Nothing’s more frustrating than empty tables, even when you’re fully booked, last-minute cancellations can happen. With a Waitlist, you’ll always have guests ready to fill those gaps immediately.
In FRANK you can decide for which Shifts you want to offer a Waitlist. You can, for example, decide to only offer a Waitlist for your Boozy Brunch but not for your regular lunch. When you do offer a Waitlist, you can also set whether guests automatically receive a message when a spot opens up or if you prefer to assign them manually.
How to set up a Waitlist
Go to Manage → Shifts
Underneath All Shifts, select the Shift for which you want to enable a Waitlist
Open the Waitlist tab
Toggle the Waitlist on and choose whether you want to send automatic notifications or prefer to place guests manually
In the overview of all Shifts, you can see in the Waitlist column whether you offer a Waitlist for that Shift or not:
Manual placement vs. Automatic notifications
There are two ways you can work with a Waitlist:
Placing guests manually as soon as a spot opens up
Sending automated notifications as soon as a spot opens up
Manual placement:
If you manually assign a guest from the Waitlist to a table, the reservation automatically changes into a normal reservation and the guest receives a confirmation email that they got placed.
Automatic notifications:
If you enable this option, guests receive an email as soon as spot becomes available. With one click, they can book via your widget. If someone else was faster, they’ll automatically get another notification when a new spot opens up.
What the guest sees when you offer a Waitlist
If the Waitlist is active, guests can sign up once your restaurant is full. They choose
the date and time they would like to book, fill in their details, and receive a notification as soon as a spot opens up.
Extra service:
If a guest can’t be placed from the Waitlist, they’ll receive an email at
the end of the date and time they made their Waitlist reservation; letting them know their Waitlist spot has expired — along with an invitation to book for another day.
Managing your Waitlist during service
At the bottom of the reservation overview, you’ll see an hourglass icon showing the
number of guests on the waitlist. Click it to view the entire list.
To add a guest to the Waitlist:
Click on the hourglass in the reservation overview
Click + Add at the top right to manually add someone
To seat a guest from the Waitlist:
Click on the hourglass to open the Waitlist for that specific day
Click Seat once a table becomes available.
Contacting or removing a guest from the Waitlist
Click the three dots to contact a guest or remove them from the list.
Tip! A Waitlist isn’t just useful for filling empty tables, it’s also a great way to keep guests engaged. Even if they can’t come today, a friendly follow-up can encourage them to book another time.