Fill cancelled appointment times from your walk-in line and a waitlist

Why an empty slot is expensive for a walk-in business

A business that takes both appointments and walk-ins loses the most on the last-minute gap. The chair is empty, the line may be long, and nobody joins the dots. The usual response is a hurried glance at the line and a guess about who would fit. For the wider picture of running both, see walk-in vs appointment.

Cancelled times go to your line first

When an appointment is cancelled, by the customer or your team, or marked a no-show, and it starts soon (within 2 hours by default), the first person waiting in your line who it fits gets a push, or an email if a push cannot reach them: “A time opened at 3:15 PM with Marcus. Take it?”

It fits when their service is no longer than the freed time, they asked for nobody in particular or for that team member, and that team member does their service. They choose Accept or Keep my place on their spot-in-line page, and they have 5 minutes.

What happens when they say yes, or do not answer

If they accept, they are booked for that time, with no deposit, taken off the line and sent the usual confirmation, and you get a notification that a walk-in took a cancelled time. If they keep their place or do not answer, the next person it fits gets the offer. Only one person has a given time offered at once, and if two people tap Accept together, one gets it and the other keeps their place. No texts are sent for this; it is push and email only.

Setting it up

Open Locations, then Appointments, then Cancelled times to walk-ins. It is on by default wherever appointments are on. You can turn it off and choose how soon a time must start to be offered, from 30 minutes up to 6 hours. It is not shown for businesses that do not take appointments, such as restaurants and service counters. It is part of Pro, like online booking.

If nobody in the line takes it: the waitlist for openings

When a customer picks a day with no open times, the booking page offers “Tell me if a time opens”. They choose the day, or up to 3 days, give a name and email (a phone number is optional), and their service and team member come from what they already picked.

When a booking frees time on that day, because it is cancelled, moved, or an unpaid booking is let go after 30 minutes, everyone waiting for that day whose service fits gets an email with a link straight to that day’s open times, and a notification in the NextUp Walk-in app if they use it. Everyone hears at once and whoever books first gets the time; the booking checks make sure it cannot be booked twice. A person is told at most once every 15 minutes, and no-shows and past times do not count as openings.

Seeing and managing the waitlist

On the Calendar, open the gear menu and choose Waitlist for openings (a dot shows when people are waiting). It lists name, email, phone, what they want and when they were last told, and you can remove someone. Each email has a “Leave the waitlist” link, and a person comes off when they book that day or the day passes. The waitlist is on for every location that takes online bookings and can be turned off in the location’s appointment settings.

Pair it with fewer cancellations

Filling gaps is the second best thing. The best is fewer of them; see how to reduce no-shows in a walk-in business and, for keeping the people who do come, barbershop client retention. Salons, spas, tattoo studios, groomers, repair counters and tax offices that mix a line with bookings all fit this.