Waitlists are available on any program in Retreat Portal allowing staff to add and manage waitlists internally. Waitlists can be optionally enabled on programs that are published on Retreat Portal allowing guests to add their name, email, and phone number to a waitlist should all of the registration slots on the program fill up.
Viewing a program's waitlist
Log into Retreat Portal.
Find the program you want to allow for a waitlist.
Click Waitlist on the left-hand side.
You can add to the waitlist as well as manage those already on the waitlist by updating their status or deleting them. By default the waitlist only shows those that have not been 'skipped' or set to 'filled' - i.e. it defaults to showing those that are still waiting.
Enable waitlist for online registrations
By default the online registration for a program has a maximum waitlist limit of zero (0) which effectively disables the waitlist for the program. After a program has had marketing enabled (by clicking the 'Enable Marketing' button) then the 'Online waitlist limit' box can be edited to determine the maximum length of the waitlist for online registrations.
Be sure to click the Save button after changing the limit.
Managing waitlists in Retreat Portal
To view the entire list of any person waiting on any program click the icon in the top-left of Retreat Portal Console and select Waitlists.
OR, in the program details of any program you can click Waitlist and view just those waiting on that specific program's waitlist.
To manage the status of those on the waitlist click the three dots on the far right.
To view those entries that have been filled or skipped you can uncheck the filters at the top and the table will change automatically.
For more information on how to best utilize tables in Retreat Portal view this tutorial.
How does the waitlist work?
Please take a few moments to read through how the waitlist operates so you can best manage guests and online registrations...
When a program's registrations are completely full AND waitlist is enabled, then a guest registering online will see the waitlist form:
If the waitlist is full - i.e. you've reached the maximum number of guests waiting on the waitlist, then the waitlist isn't shown on the registration page.
Periodically look at the waitlist in Retreat Portal OR the 'Wait List Tickler' in Retreat Manager to see who is on the waitlist for programs:
Retreat center staff are expected to reach out to individuals on the waitlist by phone or by email. Guests must be manually put into the program - there is no automated method of registering guests from the waitlist.
As you reach out to individuals on the waitlist right-click on the guest, select Status, and update the status of the guest on the waitlist to accurately reflect their status.
CALLED or EMAILED keeps the guest on the waitlist while you wait for a response from the guest.
FILLED means you put the guest into the program. This removes the guest from the waitlist allowing more guests to be added to the waitlist.
SKIPPED means the guest was not put into the program. This also removes the guest from the waitlist allowing more guests to be added to the waitlist.
WAITING means nobody has contacted the guest yet.
Keeping an accurate status of guests on the waitlist is very important to ensuring things run smoothly.
For example... let's say you have a program with a waitlist limit of 5 guests. If five guests add their names to the waitlist their status is WAITING and nobody else can go on the waitlist. If you change one of the waiting guests to SKIPPED, then one more guest will be allowed on the waitlist. If five guests add their names and you call them all, and get no answer, and their status is CALLED, then the waitlist is still considered full and no new guests can go on the waitlist.
Adding more reservations... let's say you have a program with a waitlist limit of 5 guests and five guests add themselves to the waitlist - so the waitlist is full. You determine the program is popular and you decide to add 10 more spots.... this will immediately open the program for registrations again. BUT only five more guests will be able to register online because there are still five guests waiting on the waitlist. The idea is that the guests waiting on the waitlist have a 'soft reservation' until their status is changed to either FILLED or SKIPPED. And, technically, those guests on the waitlist should get a higher priority for the next available spots.
Enable access to the waitlist in Retreat Manager
You will want to be sure you have access to the waitlist in Retreat Manager. This is because guests on the waitlist must be manually added to a program. This is deliberate because often times additional reservations must be added to the program and the guest on the waitlist must be contacted by email or phone to confirm their interest in attending the program.
In Retreat Manager click Configure > Administration > Payments, Invoice, and Price Options
Click 'Online Portal' on the left-side.
Check 'Enable and Display Wait List Ticker'
Click Save and Close
All users will then see 'Wait List Tickler' in the menu bar of Retreat Manager.
Please reach out to support@dkdsoftware.com with any questions you may have with the Waitlist feature.