For halls · The diary, in full
Everything the free diary does, and what it doesn’t
The For halls page makes the case. This one is the list: every part of the diary, what hirers see of it, and what it doesn’t do yet, so nobody finds out the hard way. None of it costs anything.
Already have a booking system?
Already use booking software? Keep it. Enquiries from HallMatch reach your inbox either way.
Plenty of halls run Hallmaster, Village Hall Hub or a book on the kitchen table, and are happy with it. The diary is for halls that don’t have a system yet, or want the one they have to cost nothing.
If you’re weighing up the paid systems, we’ve compared Hallmaster and Village Hall Hub and said where each one is better than us.
What the diary does
Your week, on any screen
- Every room, every booking, and the hours each day you’re willing to let. Week, month or list, and on a phone the week becomes a list for the day.
- Two bookings can’t land in the same room at the same time, and the time you need to set up and clear counts too.
- Print the week on one sheet of A4 for the noticeboard.
Regular hirers, set once
- Weekly, or “the second Wednesday of the month”, with a start and an end date. The diary fills them in 18 months ahead.
- Follows your council’s school holidays where we have them, or dates you type in. Bank holidays come from GOV.UK and can come out on their own.
- Skip or move one week without touching the rest. Each regular hirer can have their own link to see their weeks and give one up.
Enquiries that know the date
- A hirer asks through your listing, or through the calendar on your own website. You get an email with three buttons, “Yes, it’s free”, “Sorry, not then” and “I’ll ring” them, and you don’t need to log in to answer.
- “Yes, it’s free” pencils a hold into your diary. You choose how long a hirer’s hold lasts, from one day to a fortnight, and it lets itself go when it runs out.
- Say how much notice you need, from the same day to two weeks.
A calendar on your own website
- Paste one line into your hall’s website (or a box for Wix and similar) and visitors see which days are free, in your colour. Tapping a free time opens a request form.
- It shows your hall and nothing else: no other halls, no search.
For the committee
- “How full are we?”: hours let against the hours you could let, who fills the hall, and the slots that are always empty, over 4, 12 or 26 weeks, on one printable page.
- Reminders for the paperwork that has a date on it: insurance, fire risk assessment, PAT testing, electrical and gas certificates, licences, the Charity Commission return. Emailed 30 days before, 7 days before and when it’s overdue. Dates only; we don’t keep the documents.
- Invite the rest of the committee to edit, or add someone who only gets the reminders. When you hand over, you hand over a login, not a shoebox.
- Download every booking as a spreadsheet whenever you like.
What it doesn’t do
Invoices to hirers
HallMatch: No
Who does it: Hallmaster, on its invoicing plan. Village Hall Hub, on every plan.
Card payments or deposits online
HallMatch: No. “Mark paid” is a tick you set.
Who does it: Hallmaster, as an add-on to its invoicing plan. Village Hall Hub, through your own Stripe account, on every plan.
A link to Xero, QuickBooks or Sage
HallMatch: No
Who does it: Hallmaster, as an add-on to its invoicing plan.
Accounts, budgets, grant writing
HallMatch: No
Who does it: Village Hall Hub, on its Professional plan.
Heating or door locks driven by bookings
HallMatch: No
Who does it: Hallmaster, as add-ons.
Martyn’s Law, DBS records, minutes
HallMatch: No
Who does it: Village Hall Hub, on its Standard plan and above.
Bringing your diary over from another system
HallMatch: No. Bookings go in by hand, or we’ll do it with you on the phone.
Who does it: —
A calendar feed into Google or Outlook
HallMatch: No
Who does it: —
An app from the App Store
HallMatch: No. It runs in your phone’s browser.
Who does it: Village Hall Hub has an iPhone and iPad app.
Checked on each company’s own website on 24 September 2026. Their prices, dated and side by side, are on Hallmaster, Village Hall Hub and HallMatch compared; this page carries none, so only one page has to be kept current.
What hirers see
- Your listing: photos, rooms, how many each holds, prices if you give them, and how to ask.
- If you switch on “Show free and busy”, your free times appear on your listing and on your website calendar. One-off bookings show as busy, never who booked or what for.
- Every weekly regular appears under “What’s on every week” with its name, day and time, never the organiser’s details. Name them as you’d be happy for the village to read them.
- If you’re busy on the date a hirer wants, your listing tells them how many halls nearby are free. We’d rather they found a hall than gave up, and other halls’ listings do the same for you.
- Once you’ve answered a few enquiries, and at least seven in ten of them, hirers see how quickly you usually reply, and halls that answer well come higher in our search results.
Why it’s free
If we ever charge, it will be for invoicing and online payments, and never for the diary, the listing or the enquiries. The catch, in full.
Questions
Can we bring our bookings over from another system?
Not automatically; there’s no import. Regular hirers are one entry each, not fifty, and they’re most of a hall’s diary. If you’d rather not type, ring us and we’ll set it up with you.
Will hirers see who has booked?
No. One-off bookings show only as busy. If you share your diary, every weekly regular shows under “What’s on every week” with its name, day and time, so give each one a name you’re happy to publish.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes, in the phone’s browser. There’s no app to install.
What happens to hirers’ details?
They stay in your diary, visible to you and the people you invite. Hirers’ contact details are deleted after 24 months.
Find your hall and take it over.
Two minutes to claim, an evening to fill in, and no card at any point.