Add Guest to Waitlist
Zenoti lets you waitlist guests who want an appointment during busy days or peak hours. Instead of turning the guest away, you record their preferred service, provider, dates, and time slots. When a matching slot opens up, the guest can be booked, so you avoid losing the revenue.
Online guests can also add themselves to the waitlist from the Webstore or the Consumer Mobile App (CMA).
Note: When a waitlist appointment is confirmed, guests receive a notification with a link to add their card details. This applies to both automatic and manual waitlist confirmations.
Before You Begin
A waitlisted guest must have an email address or a mobile number on their profile. Zenoti uses these to send first-in-line notifications when a slot becomes available. If the guest has neither, you cannot add them to the waitlist.
If your business requires a card on file for bookings, ensure that the guest's registered email address or verified mobile number is on their profile. The card collection link is sent only to these contacts.
Add a Guest to the Waitlist
Open the Appointment Book and click the Waitlist icon on the right toolbar. The Waitlist panel opens. Use the header toggle to switch the view between Today and All, and use the Select provider filter to narrow the list. When no one is waitlisted, the panel shows No one is on the waitlist yet.
Click Add New. The Add guest to waitlist wizard opens with three steps: Add Guest, Add Service, and Select Date.
Choose the guest:
Select Existing Guest, then search by name, email, or phone number. Select Search across centers to include guests from other centers. Click the guest from the results.
Select New Guest and enter the guest details: first and last name, mobile number (with country code), gender, code, email, and referral source. Select This guest is a minor if applicable.
Under Send Transactional messages, select SMS, Email, or both to choose how the guest receives waitlist notifications. Important: If the guest has no email and no mobile number, Zenoti displays an alert and stops you from continuing, because first-in-line notifications cannot be sent. Add an email or phone number to the guest before proceeding.
Click Next.
Select the service and the service provider. For the provider you can choose a specific employee or a flexible option such as Any, Any Male, or Any Female. The service duration appears once a service is selected. Use + Add ons to attach add-ons, or Add new service if the service does not yet exist.
Note: Each waitlist entry holds a single service. To waitlist a guest for multiple services, create a separate waitlist entry for each one.
Click Next.
Set the Date range (start and end date) during which the guest wants to be waitlisted, then choose a Time slot.
Click Add new date range to add more date-and-slot combinations. Add any Notes if needed. After setting the date range, select the guest's Preferred days of the week by clicking the day buttons, Su, Mo, Tu, We, Th, Fr, Sa. This lets you narrow the waitlist to specific days within the date range, for example, every Thursday between 4:00 PM and 6:00 PM over the next two weeks.
Note: Select a minimum of two preferred days of the week.
Click Add to waitlist.
The guest now appears in the Waitlist panel, showing their contact details, requested service, provider, date range, and time slot. Filter the list by Today or All and by provider to find entries quickly.
Add Card Details at Appointment Confirmation
When a waitlist appointment is confirmed, either automatically by Zenoti or manually by staff, the guest receives a confirmation notification via email or SMS. This notification includes a secure link to add their card details.
How it works:
The guest receives a confirmation notification via their registered email address or verified mobile number.
The guest taps the link in the notification. The link opens a secure card collection page in a new browser tab.
The guest enters their card details and submits the form.
Once submitted, the card is saved to the guest's profile for the booking.
Note: The card collection page expires immediately after a successful or failed submission and cannot be reused.
Security considerations:
The payment link is valid for a maximum of 30 minutes from the time it is sent.
The link is sent only to the guest's registered email address or verified mobile number.
Each link can generate a maximum of five payment forms, each valid for five minutes.
Card entry is limited to one attempt per payment form.
Guests cannot generate their own payment links.
OTP validation or a secure token is required before the card collection form is displayed.
Important: Card details cannot be added directly from the waitlist entry in the Appointment Book. The card collection link is sent to the guest only at the point of appointment confirmation.