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Waitlist Management

Never lose a potential booking to a sold-out trip. The waitlist captures demand, notifies anglers when spots open, and converts interest into revenue.

5 min read

How the Waitlist Works

When a trip is fully booked, anglers can join the waitlist instead of leaving your page empty-handed. If a spot opens up — whether through a cancellation, schedule change, or added capacity — the next person in line gets notified automatically.

This turns missed opportunities into future bookings and gives you a clear picture of unmet demand.

Plan Requirement

Waitlist management is available on the Starter plan and above.

Enabling the Waitlist

  1. Go to Dashboard → Settings → Booking
  2. Find the "Waitlist" section and toggle it on
  3. Choose your notification method — email only, SMS only, or both
  4. Set the exclusive booking window (how long a notified angler has to claim their spot before the next person is contacted)
  5. Save your settings

Pro Tip

A 4–8 hour booking window works well for most captains. Long enough for anglers to see the notification, short enough to keep things moving.

The Angler Experience

When a angler visits your booking page and finds a trip fully booked, they'll see a "Join Waitlist" button instead of a grayed-out slot.

  1. They click "Join Waitlist" on the sold-out date
  2. They enter their name, email, and party size
  3. They receive a confirmation that they've been added
  4. When a spot opens, they get a notification with an exclusive booking link
  5. They book through the link within the booking window to claim the spot

If they don't book within the window, the system automatically notifies the next person on the list.

Managing Your Waitlist

From Dashboard → Bookings, you can view and manage your waitlist entries:

  • View waitlist: See who's waiting for each date and trip, ordered by signup time
  • Manual notify: Skip the queue and notify a specific angler if needed
  • Remove entries: Clean up entries that are no longer relevant
  • Add notes: Add internal notes to waitlist entries (e.g., "VIP — prioritize")

Capacity Changes

If you add more spots to a trip (for example, by assigning an additional equipment), the system will automatically notify waitlisted anglers starting from the top of the list.

Auto-Notification & Booking Window

When a spot opens, Guidewinds handles the notification cascade automatically:

  1. The first angler on the waitlist receives an email (and SMS if enabled) with an exclusive booking link
  2. They have the configured booking window to complete their booking
  3. If they don't book in time, the link expires and the next person is notified
  4. This continues down the list until someone books or the list is exhausted

Pro Tip

You'll receive a notification each time a waitlisted angler successfully books, so you always know when a cancellation slot has been filled.

Tracking Conversions

The waitlist isn't just about filling cancellations — it's a demand signal. From Dashboard → Analytics, you can track:

  • Total waitlist signups by date and trip
  • Conversion rate (how many waitlisted anglers end up booking)
  • Average time on waitlist before booking
  • Demand patterns that suggest you should add more availability

If certain dates consistently have long waitlists, that's a strong signal to add more trips or extend your hours.

What's Next?

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