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Amira van Weegen

Junior Marketing Manager

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Introduction: Why efficient resource booking is indispensable today

What is Google Calendar Room Booking?

Benefits of Google Calendar for Room Booking

Limitations of Google Calendar in Room Booking

Why professional room booking software like anny is the better choice

How the integration of anny with Google Calendar works

Step-by-Step: Set up Google Calendar for Room Booking and integrate anny

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Conclusion: The Best Solution for Your Meeting Room Management

September 11, 2025

Room Booking Software or Google Calendar: The Ultimate Comparison for Efficient Meeting Room Management

3 min

People collaborate in a modern meeting room

Introduction: Why efficient resource booking is indispensable today

In modern enterprises, managing meeting rooms is a central challenge. While Google Calendar provides a simple way to reserve rooms, it is often not enough for efficient and seamless room booking. Specialized room booking software, such as anny, complements Google Calendar with many important features, ensuring optimized usage of your conference and meeting rooms.

What is Google Calendar Room Booking?

Google Calendar allows you to set up rooms as resources and reserve them for meetings. Employees can select and book meeting rooms directly in their familiar calendar without needing additional tools or separate logins. This basic function is particularly appealing for smaller teams or companies with a straightforward room offering, as it provides an easy and cost-free way to organize meetings.

Room management is conducted through Google Workspace Administration: rooms are documented with names, locations, and capacities and are then available to staff for scheduling. This allows the invitation process to directly check room availability, and the reservation is automatically entered into the calendar.

However, this solution quickly reaches its limitations: with multiple locations, a larger number of rooms, or when additional information such as equipment (e.g., projectors, whiteboards) is important. Also, features like detailed utilization reports, flexible booking rules, or integrations with other systems are missing.

Benefits of Google Calendar for Room Booking

Free and widely used: Google Calendar is part of Google Workspace and is already in use in many companies.
Easy to use: The familiar interface ensures quick onboarding.
Integration with Google tools: Seamless connection to Gmail, Google Meet, and other Google services.
Mobile-friendly: Access and book from anywhere using the Google Calendar app.

Limitations of Google Calendar in Room Booking

No option for physical room displays

Google Calendar is primarily designed as a digital calendar, not a room booking system. Therefore, there are no native features such as digital door signs or room displays that indicate whether a room is currently occupied. This feature needs to be added externally and is not integrated.

Lack of management for equipment like projectors or catering

While rooms can be stored as resources in Google Calendar, additional services or equipment like projectors, whiteboards, conference technology or catering cannot be booked or managed in detail. This quickly leads to organizational chaos as these details need to be coordinated manually.

3. No automated no-show management

If booked rooms are not used, Google Calendar does not detect this automatically. There are no rules such as: “If no check-in within 10 minutes, the room will be released again”. As a result, rooms remain blocked even if they are empty, and the space efficiency significantly decreases.

4. Limited analysis and optimization options for room utilization

Google Calendar only shows which rooms are booked and how often, but detailed reports and dashboards are missing:

No evaluations on peak times or occupancy rates.
No insights into unused rooms or recurring no-shows.
No forecasts or optimization suggestions for better space planning.

This means companies lack important data to design their work environment efficiently.

5. No advanced booking rules or workflows

Google Calendar works very simply on the principle: Room available = bookable. This is not enough for more complex requirements:

Booking rules such as minimum or maximum booking duration are missing.
Approval workflows (e.g., for VIP rooms or external guests) cannot be mapped.
Recurring bookings or automatic room suggestions based on group size are limited.

This leads companies with individual requirements to quickly reach their limits.

Why professional room booking software like anny is the better choice

Professional room booking systems offer advanced features that go beyond the capabilities of Google Calendar. anny for example, enables:

Real-time availability and automatic synchronization with Google Calendar and other calendars.
Digital room displays with a check-in function directly at the meeting room.
Booking of equipment and catering in one system.
No-show detection via check-in and room release.
Detailed analytics and reports to optimize room usage.
Integration with MS Teams, Outlook, and other tools for seamless collaboration.
User-friendly mobile app for bookings on the go.
Expansion to include workplaces, parking spaces, equipment, courses and more.

How the integration of anny with Google Calendar works

The integration of anny with Google Calendar enables a secure connection via the API and synchronizes all bookings bidirectionally in real-time. Bookings in anny automatically appear in Google Calendar and, conversely, appointments from Google are adopted as blockers in anny. Additionally, meeting links are automatically created for hybrid appointments. Employees can use their Google Calendar as usual, while also benefiting from the advanced booking features of anny.

Administrators retain full control over room management, utilization, and resources through the anny dashboard. Additionally, booking titles, buffer times, and automatic Google Meet links can be configured. This way, anny connects the familiar schedule management of Google with the advantages of a professional booking system.

Step-by-Step: Set up Google Calendar for Room Booking and integrate anny

Create Rooms as Resources in Google Workspace:
Define rooms via the Admin Console, equip them with capacities and facilities.
Set Permissions:
Determine who can book or manage which rooms.
Connect anny with Google Calendar:
Activate the interface using secure OAuth authentication.
Enable Bidirectional Synchronization:
Bookings and changes appear in both systems.
Utilize Additional Features of anny:
Book room displays, check-ins, equipment, and catering.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Can I continue using Google Calendar when I'm using anny?
Yes, anny integrates seamlessly and synchronizes all bookings in real-time.

What are the costs for anny?
Prices start at approximately €4 per room per month, depending on the range of features. Up to 5 rooms can be used for free. For a detailed overview of the prices, click: here.

How long does the implementation take?
Typically 1-4 weeks, depending on company size and requirements.

Is the integration secure?
Yes, anny uses OAuth authentication and complies with ISO 27001 security standards.

Conclusion: The Best Solution for Your Meeting Room Management

Google Calendar is great for simple bookings, but often insufficient in larger or hybrid work environments. Professional room booking software like anny perfectly complements Google Calendar and offers advanced features for efficient room usage, fewer double bookings, and better employee satisfaction. We recommend companies that need more than the basic functions to use anny to sustainably optimize meeting room management.

Ready to get started? Then book a no-obligation demo with the sales team: Schedule a demo.

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