Waitlist messages
What this covers
The message that tells a waiting guest their table is ready, how to choose its channel, and why the
wording changes depending on when the table is for. Requires the manage-settings
permission (Owner or Manager) to change the settings; pressing Notify needs only the
waitlist permissions covered in Telling a waiting guest
their table is ready.
The two switches
On Property Settings → Notifications:
- Waitlist emails — on by default
- Waitlist SMS — off by default, and costs credits
They are independent. With both on the guest gets both; with both off, pressing Notify still marks the entry as notified for your own records but sends the guest nothing.
That last case is worth knowing, because it looks like a bug and is not. The button always records what you did — it just cannot conjure a channel you have switched off.
Why SMS is the right channel here
Every other message can reasonably go by email. This one cannot.
A guest on your waitlist is standing outside, or in the bar, or walking back from somewhere nearby. They are not refreshing an inbox. A text arrives with a notification sound on a phone already in their hand — and you need them at the host stand in the next few minutes, not eventually.
If you run a waitlist at all, this is the one SMS type worth turning on first. See How SMS credits work for what it costs; a message is a credit or two depending on the country the number belongs to.
The wording changes with the timing
Tabledoo sends one of two messages, chosen automatically, and the difference matters:
| When the table is for | The guest is told |
|---|---|
| Soon — inside the ready window | Their table is ready now, and to come to the host stand or call |
| Later than that | A table has opened up on a specific date and time, and to call to confirm |
The line between them is the ready window, which is 60 minutes unless it has been changed for your restaurant. Inside it, "come now"; outside it, "we have a slot, do you want it?".
This is the difference between a guest sprinting back from a shop to find their table given away, and a guest calmly ringing to take a table for later. Getting it wrong in either direction annoys somebody, which is why it is automatic rather than a choice you have to remember to make.
How to use it well
- Notify when the table is genuinely ready, not when you think it is about to be. A guest told to come now and then left standing is worse off than one not yet told.
- Say how long you will hold it when you take their details. The message does not carry a deadline, so the expectation has to be set in person.
- Take a mobile number in full international format when you add someone — a text cannot be sent without a country code (link Adding a party).
- Do not press Notify twice. Each press sends again and spends credits again. If a guest has not appeared, ringing them is cheaper and faster.
Good to know
The message includes your phone number, taken from Property Settings → Restaurant, so the guest can call back. Make sure it is the number someone actually answers during service (link Restaurant profile).
An opted-out guest gets no text. The email still goes if that channel is on (link Guests who opt out).
No credits means no text, and the entry is still marked notified. A restaurant that relies on waitlist SMS should watch its balance, because this is the message where a silent failure costs you a covered table.
Times in the text are 24-hour, always, whatever your display setting — so "19:30" cannot be misread as morning (link SMS: what's different).