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Classes

Class Waitlists

Use waitlists to maximise class attendance. Automatically book users into a class if a spot becomes available.

Written By Isaac Buchanan

Last updated 15 days ago

How Waitlists Work

When a class is full, if you have waitlists enabled, customers who have enough credits to complete the booking, will be able to join the waitlist.

Note: The customer is required to have enough credits to complete the booking, but the credits ARE NOT deducted when joining the waitlist.

Waitlists combine the fairness of a queue with the flexibility of opt-in as class time gets close. Every class has a waitlist opt-in window, a set amount of time before the class starts:

  • Before the opt-in window: the waitlist is a queue. Members can see their position, and when a spot opens the next person in line is booked automatically. The credit for the booking is deducted at this point.

  • Inside the opt-in window: nobody is booked automatically. When a spot opens, everyone on the waitlist is notified and the first to claim it gets the spot.

Note: If the customer does not have enough credits to complete the booking, their reservation will be cancelled and the next person in the queue will be added instead.

Before the Opt-In Window: A Fair Queue

Up until the opt-in window starts, spots are given out in waitlist order. When a spot opens, the member at the top of the waitlist is booked automatically and notified straight away. Their notification reminds them to cancel in good time if they can no longer make it, so the next person can take the spot.

Inside the Opt-In Window: First to Claim

Once the opt-in window starts, Gymflow stops booking members automatically. This means nobody is booked into a class close to its start time without knowing, and then charged a late cancellation if they can't make it.

  • When a spot opens, every member still on the waitlist is notified at the same time and told how many spots are free.

  • Tapping the push notification opens the class in the Members App, where they can tap Claim.

  • The first member to claim is booked and their credit is used. Anyone who tries after the spot has gone stays on the waitlist, and is notified again if another spot opens.

  • Members who don't claim simply stay on the waitlist, with no booking and no credit used.

  • Members who aren't on the waitlist can also book the free spot from your timetable as normal.

  • Members see their waitlist position up until the opt-in window starts. After that, spots go to whoever claims first.

If you use a booking notice period, no spot notifications are sent and spots can't be claimed once the class is inside it. See Class Booking Rules.

Set the Opt-In Window

The opt-in window is set per class, so you can use a longer window for classes that are hard to fill at short notice.

  1. Go to Settings > Setup > Classes.

  2. Edit the class.

  3. Under Waitlist opt-in window, enter the number of hours or days before class (minimum 1 hour).

  4. Click Save.

The window defaults to 1 hour unless you change it. When this feature launched, existing classes were set to match their late cancellation window, so most clubs don't need to change anything.

We recommend an opt-in window at least as long as your late cancellation window. If it's shorter, members can still be booked automatically inside your late cancellation window, and could be charged if they then need to cancel.

Staff Bookings

Staff can manually book a member from the waitlist into a class at any time, before or inside the opt-in window, as long as the member has enough credits.

Sometimes, customers show up at the club even though they’re still on the waitlist and no spot became available. To help in situations like this, we offer some flexibility: staff can book additional members into a class even if it’s already at full capacity.

For example, if a class is set to a capacity of 10 and already has 10 participants, you can still add another person if needed. The class details will then reflect the new total, for instance, 11/10, so you’ll always have visibility into how many people are actually attending.

Communication & Notifications

Waitlists have their own dedicated notifications, sent as a push notification with an email as backup:

  • Spot available: sent to everyone on the waitlist when a spot opens inside the opt-in window.

  • Booked from the waitlist: sent when a member secures a spot from the waitlist, whether they were booked automatically from the queue or claimed it.

These are system messages, so they don't appear in your Automations and can't be edited. Waitlist push notifications are still delivered to members who have turned off marketing push notifications.

Members have the best chance of claiming a spot with push notifications turned on. If a member joins a waitlist with notifications off, the Members App prompts them to turn them on.

The following Automations emails also send, provided they are enabled for your club:

  • Event - Joined Waitlist: Sends when the customer joins the waitlist successfully

  • Event - Booked: Sends when a booking is secured

These are system emails and always turned on by default.

Turn On Waitlists

When adding or updating a class, you can decide whether to enable a waitlist and how many slots it should have. Simply enter any number from 0 (waitlist off) upwards.

We recommend having no more than 20% of the total class capacity available as a waitlist to avoid queuing when there is little chance of securing a spot.

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