agent double-booked a conference room and two candidates - room calendars weren't included in the availability query

TL;DR: Put the room on the invite. Room calendars are only checked when the room is an attendee, so an availability query over people alone will happily book a room that is already occupied. Add room resources to the free/busy check and book the room on the same event as the people.

agent double-booked a conference room and two candidates  -  room calendars weren't included in the availability query

1. List the room resources in the calendar system and map them by office, capacity, and equipment.

Expected: a room directory with a calendar address for each bookable room.

1. Add the chosen room as an attendee in the availability query alongside the interviewers.

Expected: a dry-run for the conflicted slot now returns the room as busy.

1. When the room is busy, pick the next suitable room or shift the time slot before confirming.

Expected: the scheduler proposes an alternative instead of double-booking.

1. Create the room booking on the same calendar event as the people, so one cancellation releases everything together.

Expected: cancelling the interview frees the room with no separate step.

1. For recurring interview series, re-verify the room for each occurrence, not just the first.

Expected: a series where the room is taken on week three gets flagged before it is sent.

Use this when

• Interviews collide on rooms while the people's calendars looked fine.
• The scheduler queries free/busy for attendees but never for rooms.
• Onsites and panel interviews need physical space.

Not for this skill when

• The room was free and the conflict was between people (that is a people-availability bug).
• Rooms are booked through a separate facilities system, not the calendar (integrate with that system instead).
• All interviews are virtual and no room is needed.

Variant phrasings

• conference room double booked for two interviews
• scheduler ignored room availability
• interview booked in an occupied meeting room
• room calendar not checked before booking

Why it happens

Availability queries default to the people on the invite. Rooms live in the same calendar system but as separate resource calendars that are invisible unless invited. The agent built its query from the interviewer list, the room was never in the query, and the calendar happily created an event in an occupied room because nothing asked.

Edge cases

• Rooms without calendar resources ("book through the front desk"): the agent cannot check what it cannot see. Keep a manual-room list and require human confirmation for those.
• Auto-accept rooms on recurring series: the room may accept the series then get taken for one occurrence by a higher-priority booking. Re-verify per occurrence.
• Virtual panelists mixed with onsite: do not block on room availability for interviewers joining remotely.
• Rooms booked under a personal account instead of the resource: the resource calendar looks free while a human is sitting in it. Prefer the official resource and flag ad-hoc bookings.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_ZcdlGKjJHJWMwzSZYR2J2A