Feature · Waitlist auto-fill
A restaurant table frees up. The right waiting party is already on the screen.
A table of four rings at 19:25 to cancel their 19:30. At the bar, a four has been waiting since seven. The table and the party were always meant for each other; the job of the system is to make sure the host notices.
It is an offer to the host, never a message to the guest. Nothing is seated until somebody taps.
What appears, and where
Free now: table 7
The card of the waiting party that the free table suits says which table is free, on the waiting list the host already has open. Several tables free at once? Each finds its party.
Seat at 7
One tap seats them there, off the list and onto the floor plan, with the evening carrying on around them. Every other tablet and phone sees it at once.
The warning before it
If seating this party would take the only table that fits a bigger party further down the list, the card names that party first. Then it is a decision, not an accident.
The fairness question, worked through
First come, first served is fair until the table in question is the only one a group of six can use.
- 1
20:05 — a six-top finishes early
On the list: a couple who arrived at 19:40, first in line, and a party of six who arrived at 19:50 and were quoted about half an hour.
- 2
The offer
The couple are first, so their card offers the six-top — with the warning that it takes the only free fit for the party of six, further down the list.
- 3
The host's call
Ask the couple to give it ten minutes for the two-top about to pay, and seat the six now; or, if the six have wandered off down the street, seat the couple. Either way, the host knew what the choice cost.
Where tables come free from
- A guest cancels: their booking is marked as cancelled by the guest, kept apart from a cancellation you made, and the table is free for the waiting list at once.
- A no-show is marked: the table stops being held and the waiting party it suits sees it.
- A table pays and leaves before its turn time is up: once it is cleared, it is free for whoever is waiting.
Then you tell them — the system does not
Slotora sends no text and no e-mail to someone on the waiting list. The guest hears it from you, the way a good host would tell them anyway.
- At the bar or by the door: walk over and tell them.
- Gone for a walk: their mobile number is on their card for your staff, one tap to call.
- Press Table ready when you have told them. The time is noted and their hold starts; if they never come back, the party leaves the list by itself once the hold you chose runs out.
Questions about auto-fill
Will it ever seat a party on its own?
No. It points out the match and the risk; seating is always a tap by a person at the stand.
Does the guest get a message that a table is free?
No. There is no text or e-mail to the waiting list. You call them from the number on their card, or tell them in person.
Do online bookers get the freed table first?
The freed table is free for everyone at once: a guest booking online can take it, and the waiting party it suits sees it on the stand. Whoever is quicker gets it, which on a busy night is usually the person standing at your bar.
Is it on every device?
On the host stand, on any tablet or phone that has it open. The offer is worked out from the same live floor every screen shares.
No more empty tables with a queue at the bar
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