Smart Waitlist: Turn "Fully Booked" Into Future Revenue

Capture Intent When It Matters Most

Your customer has chosen their perfect date, selected their ideal time, and built excitement about dining with you—only to hit a wall when their slot is fully booked. Most booking systems end the story there. BookingNinja's Waitlist rewrites the ending, and yes, that is somewhat hypobolic, but equally we've seen the huge impact it can have on booking rates - ensuring cancellations don't end up leaving you under capacity.

The Right Moment, The Right Ask

Instead of dead-end disappointment, customers see an elegant alternative: join the waitlist for their exact slot with just an email and phone number. No starting over. No abandoning their plans. Just seamless transition from "not available" to "let's continue this if a slot opens up"

This isn't about managing general interest—it's about capturing customers who've already demonstrated clear intent. They've chosen a specific date, time, and party size. They're ready to book right now. Once they add themselves to the wait list, their details they've entered up until that stage, such as their chosen session, time and date are recorded and if a slot opens up they'll be able to jump right back into the flow and complete the booking without having to reenter details.

Intelligent Automation

The system monitors specific time slots continuously. The moment a table opens—cancellation, modification, or no-show—automation springs into action based on your preferences:

• First Come, First Served: Notify all waiting guests simultaneously, creating urgency
• In Order: Give each guest an exclusive window to claim the spot fairly
• Prioritise Large Groups: Maximise revenue per available table

Of course if your more of the "hands on" type, you can disable the automation completely and handle sending the waitlist offers completely manually.

Operational Elegance

No more "do you have any cancellations?" calls. No manual lists. No forgotten callbacks. The system runs itself while your team focuses on serving guests.

One restaurant that tested the waitlist feature recovered nearly 40% of weekend cancellations through waitlist conversions—thousands in monthly revenue that would have otherwise managed.

Seamless Implementation

Smart Waitlist appears automatically when slots are full—no configuration beyond choosing your strategy. The interface maintains your brand experience while the transition feels natural and purposeful.

Your existing BookingNinja setup has everything needed. No new training, no added complexity. Just a powerful tool that turns booking friction into future revenue. For the majority of use cases you'll simple need to turn the feature on, and then start receiving more bookings. It's that simple.