Cancellation waitlist
A cancellation doesn’t have to mean an empty chair. When a customer lands on a day that’s fully booked, they can ask to be told if someone cancels — and when someone does, the spot goes back out automatically.
Available on Growth and Pro.
How it works
Section titled “How it works”- A customer picks a service and a day that has no times left. Instead of a dead end, they see “Notify me if a spot opens” and how many people are already waiting.
- They verify their phone number (the same step as signing in to view bookings) and join. Joining is free and takes no card.
- When an appointment on that day is cancelled, everyone waiting for it is messaged at once with a link straight to the freed time.
- The first person to finish booking gets it. Nothing is held for anyone. Whoever misses out stays on the list for the next opening.
If a spot opens up today and someone is already waiting in your shop, your front desk gets a short head start to seat them before the spot goes out online. You control how long — see below.
What customers see
Section titled “What customers see”- On a fully-booked day: the “notify me” button and a count of who’s waiting.
- When a spot opens: an email, SMS or WhatsApp (whichever channels you have switched on) with the time, who it’s with, and a link.
- If someone books it first: a page saying so, the other times still free that day, and confirmation that they’re still on the list.
Customers can turn waitlist messages off on their own without leaving the list, from their notification preferences.
Managing the list
Section titled “Managing the list”Schedule → Waitlist shows two things side by side:
- Waiting for a cancellation — everyone queued for a full day, with the service, who they asked for, how long they’ve waited and when they were last messaged. You can remove anyone.
- Here now, waiting to be seated — walk-ins who’ve arrived but don’t have a chair yet. These are ordinary walk-in appointments; you seat them from the calendar as always.
You can also add someone to the list yourself: if a client rings and the day they want is full, add them from the New Appointment screen.
Settings
Section titled “Settings”Settings → Booking Policies → Cancellation waitlist:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Take waitlist requests | Turn off to stop new requests. Everyone already waiting stays on the list, and you can still ring them. |
| Hold same-day openings for the desk | How long a spot that frees up today is kept for the front desk before it goes out online. During that window the time is hidden from online booking. Set to 0 to always send straight away. Default 10 minutes. |
| Message at most | How many people are messaged per opening, longest-waiting first. Default 10. |
| Don’t message the same person again within | Stops a busy day texting one customer repeatedly. Default 6 hours. |
The caps are there because every message costs you: a waitlist blast uses your message allowance like any other SMS or WhatsApp. Email doesn’t count against it.
Booking from the waitlist
Section titled “Booking from the waitlist”A customer claiming a spot goes through your normal booking flow, so your deposit and cancellation policies apply exactly as they always do. There’s no separate path and no special pricing.
Things worth knowing
Section titled “Things worth knowing”- Being messaged doesn’t hold the spot. Everyone matching is told at the same time; it goes to whoever books first. This fills cancellations fastest, and the messages say so plainly.
- A no-show doesn’t free the slot. Marking someone as a no-show keeps the appointment on the calendar — the chair was used up. Cancel it if you want the time offered to the waitlist.
- Rebooking a cancelled slot yourself removes it from what the waitlist can offer, immediately.
- Entries clear themselves. If a customer books that day another way, they come off the list. Entries for days that have passed are closed automatically each night.
- One request per day, per service. Someone can wait on several different days, up to a limit.
What it doesn’t do
Section titled “What it doesn’t do”- It doesn’t offer spots to people one at a time in turn — everyone matching hears at once.
- It doesn’t rank by spend or loyalty status; whoever matches gets told.
- A request is for one service on one date. There are no date ranges or “any morning” requests.
- It never books anyone automatically. The customer always chooses.