Campsite Area Waitlists

Turn a sold-out area into a second chance. When a campsite area is fully booked for the dates a customer wants, a waitlist lets them register their interest instead of walking away - and the moment a spot frees up, the system offers it to them automatically.

Waitlists live as a Waitlist tab on each campsite area's edit page, and run on their own once switched on. A guest joins from your booking page, and when availability opens - a booking is cancelled or shortened, or you clear blocked dates - the longest-waiting person for those exact dates is emailed a private link to book. If they book, the spot is theirs; if they decline or let the link lapse, it rolls to the next person in line. No refresh races, no waiting-list spreadsheet, and no manually chasing who is next.

Waitlists are set per campsite area, so you can offer them on your most in-demand areas and leave them off elsewhere.

Finding the Waitlist

Open a campsite area and click Waitlist in the sidebar. Team members need permission to manage your campsite areas to change the setting or remove entries.

Turning On the Waitlist

Open the area's Waitlist tab.
Under Status, switch Waitlist from Disabled to Enabled.
Click Save Setting.

That is the only setting. Once enabled, whenever the area shows No availability for a customer's chosen dates, a join-the-waitlist panel appears on your booking page. While it is disabled, sold-out dates simply show as unavailable and no panel appears. There are no windows, quotas, or hold times to configure - the waitlist forms automatically for each set of dates people ask for.

How a Waitlist Works

A guest searches your booking page for dates where the area is fully booked and joins the waitlist. They go on as Waiting.
Each distinct set of dates has its own waitlist, and people are ordered by who joined first.
Simply waiting reserves nothing - the dates stay sold out and no spot is held while people wait.
When a spot opens for those dates - a booking is cancelled or shortened, or blocked dates are cleared - the system offers it to the longest-waiting person whose dates match. Their status becomes Offered.
The offer emails that person a private link and holds the freed spot for them for 24 hours, so nobody else can take it in the meantime.
If they book, their entry becomes Booked and the offer is used up.
If they decline, or the 24 hours pass without a booking, the offer rolls to the next person in line automatically.
Only one offer is ever live at a time for a given set of overlapping dates, so the same freed spot is never promised to two people at once.
If nobody is left waiting - or nobody claims the spot - the dates simply reopen to normal booking.

Offers and Expiry

An offered spot is held for the guest for 24 hours. Their email tells them the link is held for a limited time before it passes to the next person. Camper BMS checks for lapsed offers every 15 minutes: any offer past its 24-hour window is marked Expired and the spot is immediately re-offered to the next eligible person. The same sweep quietly catches spots that free up through any other route, so a genuinely available date never leaves someone stuck waiting.

Entry Statuses

Waiting - on the list for a set of dates. Reserves nothing; simply in the queue.
Offered - a spot has opened and is being held for this person for 24 hours while they decide.
Booked - they claimed the offer and completed a booking.
Declined - they turned the offer down, and it has passed to the next person.
Expired - they did not book within the 24-hour window, and it has passed to the next person.
Cancelled - you removed them from the waitlist.

The Waitlist tab lists only people currently Waiting or holding an Offer for upcoming stays. Once an entry is booked, declined, expired, or cancelled - or the stay dates have passed - it drops off the list.

Managing Entries

The Waitlist tab lists everyone currently waiting or holding an offer, grouped by the dates they want:

Grouped by dates - each group is one waitlist. Overlapping date ranges are shown together and labelled overlapping date ranges, because they compete for the same sites.
Group summary - each group header shows the date span and an active-versus-total count.
Position - within a group, a number shows the order people will be offered a spot. Anyone currently holding a live offer is listed first.
Entry details - each row shows the guest's name, contact details, dates and nights, party size, status, and when they joined.
Remove - take someone off the waitlist, for example a duplicate request or someone who asked to be removed. You are asked to confirm, and they are not notified. If they were holding a live offer, the freed spot immediately rolls to the next person in line.

What Guests See

Joining - when a guest picks dates the area cannot fill, the booking page shows No availability alongside a Dates booked? panel. They click Notify Me If A Spot Opens, enter their name, email, and an optional phone number, and click Join Waitlist. Their dates and party size carry over from their search. If the dates turn out to still be available, they are asked to book directly instead.
Confirmation email - they receive a You have joined the waitlist email confirming their area, dates, and party size. It explains that if a spot opens they will get a link valid for a limited time, and that they can reply to be taken off the list.
The offer email - when a spot opens, they receive an A spot is available email showing their dates and a Book Now button. It notes the link is held for them for a limited time before passing to the next person.
Claiming - Book Now takes them straight into your normal checkout with their dates, guests, and area pre-filled and the held spot reserved for them. They pay as usual, and completing the booking marks their entry as booked. See How Customers Book for the checkout itself.
Declining - the offer email also includes a link to release the spot. Using it shows a You've been removed from the waitlist confirmation and immediately offers the spot to the next person.
Expired or used links - if they open a claim or decline link after the 24-hour window, or after the offer has already moved on, they see a This offer is no longer available page inviting them to rejoin from your booking page.