Automatic waitlist offers fill cancellations for you. When a boarding run or a daycare space frees up, KennelBooker picks the best match on your waitlist (also called a waiting list or cancellation list), holds the space for them on a provisional booking, and emails the customer (the pet parent or owner) Yes please and No thanks buttons. If they say yes, you confirm the booking as usual. If they say no, or don't reply in time, the space is offered to the next best entry. Owners and managers switch it on in Settings > Waitlist Offers, and staff choose which waitlist entries can get offers on the Waitlist page.
Where to find automatic waitlist offers
The settings for automatic waitlist offers are in Settings > Waitlist Offers: click Settings in the main menu, then Waitlist Offers in the settings menu on the left, just below PawCheck. The page is headed Waitlist offers. The link only shows if your business offers boarding or daycare.
You can also get there from the Waitlist page with the Automatic offers button at the top.
Automatic waitlist offers are included on every KennelBooker plan at no extra cost.
Staff need the Settings permission to open the Waitlist Offers page (given in Settings > Staff Accounts). Staff without it don't see the Automatic offers button, but they can still use the Auto offer and Share one room switches on the Waitlist page.
Automatic waitlist offers need the waitlist itself to be switched on: Enable Waitlist in Settings > Main Settings > Optional Features. If it's off, the Waitlist Offers page says "Your waitlist is switched off, so there is nobody to offer spaces to."
What automatic waitlist offers do
Watch for freed space: a cancellation, a stay made shorter, a booking moved to another run (room, kennel, unit, pen or suite), and daycare bookings that are removed or moved.
Offer a freed boarding run to the waiting entry with the most pet-nights (nights × pets).
Offer a freed daycare space to whoever has waited longest for that day (play-area daycare only).
Hold the space on a provisional booking while the customer decides, so nobody else can book it.
Email the customer an offer with Yes please and No thanks buttons and a reply-by time, and send you a copy.
On Yes please, leave the booking for you to confirm.
On No thanks, or no reply in time, release the space and offer it to the next best entry.
Record in the booking's audit log why that customer was chosen.
How to switch on automatic waitlist offers
Go to Settings > Waitlist Offers.
In the Turn it on box, switch on Offer freed boarding spaces automatically, Offer freed daycare spaces automatically, or both.
Under each switch, choose how long customers have to reply in Customers have ... to reply. Boarding can be 1 to 72 hours (24 hours to start with). Daycare can be 15, 30 or 45 minutes, 1 hour, 1 hour 30 minutes, or 2, 3 or 4 hours (1 hour to start with).
For boarding, leave Offer entries with more than one pet (all pets in one room) on if you want multi-pet entries to be offered (see "Waitlist entries with more than one pet" below).
Optionally, enter an address in Copy offers to. If you leave it blank, copies go to your reply-to address.
Click Save. The message "Settings saved" confirms it.
The first time you switch on automatic waitlist offers, every entry already on your waitlist has Auto offer switched off, so nobody already waiting is offered a space without you choosing them. KennelBooker asks you to confirm this when you click Save ("You are switching automatic offers on for the first time..."), and afterwards says "Saved. Existing waitlist entries have Auto offer switched off." Entries added after that have Auto offer switched on, including entries customers add themselves online. This only happens once; switching offers off and on again later doesn't change your entries.
How to choose which waitlist entries get automatic offers
Each boarding and daycare entry on the Waitlist page has an Auto offer switch in its status column, shown while automatic offers are on for that service.
Go to Waitlist in the main menu.
Find the entry and click Auto offer to switch it on (purple) or off (grey). The message "Auto offer switched on for #123" (or "switched off") confirms it.
If you've just switched on entries for dates that are already free, go to Settings > Waitlist Offers and click Check for spaces now. Automatic offers only look at freed space, so a space that was already free isn't offered until something frees up again or you click Check for spaces now.
Waitlist entries with more than one pet
Automatic waitlist offers never split a booking across more than one run, and run capacity isn't used. For boarding:
One pet: the entry can be offered.
Two or more pets of the same type (for example two dogs): the entry is only offered when Share one room is switched on for it on the Waitlist page and Offer entries with more than one pet (all pets in one room) is on in Settings > Waitlist Offers. All the pets then go into one run. Only switch on Share one room when the customer is happy for their pets to share.
Different pet types (for example a dog and a cat): never offered automatically. The entry shows "Not offered automatically: mixed pet types" on the Waitlist page. Book these yourself.
The Share one room switch only appears on boarding entries with two or more pets of the same type, while boarding offers and the multi-pet setting are on. Daycare entries don't need it: a daycare entry with two dogs simply needs two daycare spaces that day.
How automatic waitlist offers choose who gets a boarding space
The entry worth the most goes first, counted in pet-nights: nights × pets. Two dogs for 12 nights (24 pet-nights) beats one dog for 21 nights (21 pet-nights).
A tie goes to whoever joined the waitlist first.
The whole stay must fit in one free run. Of the runs that are free, the one that fits most tightly is chosen (the one leaving the fewest empty nights either side), so bigger gaps stay free for longer stays.
If you use Set Capacity, an entry that would take you over your nightly pet limit isn't offered.
Any nights still free afterwards are offered to the next best entry in the same way.
VIP status isn't used.
How automatic waitlist offers choose who gets a daycare space
Daycare offers only work when daycare is booked into play areas. If your daycare uses rooms, the page says "Daycare offers aren't available for your account." and only boarding is offered.
For each day, the customer who has waited longest for that day gets the space, while spaces last.
The spaces are your play-area spaces for that weekday, less the dogs already booked (including other held offers). Half days count as half a space if you count half days.
Days your daycare is closed (closed weekdays and closed dates) are never offered.
The reply window for automatic waitlist offers
You set how long customers have to reply. When the date is close, the window shrinks so it is never more than half the time left before check-in (the drop-off time on the waitlist entry, or 8am if there isn't one). That leaves time to offer the space to someone else if there's no answer.
Boarding set to 24 hours, check-in in 10 days: the customer gets the full 24 hours.
Boarding set to 24 hours, check-in in 12 hours: the window shrinks to 6 hours.
Daycare set to 60 minutes, the day starts in 90 minutes: the window shrinks to 45 minutes.
If the window would be under 15 minutes, no automatic offer is made for that entry.
What the customer sees in an automatic waitlist offer
The customer gets an email (by default "[your business name] - A space has opened up for [pet names]") with the dates, the reply-by time, a green Yes please, book it button and a No thanks link. Both open a page with your logo and the offer details, where they click Yes please, book it or No thanks to answer. They don't need to log in.
Yes: they see "Thank you - we're holding the space" and that you'll confirm the booking shortly.
No: they see "Thanks for letting us know" and that the space has been released.
Too late: they see "Sorry, this offer has expired" and that they're still on your waitlist.
The offer is sent by email only. There's no text message (SMS) or app push notification for it.
What happens after an automatic waitlist offer is sent
While the offer is out: the space is held on a provisional booking. It shows as Waitlist offer out on the booking page, the bookings list and the calendar, with the note "Waiting for the customer to answer the waitlist offer". You can't confirm it until the customer says yes, and it isn't counted in your "to confirm" numbers. On the Waitlist page the entry shows "Offer out until" the reply-by time, and its button changes to Open held booking so a second booking can't be made.
If the customer says yes: the booking stays provisional and shows as Waitlist offer accepted, and the entry is taken off your waitlist. Staff with the New online booking notification switched on in their staff account get a "Waitlist offer accepted" email, and your copy address gets one too. Confirm the booking the same way you confirm any provisional booking. For boarding, the held run is already selected on the confirmation screen, marked "held for this waitlist offer". No payment is taken from the customer at this point.
If the customer says no: the held booking is cancelled, the space is released and offered to the next best entry, and the entry is taken off your waitlist.
If the customer doesn't reply in time: the held booking is cancelled, the space is offered to the next best entry, and the entry stays on your waitlist with Auto offer switched off. Any additional services on the entry go back onto it.
If you cancel the held booking yourself: the space is released and offered to the next best entry, and that entry's Auto offer is switched off.
Copies to your business: every offer email is copied (Bcc) to your Copy offers to address, and to your Bcc a copy to address in Email Settings if you have one. The copy address also gets an email when a customer accepts (straight away), declines or doesn't reply. The decline and no-reply emails are sent once the space has been offered on, and say who it went to next, or that nobody else fits and it's free to book.
Pricing: the held booking is priced the way your normal bookings are, with the customer's discount, and any additional services on the waitlist entry move onto it.
Where automatic waitlist offers are recorded
Recent offers at the bottom of Settings > Waitlist Offers lists the last 50 offers, newest first, with the customer, service and dates, status (Waiting for reply, Accepted - confirm booking, Confirmed, Declined, Expired or Failed), when it was sent, the reply-by time and a link to the booking.
Click Why? under an offer to see why that customer got the space.
The same explanation is in the booking's audit log (open the booking and click Admin) as rows called "Waitlist offer - why 1/6" to "6/6": what freed the space, who was considered and why others were ruled out, why this entry won and who came second, which run was chosen (or how many play-area spaces were free), how the reply window was worked out, and who was emailed and copied.
The automatic waitlist offer email template
You can change the wording of the offer email in Settings > Email Settings, in the email templates, where it's listed as Waitlist Space Offer. Besides the usual placeholders such as [customer_first_name], [pet_names], [booking_dates] and [kennel_name], it has four of its own:
[offer_accept_link]: the green Yes please, book it button.
[offer_decline_link]: the No thanks link.
[offer_url]: the plain web address of the offer page.
[offer_expires]: the reply-by date and time.
Keep [offer_accept_link] and [offer_decline_link] (or [offer_url]) in the template, otherwise customers have no way to answer.
What automatic waitlist offers don't do
Automatic waitlist offers don't confirm bookings. You confirm every booking yourself.
They only cover boarding and daycare. Board and train, nightcare, homestay, grooming, walks, drop-ins, training and other services aren't offered automatically.
They don't offer daycare when your daycare uses rooms rather than play areas.
They don't split a booking across more than one run, and don't offer split stays.
They don't offer entries with different pet types, such as a dog and a cat.
They don't offer entries with more than one pet unless Share one room is switched on for the entry.
They don't use run capacity. It's for information only.
They don't use VIP status.
They don't offer entries with Auto offer switched off, entries whose check-in date has passed, or customers with no email address.
They don't take a payment or deposit. The customer pays the way they would for any booking you confirm.
They don't text the customer or send an app push notification. The offer is email only.
They don't notice extra capacity you add, such as a new run or more play-area spaces. Click Check for spaces now after a change like that.
They don't make an offer when there's less than 15 minutes to reply before check-in.
Settings that affect automatic waitlist offers
Offer freed boarding spaces automatically (Settings > Waitlist Offers): on, freed boarding runs are offered; off, nothing is offered for boarding. Offers already out carry on until answered or expired.
Customers have ... to reply (under each switch): the longest reply window for that service.
Offer entries with more than one pet (all pets in one room) (boarding only): on, multi-pet entries with Share one room switched on can be offered; off, only single-pet boarding entries are offered.
Offer freed daycare spaces automatically (Settings > Waitlist Offers): on, freed play-area spaces are offered; off, nothing is offered for daycare.
Copy offers to: where your copies and notices go. Blank means your reply-to address.
Auto offer (each entry on the Waitlist page): on, the entry can get offers; off, it's skipped.
Share one room (multi-pet boarding entries on the Waitlist page): on, all the pets can be offered one run together.
Enable Waitlist (Settings > Main Settings > Optional Features): must be on to have a waitlist to offer to.
Set Capacity: if you use a nightly pet limit, boarding offers keep to it.
Bcc a copy to (Settings > Email Settings): also gets a copy of every offer email.
Troubleshooting automatic waitlist offers
A space freed up but nobody was offered it
Check each of these for automatic waitlist offers: the service is switched on in Settings > Waitlist Offers; the entry has Auto offer switched on; the whole stay fits in one free run (boarding) or there's a play-area space that day (daycare); a multi-pet entry has Share one room on and no mixed pet types; the customer has an email address; and there's at least 15 minutes to reply before check-in. KennelBooker checks for freed space about every 15 minutes, so allow a little time. If the space came from extra capacity rather than a cancellation, click Check for spaces now.
I switched Auto offer on but the customer wasn't offered anything
Automatic waitlist offers react to space freeing up. If the dates were already free when you switched Auto offer or Share one room on, click Check for spaces now in Settings > Waitlist Offers. It checks every entry with Auto offer on, from today to six months ahead, and shows "Check queued. Any offers will show below once they've gone out."
The wrong customer got the space
Open Settings > Waitlist Offers, find the offer under Recent offers and click Why?, or open the booking's audit log. It lists everyone considered, why each was ruled out, and who came second. For boarding the highest pet-nights wins, not the oldest entry.
I can't confirm the booking
While the customer hasn't answered, the Confirm button is hidden and the booking shows "Waiting for the customer to answer the waitlist offer". If you try another way you'll see "This booking is a waitlist offer and the customer hasn't replied yet, so it can't be confirmed. Wait for their answer, or cancel it to release the space." Wait for their answer, or cancel the booking if you want to release the space.
My existing waitlist entries aren't getting offers
The first time you switch on automatic waitlist offers, every existing entry has Auto offer switched off. Switch it on for the entries you want on the Waitlist page, then click Check for spaces now.
A multi-pet entry has no Share one room switch
Share one room only shows on boarding entries with two or more pets of the same type, while Offer entries with more than one pet (all pets in one room) is on. An entry with different pet types shows "Not offered automatically: mixed pet types" instead.
There's no Check for spaces now button I can click
Check for spaces now is greyed out until at least one service is switched on and saved ("Switch on at least one service above and save first.").
The daycare switch isn't there
Daycare offers only work with play areas. If your daycare is set up with rooms, or daycare is off, the page shows "Daycare offers aren't available for your account." instead.
My copy address wasn't saved
If the Copy offers to address isn't a valid email address, it isn't saved and you see "The copy address wasn't a valid email address, so your reply-to address will be used." Check the spelling and save again.
The customer says the link doesn't work
"This link isn't valid" means the link was cut short; ask them to use the full link from the email. "Sorry, this offer has expired" means the reply-by time passed. "This space is no longer available" means the held booking was cancelled before they answered.
Automatic waitlist offers: frequently asked questions
Does the waitlist book customers in automatically when a space opens up?
Automatic waitlist offers hold the space and email the customer, but they never confirm a booking. When the customer says yes, the booking waits as provisional for you to confirm. If automatic offers are off, nothing happens until you add the booking yourself from the Waitlist.
Do automatic waitlist offers cost extra, or need a particular plan?
No. Automatic waitlist offers are included on every KennelBooker plan at no extra cost. You only need the waitlist switched on and the offers switched on in Settings > Waitlist Offers.
Who gets offered a cancelled boarding space first?
With automatic waitlist offers, the boarding entry with the most pet-nights (nights × pets) that fits in one free run gets the offer. A tie goes to whoever joined the waitlist first. VIP status isn't used.
Is a freed daycare space offered to the first person on the waitlist?
Yes. For daycare, automatic waitlist offers give the space to whoever has waited longest for that day, as long as your daycare uses play areas.
Can someone else book the space while the offer is out?
No. During an automatic waitlist offer the space is held on a provisional booking, so it counts as taken for staff and online bookings until the customer answers or the offer expires.
How long does the customer have to reply?
The reply window for automatic waitlist offers is set in Settings > Waitlist Offers: 1 to 72 hours for boarding (24 hours to start with) and 15 minutes to 4 hours for daycare (1 hour to start with). It's never more than half the time left before check-in, and no offer is made if that would be under 15 minutes.
Does the customer get a text message or app notification?
No. Automatic waitlist offers are sent by email only, so the customer needs an email address on their record.
Do I get told when a customer accepts or declines?
Yes. With automatic waitlist offers, your Copy offers to address (or your reply-to address) gets a copy of every offer and an email when the customer accepts, declines or doesn't reply. Staff with the New online booking notification on also get an email when an offer is accepted.
Can I change the wording of the offer email?
Yes. The automatic waitlist offer email is the Waitlist Space Offer template in Settings > Email Settings. Keep the [offer_accept_link] and [offer_decline_link] placeholders so customers can answer.
What happens to the waitlist entry after an offer?
With automatic waitlist offers, the entry is taken off your waitlist when the customer says yes or no, or when you confirm the booking. If they don't reply in time, the entry stays on your waitlist with Auto offer switched off.
Can a customer who didn't reply be offered again?
Yes, if you switch Auto offer back on for their entry on the Waitlist page. Automatic waitlist offers switch it off after an expired offer so the same customer isn't offered again without you choosing to.
Can I stop offers for one customer?
Yes. Switch off Auto offer on their entry on the Waitlist page and automatic waitlist offers will skip them. You can still turn the entry into a booking yourself with Add Booking.
Can I cancel an offer that's already been sent?
Yes. Cancel the held provisional booking. The space is released and offered to the next best entry, and that entry's Auto offer is switched off. Deleting the waitlist entry doesn't cancel the offer, so cancel the booking instead.
Does it work for two dogs that share a kennel?
Yes, for boarding. Switch on Share one room for the entry on the Waitlist page, and keep Offer entries with more than one pet (all pets in one room) on. Automatic waitlist offers then put both dogs in one run. A dog and a cat on the same entry are never offered automatically.
Does the customer pay when they say yes?
No. Automatic waitlist offers don't take a payment or deposit. The booking is priced as normal, and the customer pays the way they would for any booking you confirm.
Which services work with automatic waitlist offers?
Only boarding, and daycare booked into play areas. Board and train, nightcare, homestay, grooming, walks, drop-ins, training and other services aren't offered automatically.
Can I switch automatic waitlist offers off?
Yes. Switch off the boarding or daycare switch in Settings > Waitlist Offers and click Save. Offers that are already out carry on until the customer answers or the reply time runs out.
Can I use automatic waitlist offers on my phone or tablet?
Yes. The Waitlist Offers settings page and the Waitlist page work in a phone or tablet browser, and the customer's offer page is made for phones.
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