Use a waitlist to fill a cancelled place

When a cancellation opens a place in a full class, a waitlist helps offer that place to another client.

Turn the waitlist on

Waitlists are a class setting, not a per-occurrence one. Switch it on once and every opening of that class gets it.

1. Go to Setup → Classes and open the class.
2. Turn on Allow Waitlist.
3. Choose the waitlist type that appears below it.
4. Update.

Clients can join the waitlist once a class is full. While places remain available, they use the usual booking process.

Choose how the waitlist processes

The type decides what happens when a place becomes free. Clovo offers three options, depending on how much control and staff involvement you want.

Auto — when a booked client cancels, Clovo automatically books the next eligible person in the queue. No staff action is required.

Manual — the place is held and your team is notified. A staff member chooses which waitlisted client to book.

Offer — every client on the waitlist is notified that a place is available, and the first eligible client to book receives it. The remaining clients stay on the waitlist.

What "Waitlist Locked" means

Between the cancellation and the place being filled, the opening is waitlist locked. Only clients already on the waitlist can take the place; it is not available to other clients browsing the timetable.

You will see a Waitlist Locked badge on the opening, with a Remove lock link beside it. Removing the lock releases the place to anyone.

How long the lock lasts depends on the type:

• Auto — moments. Long enough for Clovo to book the next client.
• Manual — until a staff member processes it. The place remains locked until your team takes action.
• Offer — until one of the notified clients books it.

Add someone yourself, or skip the queue

On the opening you get two controls that override the normal flow.

Add to Waitlist puts a client on the queue yourself — for the person who rang the studio rather than opening the app.

Add on a waitlist row takes that client off the waitlist and books them straight into the class. Clovo will warn you what it is about to ignore:

• Waitlist queue order will be ignored. The client is added regardless of where they sat in the queue.
• Class size will be ignored. If the class is at capacity, they are added anyway and you go one over.

If the client’s credit pack has no credits left, you will see Cannot move from waitlist and the booking will not be created. Eligibility is checked when the entry is processed, not when the client joins, so a client’s eligibility may change while they are waiting.

Remove takes a client off the waitlist without booking them.

Important waitlist behaviour

• A waitlist only processes when someone leaves. If no one cancels, the class remains full and the waitlist does not move.
• Direct Purchase is unavailable while the waitlist is open. A full class with an open waitlist cannot be bought into as a one-off. See letting clients book without a membership or pack.
• Super credits do not work on waitlists. They are for booking, not queueing.
• Members can be given priority. A studio-level setting lets membership holders be processed before credit pack and trial clients in the queue.
• Joining a waitlist does not spend a credit. The credit is taken if and when the booking is actually made.

Pair it with penalties

A waitlist only helps if the place comes back early enough to be filled. That is what a cancellation window is for: it makes dropping out at the last minute cost something, which pushes cancellations earlier, which gives the waitlist time to work.

Using both features can give clients a reason to cancel earlier and give the waitlist more time to fill the place. See Set up late cancellation and no-show penalties.