Waitlist – How It Works

When fully booked, guests can join a queue instead of being turned away. The waitlist is a feature for table bookings – it does not exist for events or resource bookings.

Why table bookings only?

For events, we instead recommend promoting the next occurrence if one sells out. For resources, guests can pick another time or day in the booking view.

Enable waitlist (table booking):

1. Go to Reservations → Settings → General Settings
2. Enable Waitlist
3. Set Offer response time (default: 15 minutes)

How it works:

1. Guest tries to book online but no tables are available
2. Guest is offered to join the waitlist
3. Booking is created with status Waitlist
4. When another guest cancels their table booking:
   • The system automatically sends an SMS to the next person on the waitlist
   • The guest has 15 minutes (or your setting) to confirm
   • If the guest doesn't respond in time, the next person in queue is offered
5. When the guest confirms, status changes to Confirmed

Waitlist in admin/POS:

• Waitlist bookings appear in the calendar with an orange label
• You can manually offer a table by clicking "Offer seat" in the detail panel
• Advanced: move a waitlist booking to confirmed by manually assigning a table

Table-only – what do I do for events/resources?

• Event sold out: Display the "Next occurrence" page or add an extra occurrence in the Events settings
• Resource booked at desired time: The guest automatically sees other available slots the same day or other days

Tip: The waitlist works fully automatically. You don't need to do anything manually – the system handles offers, deadlines and the queue. Enable Confirmation SMS together with the waitlist for best results.