How Gingr’s Waitlist Feature Keeps You Fully Booked

For small business owners, there’s no such thing as too busy... until your facility hits capacity and you’re turning eager pet parents away. With the holidays approaching, a fully booked schedule can be a double-edged sword: great for revenue, but frustrating when loyal clients can’t snag a spot.

To combat this challenge, waitlists can help pet-care professionals manage high-demand days effortlessly, keeping your calendar full, your staff organized, and your customers happy. Instead of losing out on potential bookings, Gingr’s Waitlist turns “sorry, we’re full” into “we’ll let you know as soon as a spot opens!”

Let's explore how the waitlist feature works, why it matters for your bottom line, and how you can use it to deliver a seamless, stress-free experience for your team and your clients.

Why Waitlists Matter More Than Ever

For many pet-care businesses, boarding, daycare, grooming, and training alike, demand isn’t consistent year-round. You may see spikes during holidays, long weekends, or summer months. Without a smart way to manage overflow requests, it’s easy to lose revenue and damage customer relationships.

Every missed booking is a missed opportunity for revenue and loyalty. Pet parents who can’t find a spot may turn to another facility and never return. Waitlist helps prevent that by keeping clients connected and informed, while allowing your business to stay agile and efficient.

With a waitlist, you can:

• Capture every opportunity when your facility reaches capacity.
• Automatically notify staff and customers when space opens up.
• Manage reservations easily across multiple locations.
• Fill last-minute cancellations instantly, maximizing your occupancy rates.

Meet Your Secret Weapon for Staying Fully Booked

What the Waitlist Does

The Waitlist feature in Gingr allows your team to accept backup reservations and appointments for busy days. When space becomes available, you can instantly confirm those reservations with just a click—no manual tracking, spreadsheets, or sticky notes required.

In short: Gingr keeps your calendar optimized and your kennels (or grooming tables) full.

Where to Add a Waitlist Reservation

You can add a pet to the Waitlist from several places within Gingr, including:

• New Reservations page (on the business side)
• New Appointments page
• When booking lodging—if your capacity limit has been reached
• When reviewing a reservation request
• From the customer side—if a pet parent tries to book on a full day

If your facility has reached capacity for a certain reservation type or overall facility limit, Gingr displays a message letting you know. From there, you can choose “Add to Waitlist”, and the reservation will be added instantly.

No guesswork. No missed calls. Just a smooth, automated process that ensures no customer gets lost in the shuffle.

How It Works: From “Fully Booked” to “Fully Optimized”

Step 1: Capture Every Request

When a customer requests a reservation on a full day, Gingr automatically prompts you (or them) to add the booking to the Waitlist. This ensures that every potential reservation is logged and ready to go if space opens up.

You’ll even see a button like “Add 3 Dates to Wait List” (with the number depending on how many days the customer requested). This small automation adds big value—turning what used to be a missed opportunity into a waiting list of ready-to-book clients.

Step 2: Get Notified Instantly

You can configure user group notifications so that the right staff members are always in the loop. Gingr makes this easy through your settings at:

Reports & More » Groups → Notifications

Turn on:

• Reservation Added to Wait List
• Opening for Wait List

You can choose whether notifications appear for local (single location) or global (multi-location) operations. So, whether you’re managing one facility or several, your team never misses a chance to fill an opening.

Step 3: Accept, Confirm, or Decline In Seconds

Once space opens up, you’ll see the reservation on your Waitlist with an Actions button that gives you complete control. Your options include:

• Accept and Confirm: The reservation is instantly confirmed and moved to your schedule.
• Accept and Don’t Confirm: Accept the booking but leave confirmation pending.
• Reject: If needed, you can easily decline the reservation.

When you accept and confirm, the system automatically updates the Animal and Owner pages, the Reservations tab, and the Facility Calendar. It’s real-time automation that keeps your data synchronized—without any extra clicks.

Smart Capacity Management = Happier Customers + Higher Revenue

For busy facilities, capacity management is both an art and a science. Gingr’s Waitlist feature works hand-in-paw with your capacity settings, ensuring you’re never overbooked, but always operating at maximum efficiency.

Avoid Overbooking Chaos

Overbooking can create stress for staff and frustration for customers. Gingr automatically enforces your facility’s capacity limits, displaying a message when capacity is reached—and giving you a safe, structured option to add reservations to the Waitlist instead.

Fill Every Space Automatically

When cancellations happen (and they always do), your Waitlist becomes your best friend. Instead of scrambling to fill gaps, Gingr notifies your team that space is available. You can immediately confirm a reservation from the Waitlist, ensuring your occupancy stays high and your revenue steady.

Build Loyalty Through Communication

Transparency builds trust. By giving pet parents the option to join a Waitlist—and keeping them informed when openings arise—you’re showing that their needs matter. Even if they don’t get a spot this time, they’re more likely to try again knowing your process is fair and responsive.

How Gingr Waitlist Boosts Operational Efficiency

1. Simplifies Staff Workflow

No more manual tracking or sticky notes on the front desk. Gingr centralizes every pending reservation in one easy-to-view list, accessible by anyone on your team with the right permissions. That means fewer missed opportunities and smoother communication between staff members.

2. Automates Communication

Because Gingr can send notifications to user groups when reservations are added or spots open, your staff always knows exactly what’s happening—no extra messaging threads or meetings required.

3. Integrates Seamlessly with Gingr’s Calendar and CRM

Every confirmed Waitlist reservation automatically updates your system in real time. That means your calendars, reports, and customer records are always accurate. Plus, with Gingr’s built-in reporting tools, you can track booking trends and analyze high-demand periods to plan your staffing and promotions.

4. Keeps You Focused on Pet Care, Not Paperwork

Gingr’s mission is simple: help pet-care businesses thrive by reducing busywork. The Waitlist feature exemplifies this by removing the manual processes that eat up valuable time. You and your staff can spend more time focusing on what matters—happy pets and satisfied clients.

The Business Impact: More Bookings, Less Stress

When fully utilized, Gingr’s Waitlist feature directly impacts three key business goals: maximizing revenue, optimizing operations, and building customers for life.

Maximize Revenue

By automatically capturing and managing every overflow booking, you’re filling spaces that might otherwise go unused. Even one or two extra reservations per week can add up to thousands of dollars in annual revenue—without increasing marketing spend or staff hours.

Optimize Operations

From automated notifications to seamless calendar updates, Gingr keeps your team aligned and efficient. You’ll reduce communication errors, minimize downtime, and eliminate manual data entry.

Build Customers for Life

A smooth, reliable booking experience builds loyalty. When pet parents see that your business offers transparent waitlisting and quick follow-ups, they’re more likely to trust you—and book again in the future.

Tips for Making the Most of Gingr’s Waitlist Feature

Ready to simplify booking management? Here are some best practices from Team Gingr:

1. Train your staff to add customers to the Waitlist every time capacity is reached.
2. Enable notifications for both “Added to Wait List” and “Opening for Wait List.”
3. Follow up promptly when a spot opens—speed matters for customer satisfaction.
4. Use your reports to analyze peak periods and recurring waitlist patterns.
5. Promote the feature to your clients! Let them know you’ll notify them if space becomes available.

Pro Tip: Combine the Waitlist with Gingr PreCheck and automated communication tools for an even smoother experience. Customers can check in faster, confirm bookings instantly, and stay updated without calling your front desk.

Real-World Scenario

Let’s say your daycare hits its capacity for Friday afternoon. Normally, you’d have to tell pet parents, “Sorry, we’re full.” But with Gingr, you can offer them the option to join the Waitlist instead.

That parent walks away feeling reassured instead of rejected. Later that day, another client cancels. Gingr instantly alerts your staff, and with one click, you accept and confirm the Waitlist reservation.

Now you've got a fully booked day, a satisfied customer, and zero lost revenue. Multiply that by dozens of instances per month, and you’ve just created a significant lift in both efficiency and client satisfaction.

Stay Fully Booked with Less Busywork

Running a pet-care business is equal parts heart and hustle. You’re balancing schedules, caring for animals, and maintaining trust with every pet parent who walks through your doors. Gingr’s Waitlist feature helps you manage that balancing act with confidence.

By transforming potential missed bookings into confirmed reservations, Gingr ensures that your facility runs at full capacity without overwhelming your team or disappointing your clients. It’s one more way Gingr helps you do more with less effort, keeping your focus where it belongs: on happy pets and thriving relationships.. Log in to you Gingr app to enable the feature before the busy holiday rush.

New to Gingr? Book a demo today to see how Gingr’s Waitlist (and the rest of our powerful platform) can help you build customers for life.