Waitlist

Waitlist is enabled per item in the item’s settings.

To enable Waitlist for an item:

1. Go to the Items section of your Dashboard.
2. Select the item for which you’d like to enable Waitlist.
3. Once in your item overview, select Bookability from the navigation on the left.
4. In the Booking restrictions table, navigate to the Full or overbooked row.
5. Check the Waitlist instead of call to book box.
6. Click Save changes.

In addition to enabling Waitlists at the item level, you can also enable Waitlist on Dashboard booking restrictions. This allows you to add a waitlist for a certain period of time or for certain availabilities. General Waitlist settings such as cutoff times cannot be configured from Dashboard booking restrictions.

Once enabled, customers may join a waitlist for fully-booked availabilities. If there is an availability that is full, the online calendar will continue to display the availability so that customers may add themselves to the waitlist.

When an availability is selected, the Waitlist option will appear underneath the timeslot:

Customers can click into the availability and select the applicable customer type and add their contact details.

After filling out their contact details, customers may also choose to be notified if their desired activity has availabilities at other times or on other days by checking the I’m flexible box under Flexibility.

Customers may add any number of any available customer types to a waitlist. Customer types with specific, conditional requirements, such as buy-one-get-one or child-requiring-adult, will not work in Waitlist.

Once the customer has filled in these details, they may click Join waitlist.

To view customers in a waitlist:

1. Navigate to the Bookings calendar.
2. An hourglass icon will appear on availabilities for which a customer is waitlisted. Click the availability to display the availability dropdown.
3. The number of waitlisted customers will appear at the bottom of the dropdown or when hovering over the icon. Click Waiting to view your waitlist.

In the Waitlist view for your activity, you will see a list of customers currently waiting, as well as their full name, contact details, date added, customer types, and flexibility. You may choose to send an email to the customer as well as book the customer, archive the customer, or add staff notes about the waitlisted customer.

Above the waitlist table, an expandable summary of the available capacity for the booking is visible next to the + Add a customer to waitlist button. Click this dropdown to review the total number of available spots and total number of waitlisted customers for each customer type associated with the availability:

Adding a customer to a waitlist

In addition to viewing customers currently on the waitlist, you may also manually add a customer to the waitlist.

To manually add a customer to your waitlist:

1. Click the + Add customer to waitlist button.
2. Fill in the field for the customer’s desired customer type.
3. Add the customer’s name, phone number, and email address in the Customer details section.
4. Confirm whether or not the customer is open to other availabilities via the Customer is flexible checkbox. If the box is checked, you must add details about the customer’s flexibility in the field below the checkbox.
5. Click Add customer to waitlist.

Booking available seats for a waitlisted customer

If seats are available on the waitlisted activity, a red dot will appear next to the waitlist symbol in the Bookings calendar.

From here, you may click into the waitlist, contact the waitlisted customer, and ask if they would like to join. After confirming with the customer, click the … icon to reveal the waitlist options dropdown. Click New booking:

A booking form will appear and the customer’s details will populate in the form. Click Complete booking to book the availability for the customer.

Adding a cutoff time

You can specify a cutoff time to automatically close the waitlist before a scheduled availability. Once the cutoff time is reached, the waitlist will no longer be available to customers, and the availability status will change to Closed, preventing further sign-ups.

To add a cutoff time:

1. Go to the item for which you have Waitlist enabled.
2. Once in your item overview, select Bookability from the navigation on the left.
3. Under Waitlist, check the Auto close waitlist box.
4. Choose how long before the availability you’d like the waitlist to close by filling in the hours before field and selecting Midnight on day of or Availability start time.
5. Click Save changes.

Receiving notifications when customers are added to a waitlist

You may choose to receive a notification on the FareHarbor mobile app or by email when a customer is added to a waitlist. Notifications can be enabled per Dashboard user in the Dashboard settings.

Waitlist notifications include:

• The item and availability name
• Customer types requested
• Contact information for the waitlisted guest
• A link to the specific waitlist in the Dashboard

To subscribe to Waitlist user notifications:

1. Go to the Settings section of your Dashboard.
2. Select Users & Permissions.
3. Click Edit next to the name of the user you want to update.
4. Click the Account tab.
5. Click the Notifications tab.
6. Navigate to Waitlist.
7. Check Email, Mobile, or both notification types.
8. Click Save changes.

Once enabled, you will receive notifications when a customer adds themselves to a waitlist online or when added by a FareHarbor Dashboard user. Check the Only send notifications if user is crew for the availability box if you would like to receive notifications only when you are listed as a crew member for an availability.

Sending email notifications to customers

When a spot opens for a fully booked activity, you can manually email waitlisted customers to inform them of the availability or you can set up automatic email notifications. To send an email to the waitlisted customer, click the … icon to reveal the waitlist options dropdown. Click Send email:

Once you click Send email, an overlay will appear with editable Subject, Title, and Message fields. Use these fields to customize the contents of your email. The default text for each field is translated into your active Dashboard language. Choose where the button link in the email sends customers by selecting either Link to current availability or Link to general item calendar.

After you’ve customized the contents of the email, click Send email. An email will automatically be sent to the waitlisted customer with your summary of the availability and a link to book the now-available spot or to the general item calendar, depending on your selection:

In addition to manual email notifications, you can also set up automatic notifications.

To enable automatic notifications for waitlisted customers:

1. Click Items in the FareHarbor Dashboard navigation.
2. Select the item for which you want to add automatic notifications.
3. Click Notifications from the item settings.
4. Check the Automatically send email when relevant capacity for Waitlist becomes available box.
5. Define a grace period by selecting how many minutes after the seat becomes available to notify the customer.
6. Click Save changes.

When automatic notifications are enabled, waitlisted customers will be automatically notified when there is a cancellation or rebooking and the newly available seat matches the customer type selected for the waitlisted customers. The matching waitlisted customers will receive the notification after the defined grace period has ended.

Once an automatic email notification has been sent to waitlisted customers who match the profile for the open seat, they will not receive additional notifications for the waitlisted activity. You can view which waitlisted customers have received an automatic notification under the Auto email sent column of the Waitlist.

For each waitlisted customer, the waitlist view in your Dashboard displays a timestamp indicating when they last received an email notification.

When a customer receives the email, they can click Book now to sign up for the availability. If the availability has been booked again since the email was sent, the customer will be directed to a page indicating that the availability is fully booked.

Archiving waitlisted customers

There may be circumstances in which a customer has previously signed up for a waitlist but is no longer interested. You may archive this waitlisted customer to ensure that you maintain a clear view of relevant customers in your waitlist.

To archive a waitlisted customer, click the … icon to reveal the waitlist options dropdown and select Move to Archived. This archived customer can be viewed in the Archived section of your waitlist, available in the top left corner above the waitlisted customer table.

If you would like to add a previously archived customer to the waitlist, click the Archived link in the top left corner of your waitlist. Once in the Archived view, click the … icon for the relevant customer, and select Move to Waitlist.

In addition to the Waitlist feature, waitlists can also be created in your Dashboard using a waitlist item and a custom calendar to view the waitlist when needed. Then, if a spot becomes available, you can quickly rebook the customer into the desired availability and add a payment.

While using the Waitlist feature described in previous sections will be preferable in most circumstances, you may need to use the waitlist item alternative if you intend to charge a fee when a customer is added to a waitlist or if you need to collect additional details during the waitlisting process.

To set up a waitlist item:

1. Navigate to Settings > Customer Types and create a new customer type for each item that you would like to have a waitlist.

2. Go to Items and create a new item.

   For example, “Waitlist” or “Special Events Waitlist”.

3. Go to the item’s Options & Prices and add your new customer types.

   Note: You do not need to add any pricing for these customer types.

4. Make sure that the item’s Online Bookability is set to private (this is the default setting).

5. Go to the item’s Calendar and create availabilities for your waitlist.

   1. Select “All day” under Time & Length.
   2. Select “Repeating” under Repeating and select an end date.
   3. Set a maximum capacity for your waitlist, if needed.
   4. Click Next and choose the customer types you added in Step 3.
   5. Click Create availability.

6. Go to Bookings and create a custom calendar for your waitlist.

   1. Go to Filter > Items and select your “Waitlist” item.
   2. Open the Calendar menu and select + New custom calendar.
   3. Enter a name for your calendar, then click Create.

Adding customers to your waitlist item

When you need to add a customer to the waitlist, go to your “Waitlist” custom calendar, choose the appropriate date and activity, then create a booking without payment.

Once a spot becomes available, open the customer’s booking, rebook to the desired availability, and add a payment.

We recommend disabling any existing waitlist items and setups from your online booking experience or website after enabling the Waitlist feature to ensure a streamlined experience for both customers and staff.

To transfer existing bookings on a waitlist item to the Waitlist feature:

1. Enable the Waitlist feature as outlined in the Enabling waitlists section above.
2. Identify the availabilities that have the waitlist booking added.
3. Follow the steps outlined in the Adding a customer to a waitlist section above.
4. If any information from the original booking was not added into the Waitlist feature, such as custom field information, booking notes, or availability notes, add them to the Staff notes in the Waitlist.

Reasons why bookings can’t be transferred over

There are some scenarios in which bookings cannot be transferred from a waitlist item to the Waitlist feature. If you encounter any of these scenarios, please reach out to our Support team or your Account Manager for further assistance:

• The original waitlist booking is created for a day that has no availabilities for the requested activity.
• The original waitlist booking does not contain all of the required information to add a customer to the waitlist.
• The original waitlist booking is for an item that does not have the Waitlist feature enabled.

• Do not enable the Waitlist feature on items with no capacity, such as retail and membership items.
• If you are enabling Waitlist on the Dashboard-level booking restrictions, make sure all applicable items are items for which you want the Waitlist feature enabled.
• Use Staff notes to note a customer’s booking status, helping your team stay informed and aligned.

Waitlist item setup (bookable online & backend)

Setups with future bookings:

1. Set the waitlist item to private.
2. Enable the Waitlist feature for the items requested by the client.
3. Transfer the original waitlist bookings to the Waitlist feature.
   1. See Transitioning from waitlist items to the Waitlist feature in the client-facing help page.
   2. Note: Once the availabilities with future bookings have passed, the item can be archived.
4. Check the booking flows the waitlist item is added to and adjust them accordingly to avoid whitespace.
5. If the waitlist item was originally bookable online, check the client’s website for the waitlist item.
   1. Client with a FareHarbor site: Account managers can send a LSS request to “hide” the activity page.
   2. Client with their own site: AM will have to ask the client to “hide” or remove the item from their site.
6. If public headlines are in use only on the waitlist item availabilities, delete the public headline.

Setups with NO future bookings:

1. Archive the waitlist item.
2. Check if any waitlist-specific customer types or custom fields can now be archived.
3. Check the booking flows the waitlist item is added to and adjust them accordingly to avoid whitespace.
4. If the waitlist item was originally bookable online, check the client’s website for the waitlist item.
   1. Client with a FareHarbor site: Account managers can send a LSS request to “hide” the activity page.
   2. Client with their own site: AM will have to ask the client to “hide” or remove the item from their site.
5. If public headlines are in use only on the waitlist item availabilities, delete the public headline.

Availability opener setups

Setups with future bookings:

1. Set all of the waitlist availabilities to Closed & hidden.
2. Delete all waitlist availabilities from the calendar that do not have any bookings.
3. Enable the Waitlist feature for the item.
4. Transfer the original waitlist bookings to the Waitlist feature.
   1. See Transitioning from waitlist items to the Waitlist feature in the client-facing help page.
5. Depending on the resource requirement group setup, take the following actions:
   1. Resource requirement groups that ONLY have availability opener resources added: Remove all resources from all availabilities.
      1. After removing from availabilities, the resource requirement group can be archived for the item.
   2. Resource requirement groups with other resources attached besides availability openers: Leave resources attached to availabilities, and ONLY remove the availability opener resources from the resource requirement groups.
6. If the availability opener resource is not attached to any other items, you can archive that resource for the entire Dashboard.
7. If a waitlist custom field group was created and added to the opener availabilities that are now removed from the item’s calendar, you can now archive that custom field group.
8. If a waitlist customer type was in use on the opener availabilities that are now removed from the item’s calendar, you can now archive that customer type.
9. If public headlines are in use only on the waitlist item availabilities, delete the public headline.

Setups with NO future bookings:

1. Delete all waitlist availabilities from the calendar that do not have any bookings.
2. Depending on the resource requirement group setup, take the following actions:
   1. Resource requirement groups that ONLY have availability opener resources added: Remove all resources from all availabilities.
      1. After removing from availabilities, the resource requirement group can be archived for the item.
   2. Resource requirement groups with other resources attached besides availability openers: Leave resources attached to availabilities, and ONLY remove the availability opener resources from the resource requirement groups.
3. If the availability opener resource is not attached to any other items, you can archive that resource for the entire Dashboard.
4. If a waitlist custom field group was created and added to the opener availabilities that are now removed from the item’s calendar, you can now archive that custom field group.
5. If a waitlist customer type was in use on the opener availabilities that are now removed from the item’s calendar, you can now archive that customer type.
6. If public headlines are in use only on the waitlist item availabilities, delete the public headline.
7. Enable the Waitlist feature for the item.

External waitlist form setup

External link in item description:

Remove the current content with the external link or add information about the new Waitlist feature process.

Note: Any bookings made through this previous process will either have to continue to be referred to or will need to transfer bookings into the Waitlist feature.

External link on client’s site

If the client is planning to only utilize the Waitlist feature, their Account Manager will need to ask the client to remove this external form from their site before the feature can be enabled.

Note: Any bookings made through this previous process will either have to continue to be referred to or will need to transfer bookings into the Waitlist feature.

If the client wants to continue using the external form for other items in their Dashboard that are not utilizing the Waitlist feature, the link can be left on the client’s site. However, we should inform the client that they will have to manage both systems for their setup.

External link on FareHarbor site

If the client is planning to only utilize the Waitlist feature, their Account Manager will need to submit an LSS update request asking them to remove this external form from the site. This must occur before the Waitlist feature can be enabled.

Note: Any bookings made through this previous process will either have to continue to be referred to or will need to transfer bookings into the Waitlist feature.

If the client wants to continue using the external form for other items in their Dashboard that are not utilizing the Waitlist feature, the link can be left on the client’s site. However, we should inform the client that they will have to manage both systems for their setup.

We usually don’t recommend including a waitlist option for online customers, for the following reasons:

• The booking process is not as clean.
• It can potentially hurt conversions: If an event is sold out, users tend to go book a different time or activity, but if offered a waitlist spot they may not book at all.

However, if the client really wants this option, you can add a section on their website below the book embed that says something to the effect of Is the activity you’re looking to book already sold out? Below this, add a book button (“Sign up for the waitlist”) which specifically opens the Waitlist calendar.

Under the item’s Online Bookability settings, make sure to change the “Waitlist” item from private to bookable online, and check the box “Allow completely free bookings.”

Examples

• Lucky Catch Cruises
• Bear Bogging Adventure Tours
• Amazon Funtivities
• Kingmik Dogsled Tours