Waitlist
With the Waitlist addon, customers can join the waitlist for a fully booked session. When a spot becomes free, the next person moves up automatically. You activate the addon in the Manager under Addon Store.
How customers join the waitlist
When a session is full, customers see the waitlist instead of the booking button:
- Booking page: the session shows "Date full" and the Join waitlist button.
- Customer app: the session shows Waitlist and the Join the waitlist button.
Joining is only possible if the session is really full. The customer receives a confirmation email.
If the offering accepts credits and the customer pays with credits, the credits are already reserved, meaning deducted, when they join. If they don't move up and the session is over, the credits are refunded automatically. The same applies if they are taken off the waitlist.
Does the waitlist move people up automatically?
Yes. When a spot becomes free in a session, the person who has been waiting the longest moves up automatically. This happens:
- when a customer cancels themselves,
- when you cancel a booking,
- when the session gets more spots, for example via Max. participants. Bookicorn also checks sessions with a waitlist for free spots every few minutes.
People only move up until the session starts. Nobody moves up into a cancelled session, and nobody moves up when a session is cancelled.
What happens with the booking and payment when someone moves up depends on your setting (next section).
Setting: what happens when someone moves up
You find the setting under Manager → Waitlist via Settings (gear icon). The page is called Promotion when a spot opens up, and the group Waitlist for sessions:
Hold the spot until it is paid (recommended), the default:
- If the person reserved credits, they are booked right away.
- If the offering is free, they are booked right away.
- If the offering is paid and your studio offers online payment, the person receives an email with a payment link. The spot stays reserved for them until the end of the Payment deadline. If they don't pay in time, the reservation expires and the next person moves up.
- Without online payment, the person is booked right away and the payment stays open.
Book right away, payment open: the person moving up is booked right away, without a deadline. The payment stays open, and you collect it yourself, for example on site or by bank transfer. Reserved credits are used up.
You choose the Payment deadline between 2, 6, 12, 24 and 48 hours, with 24 hours as the default. If the session starts earlier, the deadline ends when the session starts.
With the "Resources" addon, there is a separate setting below, Waitlist for reservations, for offerings with free time selection.
What people moving up receive
Anyone who moves up receives an email with the subject "Spot available!" and a notification in the app. If payment is still needed, the email is called "Spot available! Book now" and contains the Pay now and secure your spot button with the deadline until which the spot is reserved.
On the Bookings page, such a reserved booking appears as pending with the note "Payment due …". If you confirm it there yourself, the spot counts as taken without online payment.
Manage the people waiting in the Manager
You see all waitlists under Manager → Waitlist (app.bookicorn.net/warteliste). Only admins see this page.
The table shows Position, Customer, Appointment, Credits reserved and Status (Waiting or Notified). Each entry opens a menu:
- Open customer profile and Send email
- Move this person up: books this specific person in. If the session is full, the Manager asks you to confirm and overbooks the session.
- Remove: takes the person off the waitlist. Reserved credits are refunded, and the person receives an email.
In the individual session there is the Waitlist tab with the Promote next person button.
On the dashboard, the card with the open items shows how many people are on waitlists.
The switch on the offering
On the offering, in the Booking rules section, there is the Offer waitlist when sessions are fully booked switch. Currently, however, joining on the booking page and in the customer app depends on the addon: if it is active, customers can join for every fully booked session. The switch shows a note about the waitlist on the offering's page.
Frequently asked questions
Does the waitlist move people up automatically? Yes, as soon as a spot becomes free and the session hasn't started yet. With the default setting, for paid offerings with online payment, the person first receives a payment link and is booked as soon as they pay.
Are credits deducted when someone joins the waitlist? Yes, they are reserved. If the person doesn't get a spot, they are refunded automatically after the session.
Can I move a specific person up? Yes. Under Manager → Waitlist, on the entry, Move this person up.
What happens with the waitlist if I cancel the session? Nobody moves up. The people waiting receive a notification that the session has been cancelled.
How long does someone have to pay? As long as the Payment deadline you have set, 24 hours by default, at most until the session starts.