# Open reservations (/en/businesses/reservations/open-reservations)

An open reservation is a court slot that goes ahead once enough players have joined. Customers see it in the Thril app and on your venue page, claim a place, and each pays a share of the court price. If too few players join by the cut-off, the slot is released and nobody pays.

Customers can start one themselves, and you can post one with the venue as the host: a Tuesday evening court nobody has booked, with the level in the name. For a fixed price per player whatever the turnout, create an [event](/businesses/events).

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## Three ways to run open games [#three-ways-to-run-open-games]

- **Players looking for players.** With customer-created open reservations on, a player with one partner posts a padel game and two strangers fill it.
- **A weekly social night.** A recurring open reservation for every Thursday at 19:00, named "Social padel (level 2-3)". Each week goes ahead when four people join.
- **Venue-run games.** With **Let customers create open reservations** off, you post every game yourself and customers join them.

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## How an open reservation goes ahead [#how-an-open-reservation-goes-ahead]

1. A customer posts it from the app or the web, or you post it from the dashboard.
2. Players join. Anyone invited gets a push notification and can accept.
3. When the minimum number of players is reached, the game is confirmed and the slot is taken from the calendar.
4. At the cut-off, joining closes. A game below the minimum is cancelled. The others go ahead, and each player is charged their share after the game.

Nobody pays before the cut-off. Until the game is confirmed, a regular booking of the same slot replaces it. A confirmed open reservation holds its slot like any other reservation.

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## What each player pays [#what-each-player-pays]

The court price is split between the players who joined. Each player's membership discount comes off their own share. The venue then gets less than the full court price.

On a resource with **Price is per participant**, every player pays the resource's price, and the total grows with each player. Read more in [Resources](/businesses/reservations/resources).

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## Settings and player limits [#settings-and-player-limits]

- **Enable open reservations** turns the feature on for the venue. Games already posted run to their cut-off when you turn it off.
- **Let customers create open reservations** decides whether customers can post games, or join the ones you post.
- **Open reservation finalization cutoff** is how long before the start joining closes.
- **Sport type constraints** sets the minimum and maximum number of players per sport.

Open reservations use resources with a sport. You can post a game on a resource with **Allow consumer booking** off, and customers can join it.

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## Posting a game yourself [#posting-a-game-yourself]

A game you post can have a **Name**, such as "Morning games (level 3-4)", which shows in place of the host's name. A description tells players the level and format. Customers you invite count towards the minimum once they accept, and the minimum counts customers only. The calendar shows who has joined.

**Recurring open reservation** posts a whole series with a start date, an end date, the weekdays and their times. Each game takes a free slot with a customer price. Dates without one are skipped and listed. Invites go game by game.

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## Managing a game [#managing-a-game]

A pending open reservation shows on the calendar and in **All reservations**.

For a game you posted, you can invite customers, change the name or description, or cancel it. Nobody has paid yet, and there is nothing to refund. You can cancel a game a customer posted too.

Once confirmed, the game becomes a normal reservation. You cancel it through that reservation and pick the refund method, as with any booking.