Book the next person in line when a spot opens early. Alert everyone and let the first to tap win when it opens late. Both modes, every plan. 70-80% conversion on first-to-claim, 90%+ on auto-booked. The same waitlist Mariana Tek and Walla build in, at Junocal's entry-tier price.
A client cancels with plenty of notice (for example 12+ hours, or 24+ in the US). The next person on the waitlist is booked in automatically with an email confirmation: 'You're in for the 6pm class.' Easy to fill, 90%+ acceptance rate.
A client cancels late (inside the cancellation window — for example 12 hours, or 24 in the US). Every waitlist member gets an SMS or push notification with a one-tap claim link. First to claim wins; the link expires for everyone else. Two-hour response window. 70-80% conversion.
For a studio with consistent peak-hour waitlist demand, two-mode waitlists typically produce:
70-80% conversion on first-to-claim openings — 3 of every 4 late cancellations get filled from the waitlist
90%+ conversion on auto-booked openings — most cancellations outside the window fill from the next person in line
3-7 percentage point increase in overall capacity utilisation on waitlist-active classes
4-10 additional weekly attendances filled from waitlist (for a studio with 50 classes/week)
Roughly £300-£800/month additional revenue from waitlist conversion at typical UK pricing
See how to fill empty class spots in your pilates studio for the operational detail.
The cancellation window defines when waitlist behaviour switches modes. Per-service means a tight window for reformer classes and a loose one for mat flow.
SMS makes the first-to-claim alert work — email open rates inside a 12-hour window are too low. Junocal's SMS package starts at £15/$20 for 500 messages.
The waitlist respects floor-plan capacity. Auto-booking puts the next client in the open spot; first-to-claim gives it to whoever taps first. No double-booking.
Outside the cancellation window, the waitlist auto-books: when a spot opens, the next person in line gets it automatically with an email confirmation. Inside the cancellation window, it switches to first-to-claim: every waitlist member gets an SMS or push notification with a one-tap claim link, and the first to tap gets the spot. Outside the window a cancellation is easy to fill, so auto-booking works. Inside the window members may already have other plans, so alerting everyone lets them choose for themselves.
A one-mode waitlist either books too eagerly or alerts too much. Auto-book everyone (including inside the window) and members get assigned a class at 6am the next morning, after they've moved on. Alert everyone for every opening and members get notifications at all hours for classes they wouldn't have been booked into anyway. Two modes match how studios actually run: outside the window, members want the class; inside, they're a coin flip and letting them choose is cleaner.
Junocal, Mariana Tek, and Walla build two-mode waitlists in as a core feature. Mindbody supports waitlists, but the switch between auto-booking and first-to-claim is less granular. Momence has waitlist support, but the first-to-claim alert is less built in. For studios with consistent waitlist demand, two modes fill a meaningfully higher share of spots than a single mode.
Well-run two-mode waitlists convert 70-80% of first-to-claim openings and over 90% of auto-booked openings. Studios running the pattern well see capacity utilisation increase 3-7 percentage points on classes with consistent waitlist demand. For a studio with 50 classes/week, that's an additional 4-10 attendances filled from waitlist that would otherwise stay empty.
Yes. The first-to-claim alert defaults to SMS — email open rates inside a 12-hour window are too low to drive conversion. Clients consent to SMS at signup or via a one-time consent step. Without SMS consent, the alert falls back to push notification (if the client has added the booking view to their home screen) or email. Conversion is meaningfully lower without SMS.
Yes. Clients can join a waitlist with a notification preference: 'book me automatically' (default), 'just alert me' (notify but don't book me in), or 'mute' (show my waitlist position only). Settings sit in the client's profile. A 'always book me automatically' option overrides the default for members who want it regardless of timing.
The first tap wins. The spot is reserved the moment the first claim comes in; anyone who taps after that sees an apology with a refund and a one-tap link to the next available class. Two people claiming at once is rare, because alerts go out in small waves (the first wave reaches a few members within 30 seconds; the next follows 2-3 minutes later). Most claims happen in the first wave.