A waitlist for occupied dates
What it is
The Waitlist screen in the website administration. It collects the guests who were interested in dates that were already taken and left you their contact details.
It is part of the Premium plan.
Why you need it
A guest who finds dates occupied would otherwise simply leave and you would never know about them. This way they leave you a name and an e-mail, and when the dates become free they find out.
Most of it happens by itself
You do not have to watch anything. When the dates become free, the e-mail goes out to the guest automatically.
- A guest hits occupied dates on your website and leaves a name and an e-mail. They appear in the list as Waiting.
- When you cancel, move or shorten a reservation for those dates, the system sends an e-mail to the waiting guests within a minute.
- It contacts three at a time. If it wrote to all twenty, nineteen would arrive too late and you would disappoint them for nothing.
Nearby dates
When signing up, a guest can tick that nearby dates suit them too. They then also get an e-mail when dates within 3 days of theirs become free.
An example: they wanted 10-12 August and 13-15 August becomes free - we write to them as well.
You recognise it in the list by the Open to nearby dates label.
An e-mail from the waitlist is not a reservation
This is worth being clear about: it is only an invitation. The room is not blocked for them anywhere. It goes to whoever actually books it first.
Three buttons
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Notify guest | Sends the e-mail straight away, even if the dates have not officially become free yet. Useful when you know about a cancellation before the system does - for example the guest rang you. |
| Booked | Use it when the guest really did book the dates. They disappear from the active list. It does not create the reservation by itself. |
| Close request | Use it when the request is out of date. It only files it away from the list, nothing is sent to the guest. |
If an e-mail about those dates has already gone to the guest, we do not send a second one. The system tells you so.
Request states
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Waiting | The guest signed up, has not had the e-mail yet |
| Notified | The e-mail went out. You can see how many times on the request. |
| Booked | You marked them as converted into a reservation |
| Dates passed | The date has already gone by |
| Cancelled | You closed the request |
Filters
Above the list you can narrow down by Room type, Dates from and Dates to. The Clear filter button resets them.
What tidies itself up
- Requests whose dates have passed are marked as expired every morning by themselves. You do not have to delete them.
- We delete the guest's contact details 30 days after the dates.
How to tell whether it is worth it
By the number of requests in the Booked state. Those are reservations you would not otherwise have.
Common problems
The Waitlist item has a padlock. It is part of the Premium plan.
The list is empty. The form is only offered to guests when the dates they chose are occupied. If you have availability, nobody signs up.
I cancelled a reservation and nobody got anything. Check whether anybody is actually waiting for those dates, and whether they were not notified earlier.
A guest says somebody snatched the room from them. That is how it is set up. An e-mail from the waitlist is an invitation, not held dates.
I want to write to a guest a second time. The system does not send a second e-mail about the same dates. Contact them directly.