List an Event With No Need to Book (or Booked Elsewhere)

Not everything on your calendar needs a Book button. A drop-in games night, a free community morning, or an event you sell tickets for on another site can now sit on your calendar for information only. Guests see the date, time and details as usual, but instead of Book Now they see your own label, such as "No need to book – just turn up", or a button that takes them to wherever the tickets are sold.

Step 1: Create or open the event

Go to Sessions → Manage Sessions. Either select Add Session and choose Event, or open an existing event.

This works for events only. Repeating sessions and ticketed events always take bookings. If your drop-in happens every week, create one event and add each date to it on the Schedule tab.

Step 2: Choose how guests take part

On the Basics tab, scroll down to the How guests take part card and pick one of the three options.

• Booking link appears for Booked elsewhere and is required. Paste the full address, starting with https://.
• Label / Button text is optional. Leave it blank for the standard wording, or write your own, such as "Free entry – no booking needed" or "Get tickets on Eventbrite". Keep it short.

While one of the listing options is selected, the Deposits, Capacity and Features tabs are hidden, because nothing about this event can be booked here. They come straight back if you switch to Book through BookingNinja.

Step 3: Add dates, times and details

Fill in the Schedule tab with the dates and start times, and the Content tab with a description and image, exactly as you would for any event. Then select Update Session (or Create Session) and make sure the event is Live.

On your sessions list, listing-only events carry a blue badge so you can tell them apart at a glance.

What your guests see

The event appears everywhere your other events do: the cards on your booking page, the Events calendar, the Sessions calendar and its own event page. Only the booking controls change.

On the booking page, the label sits where the price would normally be, with a small "Just turn up" or "Booked elsewhere" tag.

On the events calendar, the day panel shows the label or the outbound button instead of Book Now.

The event's own page lists every date and time, then your label. There is no date picker and no Book button.

Nobody can book a listing-only event through BookingNinja, even with an old direct link. If someone tries, they're told the event doesn't take bookings here.

Frequently asked questions

Can I switch an event back to taking bookings? Yes, at any time. Open the event, choose Book through BookingNinja and save. The hidden tabs return with their previous settings.

What happens to bookings an event already had? They stay exactly as they are. Switching to a listing option only stops new bookings.

Can my team add a booking by hand for a drop-in event? No. A listing-only event doesn't appear in the session picker when staff create a booking. If you want to keep a headcount, leave the event bookable with a free price and ask guests to book.

Does it show on my BookingNinja website and on letsbookfor.com? Yes. The venue website's events block and the letsbookfor.com What's On listing show the event too. For Booked elsewhere, the button there opens your booking link as well.

Can I do this for a repeating session? Not directly. Create an event instead and add the dates it runs on. The Schedule tab lets you add several dates in one go.