The waiting list
A waiting list turns the people who arrived too late from a lost audience into the first ones you contact when a place comes back.
A waiting list collects the details of people who wanted a place after the event was sold out. It is not a reservation and grants nothing; it is a queue of interest. Its value is that cancellations are normal, and without a list those returned places go back on sale to nobody in particular.
What a sold out sign costs you
When a sale closes, the people still arriving at the page simply leave, and you never learn that they came. A fortnight later four people cancel, the places go quietly back on sale, and the visitors who wanted them have long since made other plans.
The list is also the best information you will get about next year. Sixty names behind a hundred and twenty places is a clear argument for a bigger room or a second night, and it is an argument made of real people rather than a feeling.
Running one without over-promising
Be explicit that a place on the list is not a ticket. People will assume they have been promised something unless the wording is plain, and a misunderstanding here produces a bad conversation at the door on the night.
Decide in advance how a freed place is offered. First come, first served with a short deadline is the fairest and the easiest to explain; offering it to everybody at once is faster but guarantees disappointment for most of them.
The waiting list in Passavo
A full time slot is marked as full in the calendar, so nobody reaches the payment screen only to learn it cannot be done. Raise the capacity, or let places come back from people who gave up at checkout, and booking opens again straight away.
You see per slot how many places have been sold. If a series keeps filling up, you add extra slots in a few clicks, and that figure often tells you more about next season than the tickets you sold this time.
Also searched for as
- sold out list
- interest list
- standby list
- returns list
Common questions
Can we add places when a slot is full?
Yes. Raise the capacity of the slot and the extra places go on sale immediately, in the shop and at the till.
What does a visitor see when a slot is full?
The slot is marked as full in the calendar and cannot be chosen. Other times with room stay bookable, so the visitor sees at once where there is still space.