How do I manage the waitlist during service?

Add waiting parties with an estimated wait, watch the queue, pin or edit entries, and seat guests when their table is ready.

Add a waiting party from the Waitlist button in the top bar — the system quotes an estimated wait, queues them, and tells you (and them) when their table is ready. The waitlist needs the Waitlist feature (*Available on Complete plan*) and the Enable smart services switch turned on in Settings → Waitlist.

Adding a party

• Click Waitlist. (If a table is free right now, the button reads Table free instead, and adding is blocked unless you've allowed joining while tables are available — seat them or take a booking instead.)
• Answer How many guests? and click Calculate Wait Time.
• You'll see one of three results: Table Available Now ("A table is free — they'll be seated straight away."), Estimated Wait: X Mins (with "Assigned Table opens at…" and "Position in queue: #N"), or Waitlist Full when the wait exceeds your maximum — try later or use New booking.
• Fill in the customer's details and click Add to Waitlist.

Watching the queue

The waitlist pill in the top bar shows how many parties are waiting. Click it to open the Waitlist Queue — each entry shows the party size, "Est. Time:" (with "(Ready)" once their table is free) and the assigned table. The Waitlist tab on the Bookings page shows the same entries.

Managing entries

Click a waitlist entry (in the list, on the timeline or on the floor plan) to open the Edit waitlist entry pop-up — name, party size, contact details, notes, allergies, dietary, occasion. Changing the party size triggers a recalculation of the queue. The table and time themselves are managed by the waitlist engine — as the pop-up says, "Table and time are managed by the waitlist engine. Assign a specific table below to pin this customer to it, or drag from the timeline." Assigning a table pins the customer to it (you're asked to confirm if that table frees up well after their quoted time), and Pin table stops the auto-rebalancer moving the entry (Unpin table reverses it) — both need the waitlist-promote permission. When an entry has been given a table but is waiting out the cleaning gap, a Promote now button also appears (same permission) — press it if the table is genuinely ready early and the customer is promoted immediately, "table ready" message and all. To take a party off the queue, use Remove — you'll be asked "Remove this party from the waitlist?". Removed entries disappear from the queue and the day's lists (any table they held frees up), the customer's waitlist status page shows they're no longer on the waitlist, and the entry still counts in the Operations tab's waitlist funnel as Removed — so your analytics remember everyone who joined, not just those you seated.

When the table is ready

Promotion is automatic: when a table frees up, the entry is promoted, the "table ready" message goes to the customer (if enabled), and a countdown runs for your promoted-customer arrival window (default 15 minutes). Your turnaround (cleaning) time is honoured — a table that's just been cleared promotes, and sends the "table ready" text, only once the gap has passed. The gap is visible too: the timeline draws a hatched tail after every cleared booking for the length of your turnaround time, and if you try to seat or move anyone onto that table during it you're asked to confirm first (seating a walk-in asks "…still in its cleaning gap — seat anyway?"; dragging a booking asks "…needs its cleaning gap until 19:45 — move anyway?") — confirming overrides the gap for that one action. Tables freed by a cancellation or no-show promote instantly unless you've switched on Apply turnaround time after cancellations & no-shows. When the customer arrives, click Seat.

Related: How do I configure how the waitlist behaves? · How do I set up and seat walk-ins? · What do guests get when bookings change?