The session waitlist is how customers express interest in a session that's already full — and how you fill open spots quickly when capacity changes. This article covers what the waitlist does, how to use the provider-side tab, and what happens when you invite a waitlisted customer.
When a session reaches its capacity, the customer-facing "Add to cart" button is replaced with Join waitlist. The customer fills out a short form (contact name, email, optional phone, number of spots they want) and joins. They get confirmation in their Parent Dashboard; you get a bell notification.
From your side, the session's Waitlist tab fills up with everyone who's interested. When a spot opens — or when you decide to add capacity — you invite them from the waitlist, and the platform handles the rest.
Every session has a Waitlist tab on its roster page. The tab shows a table of entries with:
You can export the table to CSV for offline communication — useful if you want to email a batch of waitlisted families directly or track interest by session in a spreadsheet.
To invite a waitlisted customer:
The customer receives an invitation email with a direct registration link. When they click it, the invited session is loaded into their cart with the spot reserved for them. Their existing cart is cleared first to prevent conflicts — the invite is the only thing in the cart when they arrive.
The entry's status flips from waitlisted to invited immediately, so you can see at a glance who you've contacted.
This is the key thing to understand: inviting someone from the waitlist automatically raises the session's capacity if needed to accommodate them.
You don't have to wait for a cancellation or manually edit the session's capacity before sending an invite. If you have a session capped at 15 with 15 enrolled and 5 on the waitlist, you can invite one of those waitlisted families and the session capacity ratchets up to 16 the moment they accept and pay.
This means you control the size of your session through the invite action itself. If you have room to take one more, invite one. If you decide to grow the session to add three more, invite three.
Capacity only goes up via this mechanism — it never goes down automatically. If you want to reduce the cap later, you edit the session directly.
The customer has the invite link in their email; they can act on it whenever they want. There is no automatic deadline on invitations today.
Once the customer completes the registration, they appear in the session roster like any other enrollee, and you'll receive the usual Sale notification.
If the customer doesn't act on the invite, the entry stays in the invited status indefinitely. There's no automatic reminder email — if you want to follow up, the CSV export gives you their contact info.
You can remove a waitlist entry from the table at any time — useful for cleaning up duplicates or removing someone who's confirmed by phone they no longer want the spot.
Customers can also remove themselves from a waitlist via their Parent Dashboard. If they do, the entry disappears from your tab too.
Each email address can only have one active waitlist entry per session. If a customer joins a waitlist twice with the same email, the second attempt is rejected.
If you need to update someone's information (e.g., they want to add another camper to their request), the cleanest path is to remove the existing entry and have them rejoin with the updated details.
After a session's end date passes, the waitlist entries don't disappear from your records — they remain in the Waitlist tab for that session indefinitely, so you can review historical interest data when planning the next round.
Customers don't see expired waitlists in their Parent Dashboard — entries for past sessions auto-filter out of their view. Only you retain visibility.
Will customers be invited automatically when a spot opens up?
No. Invitations are always provider-initiated. If a registered customer cancels and a spot opens, the next waitlisted customer is not automatically promoted — you decide when and whom to invite. This gives you control over how you fill the spot (and the chance to manage timing, group fit, or any other consideration).
Can I invite multiple people at once?
Today invitations are sent one at a time from the waitlist tab. If you need to invite many people, the CSV export plus your own email tool may be faster.
What happens if I invite someone and the session is still full?
When the invited customer pays, the session capacity automatically increases by one. You don't need to manually adjust the cap.
How do I know if a waitlisted customer is still interested?
The data we have is: date joined, status, and number of spots requested. There's no automatic re-confirmation; if a session has been on the waitlist for a long time, a quick email or phone check is the most reliable signal. The CSV export gives you everyone's contact info in one place.
Can I see a customer's history — other sessions they've joined a waitlist for?
Not from the waitlist tab today. Each session's waitlist is shown in isolation.
What if a customer is on multiple session waitlists?
Each session has its own independent waitlist. A customer can be on as many as they want, and inviting them on one doesn't affect their position on the others.
Does a waitlist signup count as a sale or revenue?
No — joining the waitlist is free and doesn't create any financial record. Revenue only registers when an invited customer completes payment.