Waitlists keep a class page useful when every seat is taken. Instead of "Fully booked" being a dead-end, the booker can join a FIFO waitlist and gets auto-promoted when someone ahead of them cancels.
Available on every plan. No setup needed; it's on by default for every group class.
What the booker sees
If a session is full, the "Book" button changes to "Join waitlist". They tap it, enter their details (logged-in or guest), and we email a confirmation. They sit at the bottom of the queue.
What you see
On your bookings page each session shows a waitlist count next to the bookings count. Tap to see the queue with names, emails, and the timestamp they joined. From there you can manually promote anyone or remove them.
Auto-promotion
When a confirmed booking on the same session is cancelled, the platform:
- Picks the booker at position 1 in the waitlist queue.
- Creates a Confirmed booking for them automatically (matching the seat the canceller vacated).
- Emails them: "You're in — confirmed for X at Y."
- Removes them from the waitlist queue.
The promoted booker is charged immediately if they paid via Stripe-card during the join step (we save the payment intent); for off-platform methods they confirm by replying to the email.
Capacity vs party size
For group bookings, the seat count is partySize. If the canceller had a party of 3 and the next waitlister also wants 3 seats, we auto-promote them. If the canceller had 1 seat and the next waitlister wants 3, we skip them and try the one after — they're notified that their party was too large and they stay on the queue.
Promoting manually
Sometimes you want to bump someone out of order — say a long-time student who happens to be at position 4. Click their row → Promote. Same email + Confirmed-booking flow fires; they jump the queue.
When NOT to use it
If your class is private (one-on-one), waitlists don't apply: there's only one seat, and if it's taken the page should just say "next available date". The platform automatically hides the waitlist UI for private classes.