for a place to have a quick chat at short notice ends up wandering the corridors. The key isn’t the panel on the door, but the integration with the systems your staff use every day anyway.

- Why rooms are booked on the calendar yet remain empty

- What a digital room booking system actually achieves in day-to-day use

- How the integration with Outlook, Exchange and Microsoft Teams works

- Why room booking and media control should be planned together

Hardly any other issue causes as much day-to-day friction in companies as room allocation. A room booking system brings order to this, but only if it fits in with existing processes. This article walks you through the decisions that need to be made before implementation.

Quick question, quick answer:

What is a room booking system? A combination of booking logic in the calendar and a visible display in the room, usually via a screen next to the door.

Does it work with Outlook and Teams? Yes, and that’s exactly what matters. A room booking system that requires its own calendar will be bypassed in day-to-day use.

Do I need a panel on every door? No. For small rooms, the display in the calendar is often sufficient; panels are worthwhile where bookings are made on the spur of the moment.

Is this an IT or an AV project? Both. The booking logic lies with IT; the panel is mounted on the wall and forms part of the room technology – IT integration is therefore an integral part of such a project.

What is the most common mistake? Viewing the system purely as a display product and only sorting out the integration with the calendar, network and room technology at the very end.

Are you looking into a room booking system for your sites? We’d be happy to provide you with an initial expert assessment of integration, technology and the effort involved. Enquire without obligation →

Why rooms marked as booked are empty

It’s a familiar sight: the calendar shows all meeting rooms as booked, yet when you walk down the corridor, half of them are empty. The reason is rarely ill will, but rather a chain of small habits – appointments booked as a precaution and never cancelled, recurring appointments from completed projects. And anyone who really needs a room can’t find anything free and ends up sitting in the kitchenette.

A system like this steps in at precisely this point. It reveals actual usage rather than merely showing what’s been planned. Anyone who doesn’t take up a room automatically releases it after a set time limit. This solves a large part of the problem without the need for a single additional room.

The second benefit is strategic: you gain reliable data on which rooms are used, how often and for how long. This forms the basis for planning space sensibly, rather than making decisions based on gut feeling.

What a digital room booking system achieves

A digital room booking system consists of three components that must work together. The first is the booking logic: this is built into the calendar system you already use. The second is the display at the room itself, usually a compact screen next to the door that shows the status from a distance – typically colour-coded to indicate whether the room is free or occupied. The third is the background analysis.

The panel itself runs the functions that make day-to-day life noticeably easier: an available room can be booked directly on the spot, and an ongoing meeting can be extended or ended early. And if nobody confirms the booking, the system releases the room again, rather than blocking it for the whole morning.

It is often underestimated that the panel is a piece of room technology rather than a piece of software. It is mounted on the wall next to the door and must blend into its surroundings. The classic version is connected to a network socket and powered via Power over Ethernet. Those fitting out the room anyway can run this cable at the same time; those retrofitting it later have to work with finished walls. There is now an alternative specifically for this purpose.

That’s why it’s worth planning room allocation alongside the rest of the room fit-out. For the office and meeting room solutions at Vodafone Germany, SIGMA AV fitted out rooms of various sizes according to a uniform principle, and it is precisely this uniformity that makes centralised room allocation across multiple rooms viable in the first place.

Not sure which rooms actually need a panel? Give us a brief description of your room layout and we’ll provide an initial assessment. Get in touch now →

Wired or wireless: which panel suits which door

Not every panel requires a cable. There are displays that run on long-life batteries or solar cells and connect to the calendar via Wi-Fi. They therefore do not require a power or network connection and can be fitted next to the door in just a few minutes.

Wireless solutions really come into their own in existing buildings: where walls are already finished, rental spaces cannot be altered or listed building regulations stand in the way, there is absolutely no need for building work. It’s also the quicker option for a pilot scheme involving just a few rooms. The trade-off is the need to change batteries as a recurring task, a more limited range of functions, and a reliance on stable Wi-Fi coverage right up to each door.

A wired solution is worthwhile if building work is taking place anyway, if the panel is to run continuously and do more than just display and record, or if it needs to integrate with the building’s technical systems. For new builds, refurbishments or a roll-out across many rooms, a wired connection is the more cost-effective choice, as it involves a one-off investment and requires no further effort afterwards.

In practice, a mixed approach is often taken: wired in the rooms being newly fitted out, wireless in the existing rooms alongside them. The only important thing is that both options are synchronised with the same calendar.

Integration with Outlook, Exchange and Teams

This is what determines whether a system is adopted or bypassed. The rule is simple: there must be no alternative booking method. Anyone who has previously booked a room in Outlook must still be able to book it in Outlook afterwards; the panel displays and supplements, it does not replace.

Technically, the integration runs via the room mailboxes in your environment. In Microsoft 365 and Exchange environments, rooms are set up there as separate resources, and the booking solution reads from and writes to precisely these calendars. Anyone using a room booking system with Outlook therefore continues to book as usual, but also sees the booking displayed on the room itself. The same principle applies to Google Workspace, albeit via different interfaces.

A room booking system with a Teams integration goes one step further: the meeting is not just an entry in the room calendar, but is directly linked to the meeting itself. This is essential for enabling a video conference to be started in the room at the touch of a button, rather than having to type in dial-in details.

There are three points you should clarify with IT at an early stage: How will the panels be integrated into the network and powered, and does the Wi-Fi coverage extend to every door if wireless panels are used? What permissions does the system require for the room mailboxes? And how will devices be centrally managed and updated when the number of rooms increases from ten to fifty?

Microsoft Teams Rooms: what the standard requires

Increasingly, requests are not simply for room bookings, but for a room that runs as a Microsoft Teams Room. This is underpinned by a defined framework: certified hardware, a standardised user interface within the room, and the requirement that every meeting starts at the touch of a button.

For room booking, this means two things. Firstly, the calendar integration is already in place, as the room displays its own calendar. Secondly, the demands on everything else in the room are increasing: the camera, microphones and acoustics must all be up to scratch; otherwise, whilst the conference may start at the touch of a button, nobody will be able to hear a thing. You can read about the role room acoustics play in this in our article on office acoustics.

The advantage of this approach is consistency: if every room looks the same and is operated in the same way, a single training session for all sites is sufficient, rather than a separate briefing for each room. For IBM’s conference rooms, SIGMA has equipped over 150 rooms across seven sites with standardised technology and centralised control; at five of these sites, this includes ongoing maintenance as part of a managed service.

Are you planning multiple rooms or sites? We’ll show you what a standardised solution can look like. Go to the contact form →

Why room booking and media control go hand in hand

Room booking answers the question of which room is available. Media control answers the question of what happens when you enter it. Planning these two separately is the most common avoidable mistake, as both access the same infrastructure: network, calendar, control logic.

When considered together, the result is a seamless process. The room knows that a meeting is scheduled for ten o’clock. As you enter, the equipment powers up, the display switches to the correct source, and the conference is ready to begin. After the meeting, everything shuts down again, rather than running throughout the afternoon. Media control thus evolves from a remote control into an integral part of the room concept.

The management conference room at the Steag Iqony Group demonstrates just how far this can be taken: there, the technology recognises which area the speaker is in and automatically activates the appropriate camera. Such automated functions are not built into the equipment by default, but are programmed into the control system – which is why, at SIGMA, Crestron programming forms part of our own range of services. Our page on AV integration for conference and meeting rooms shows how this all works together.

What to look out for when making your choice

The systems differ less in their basic functions than in how well they integrate into an existing environment. It is best to clarify these points before requesting the first quote – together with the IT department and the people who use the rooms on a daily basis:

- Which calendar system will the system be integrated with, and will the usual booking process remain unchanged?

- Should rooms also be bookable on the spot, or is a simple status display sufficient?

- After what period is an unused booking automatically released?

- What utilisation data do you need, and who will analyse it?

- How will the panels be supplied with power and network connectivity; is the cabling already in place, or are wireless panels the better option?

- Can the system be expanded if new locations are added?

- Is media control being planned at the same time?

Experience shows that the last point is the most expensive if it’s left too late. Retrofitting panels is straightforward, but a missing cable in the wall is not.

Are you just starting the planning process? A quick chat before any decisions are made can save you the hassle of costly rectifications later on. Get in touch now →

Frequently Asked Questions about Room Booking Systems

Conclusion

A room booking system is not a display board, but an integration into a daily process. It works when it blends seamlessly into what your staff already do: booking via their usual calendar, entering the room, and getting started. Success therefore depends on the integration, not on the display panel.

If you plan room booking alongside media control, you’ll end up with a room that’s ready for the meeting, rather than a room with a screen on the door. SIGMA supports you from the planning stage through to AV integration and ongoing operation. You can find further specialist articles in our Newsroom, and an overview of all our services under ‘Our Expertise’.