Are you interested in turning on the Waitlist for your event? Here is how!
For high-demand properties and events, we have created a waitlist feature that allows guests to join a waitlist for a given property.
Turning On Waitlist & Corresponding Settings - Event Level
1. Start on the Event Level and Click Edit Event
2. Scroll to Rules & Add Ons - Event Level
- Waitlist Maximum
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- To give the guest’s ability to waitlist, this has to be greater than 0. This number is the Maximum Number Of Waitlisted Reservation Per Hotel.
- Waitlist Expiration
- Number of days prior to hotel cut-off that a waitlisted reservation will turn to the Expired status
- For example, if this is set at 10, 10 days prior to cut-off the status will switch from Waitlisted to Expired which signifies an action to you to fulfill the request if you are able or potentially take action (more details under Managing Waitlist)
- Important to ensure that a reservation is not in waitlist status once cut-off does hit because any reservation in waitlist status is not visible to the hotel.
3. Hotel Level
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- Waitlist Maximum and Waitlist Expiration can also be changed on the hotel level under Housing Company Policies.
4. By Night
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You can also change the number of waitlisted reservations allowed per night at each event hotel by the Waitlist Maximum column on a room block.
Guest View - what do the guests see?
Guests can join the waiting list directly from the main booking site if their desired nights aren’t available. There are little info icons to explain to guests what the Waitlist is and how it functions.
The guest will go through the standard check-out process: guest information, payment information, reservation policies, however, on their summary they will see their waitlisted night(s) and “pending charge.”
They will also be prompted to a Waitlist Disclaimer that explains the waitlist process.
Click here to read that verbiage closer: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AGcMvy1b3gSQT_5YjB7vEWo8Dbb7TQp0G0jb_n_SbtQ/edit?usp=sharing
Managing Waitlist
EventPipe Users will manage the Waitlist through the Waitlist Tab. Under waitlisted dates, the icon will designate whether you have availability in your block or not. For example, a gray icon designates you do not have the room available. If this were green, it would designate you do have that room available.
CLEARING THE WAITLIST - FULL RESERVATIONS:
If you add inventory or cancellations come through and all nights become available, you can now clear the waitlist through the meatball menu and hit Confirm Waitlist Nights to confirm the entire reservation.
This will trigger an email to the guest notifying them that their waitlisted nights were confirmed.
VIEWING RESERVATIONS THAT HAVE BEEN FULFILLED:
You can view past waitlisted reservations that have been confirmed by using the Filter Controls on the tab and selecting Confirmed .This will show the reservation and show that it is now confirmed. The activity log also tracks this!
CLEARING THE WAITLIST - PARTIALLY WAITLISTED:
There will be scenarios where 1. The guest has a confirmed night and a waitlisted night and the hotel can only provide inventory for one of the waitlisted nights. This is a partially waitlisted reservation. We discussed two options:
- SUGGESTED ACTION: Once the reservation flips to Expired (dependent on your settings), confirm the nights that are available and modify the guest’s reservation to drop the waitlisted night and leave the confirmed nights. If you do this, an email will be sent to the guest notifying them which nights were confirmed and which remain waitlisted. You will then manually have to remove the waitlisted night and re-send the final confirmation.
- ALTERNATIVE OPTION: Once the reservation flips to Expired, totally cancel the entire reservation. If this is the route you want to go, we would have to modify the Waitlist Disclaimer to explain to guests the process.
- Once the waitlist is fully cleared, turn off the waitlist across the event and attempt to re-sell any rooms.
