The Waitlists feature serves as a mechanism for guests to express interest in booking a tour on specific dates that are currently sold out.
📒 NOTE
Being on a waitlist does not guarantee a spot. Availability is subject to change and there may be multiple guests on the waitlist. Guests who receive a notification that a spot has opened up have the opportunity to secure the spot on a first-come, first-served basis.
Setting up Waitlists
Via Dashboard
In the Ventrata dashboard, go to Web Checkouts > Checkouts.
Select an existing checkout.
Press the EDIT DETAILS button to edit the checkout.
Scroll down the checkout form or simply search for 'Allow waitlists' and tick the checkbox.
Press the Update Checkout button to save your changes.
Update Data-Config
Add the below piece of code in the data-config attribute of your checkout script, see the Implementation Guide for more information.
Waitlists enabled for the entire checkout
"features": { "waitlistsAllowed": true, // by default: false },📒 NOTE
Simply adding the feature in the data-config enables the waitlists on all products in the checkout. If you wish to limit this feature to specific products, you can do so by specifying the product ID in the data-config attribute.
Waitlists enabled for script or button
You can add this waitlistsAllowed feature to your data-config for script or button.
<script src="https://cdn.checkout.ventrata.com/v3/production/ventrata-checkout.min.js" type="module" data-config='{"apiKey":"<YOUR_API_TOKEN>", "features": { "waitlistsAllowed": true} }'></script>
Waitlist Flow
Single Product
The booking flow begins as usual: the customer selects a product and number of units, then they select a date and a timeslot, or tour time (if available).
When waitlists are enabled, the calendar shows selectable Sold Out dates. Where the date contains timeslots, those which are sold out cannot be selected. However, a message appears at the bottom of the screen informing customers about the option to receive a notification when available spots open up.
📒 NOTE
The notification is triggered only when the number of available spots matches the number of units selected by the customer. For example, if the customer selects 2 adult tickets and only one spot becomes available on the chosen date, a notification WILL NOT be sent to the customer.
By clicking the Notify me button, the customer signs up for a notification about the selected date. Then the customer is redirected to the Checkout page where they can enter their first and last name (optional) and email address (required), where the availability notification will be sent.
A summary of the product, desired number of units and date are listed on the right hand side of the Checkout page.
📒 NOTE
If waitlists are enabled on a checkout, the fields on the Checkout page are strictly given and the fields cannot be removed, changed nor can new fields be added.
When the customer presses the Continue button at the bottom of the screen, they are redirected to a final summary page informing them about the product and date selected, and the email address where the notification will be sent.
📒 NOTE
The customer does not pay at this stage as they are only included on a waitlist and their spot is not yet guaranteed. Only after a spot becomes available and the customer goes through the standard booking procedure will they need to pay for the tickets.
Combination Products/Cross-Sell
A waitlist is always associated with the main product. Therefore, if the customer books a product and then decides to add a combination product, the waitlist feature is automatically disabled. That also means that if the customer goes back to the beginning of the booking process, the sold out dates on the main product will be also disabled.
To re-enable the waitlist feature, the customer needs to remove the combination/cross-sell product from their shopping cart or start the booking flow anew.
Multibooking
Where multibooking is possible, the waitlist flow is repeated for all products with sold out dates independently.
📘 EXAMPLE
A customer selects a product with available dates and tour times. They select their preferred date and time, and the product is added to the shopping cart.
Then, the customer decides to add another product, but finds that all suitable dates are sold out. Opting for one of the sold-out dates, they enrol for a notification in case a spot opens up. The shopping cart contains only the first product, because the customer lacks a guaranteed spot in the second product.
The customer chooses a third product, this time their preferred dates are available. After selecting a date and time, the product is added to the shopping cart. There are now 2 products in the shopping cart.
A fourth product is selected, and once again, most dates are already sold out. The customer signs up for a different date. Remember that customers cannot sign up for specific timeslots, only dates. Consequently, the shopping cart maintains two products.