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Waitlist — automatic notifications when a slot frees up

When a booking cancels, the waitlist auto-pings the next eligible customer. SMS-first.

The waitlist captures customers who couldn't get the time they wanted. When a booking cancels or a slot opens up, Trimsy can automatically text the matching waitlisters with a one-tap booking link.

Settings live under Settings → Booking → Waitlist.

What gets matched

When a slot opens, Trimsy looks at every active waitlist entry and finds matches based on:

  • Service — the entry's service must overlap with what the freed slot allows.
  • Preferred date / window — entry's preferred date is within ± the configurable tolerance days (default ±2).
  • Preferred staff (if set) — must match the staff who became available.
  • Location — must match.

The first matching entry by waitlist position wins. If they don't respond inside the response window (default 30 min), the next one is tried, and so on.

SMS workflow

The matched customer gets:

Hi Sarah — a 2pm slot opened up tomorrow with Lisa for your colour appointment. Tap to claim: https://salon.trimsy.au/wl/abc123 — first to claim wins. Reply STOP to opt out.

Tapping the link routes them to a confirmation page. They tap Confirm and the booking is created — no payment, no captcha, no friction. The other waitlisters in line are notified the slot is taken.

What if SMS isn't enabled?

If your tenant has run out of SMS credits or you've not connected Twilio, the waitlist falls back to email-only notifications. The flow is the same; just slower because customers don't always check email.

Manual offers

For sensitive customers (VIP, time-critical, big-spender), you might want to offer slots manually instead of broadcasting. From the waitlist tab, click Offer slot next to any entry, fill in the date/time, and the customer gets a personalised SMS with the offer instead of being part of the broadcast.

Auto-archiving

Waitlist entries auto-archive when:

  • The customer's preferred date passes
  • They've been on the list for the configured max days (default 60)
  • Their preferred staff is removed
  • The customer responds NO to an offer (one-and-done — they have to re-add themselves)

Reports

Reports → Waitlist shows fill rate (offered → claimed), average response time, and which staff have the most demand for follow-up scheduling.