Skip to main content
The waitlist is enabled shift by shift. Open Settings → Opening days → Shifts, pick a shift, and find the Waitlist settings card. Turn on Enable waitlist to reveal the options.
The waitlist is part of your EatNow plan. If the toggle is greyed out with a lock, it’s not included in your current plan — contact support to enable it. Shifts that already have a waitlist keep it in any case.
Waitlist settings card in the shift form

​
Choosing the confirmation mode

This is the important decision: what happens when a spot frees up?
Not sure? Start with Manual. You keep the queue’s benefits (capturing demand, seeing who’s interested) while your team decides case by case. Switch to an automatic mode once you trust the flow.

​
The other settings

  • Max waitlist size per slot — caps how many guests can queue for the same time slot. Leave it empty for no limit. A small cap (3–5) keeps expectations realistic: being 12th in line for one table is a promise you can’t keep.
  • Notification delay (min) — when a reservation is cancelled, the system waits this long before processing the queue. This buffer (0–15 min) gives your team a moment to react — for example to call back the guest who cancelled, or seat a walk-in — before the spot is offered away. Several cancellations on the same slot within the window are handled as one release, so the queue isn’t spammed.
  • Priority per guest (min) — how long an offer stays open before it moves on (to the next in line in Notify in order). 30 minutes is a good default; an offer always closes when the slot starts, and is never shorter than 5 minutes — a slot starting sooner is no longer offered.

​
What the guest receives

Notifications are automatic on both channels, using your portal colors and your custom templates if you have any:
  • Email — always, when the guest left an email address.
  • WhatsApp — if your WhatsApp integration is connected. Two dedicated templates (Waitlist — joined and spot available) are created and submitted for approval automatically when the integration is set up.
Three moments trigger a message:
  1. Joining — “You’re on the waitlist” (and, explicitly, not booked yet), with a link to track or cancel the request.
  2. Spot available — one clear call to action, Confirm my spot. In Notify in order the message states the exact deadline (“held for you until 8:30 PM”); in Notify all it says first come, first served.
  3. Confirmed — as soon as the spot is confirmed, the guest receives your regular reservation confirmation email (recap + calendar invite). No separate template: your existing customizations apply.
The two waitlist emails can be customized per shift and per language in Settings → Notifications → Email templates (the Waitlist types), and toggled individually in Settings → Notifications, like every other guest notification.

​
Good to know

  • The waitlist never overbooks by itself: every confirmation — by the guest or by your team — goes through the same capacity checks as a normal booking, at the moment it happens. Only your team can force: when confirming on the guest’s behalf, or by offering a spot anyway — the guest’s confirmation then books past capacity.
  • Entries whose slot has started are closed automatically within the hour (marked Expired).
  • A block also closes the waitlist on its slots, with or without a message: guests don’t see the button and cannot join. A block limited to one room leaves it open. Your team can still add a guest by hand.
  • Guests can leave the queue at any time from their personal link — the spot then naturally goes to the next person.