Our simpleERB waitlist is designed for two situations that might require a 'waitlist' for the current date.

Firstly, it can help to record details of a walkin customer so you can then contact them and assign a table when the next suitable one is available.

Secondly, it can also keep track of customers who already have a booked table but when they arrive, you don't have a table available for them. For example; when a booking has over stayed their allotted Table Turn Time and the next customer has just arrived and you have had to seat them in a bar area until the previous customer's bill has been settled and the table cleaned.

The way simpleERB is designed, it is effectively your live 'waitlist' for that day, as you can always add a customer or walk-in customer to the system on the next available table or timeslot. 

As this feature is for active booking use, you can only add customers to the waitlist on the current booking date.  If you are looking for a 'long term' waitlist option, please see our help article here.

You will find the waitlist feature button located at the top of each booking view. See the waitlist button in the screenshot below.
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By adding the booking to the waitlist feature, you can keep an eye on the booking to remind staff of the booking and track how long the customer has been waiting. You can also see alternative tables available you could move the booking to if you are looking to seat the customer straight away rather than keeping the customer waiting any longer if perhaps other bookings have already been marked as Table Ready or a No Show by another member of staff on another device. 

If you are looking to waitlist a walkin, you will firstly need to make the customer a booking in the next available timeslot in your diary.

We suggest just adding a name and contact number for a walkin, to prevent the customer from receiving a booking confirmation email. You can always add an email later on.

To add the booking to the waitlist, click on the booking required to be added, to view the Individual Booking Page (IBP). On the right hand side of the booking under the 'arrived' title, click the on the drop down box the option - ' not yet seated - add to waitlist'. 

You will then be able to see the booking listed on the waitlist. Click the waitlist button so the drop down box appears to view all bookings listed in this feature.
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Once you are ready to move the booking out of the waitlist feature, click the green 'available table' button.  You will then be shown available tables to allocate the booking to. You can either select another table or re-select the same booked table. The IBP will then show this table status as seated. 

If you have purchased SMS credit from us and a mobile contact listed for the customer, the waitlist feature is also handy by being able to alert the customer via text that their table is ready for them. 

When the table is ready and once you have allocated the booking to an available table, you can then in the IBP send the customer a quick personalised text to advise the table is ready for them.  

To purchase SMS credit in your simpleERB account, please see the link below;  https://app.simpleerb.com/restaurant/setup/purchasesmscredits
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