Waitlist with bed offers by email
People who want a bed when you are full wait in line, by hostel, room type, gender and dates. Every hour the system looks for a bed that fits, offers it to the first in line by email for a set time. It books it when they accept.
PLANSScale only
Why it matters
A full hostel turns people away every week. When a bed frees up a month later the desk has lost their number or calls whoever it remembers. The bed then stands empty while someone searches a notebook. In SmartMy Hostel the people waiting stay in an ordered line with what they need: hostel, room type, gender and from when. Every hour the system checks for a bed that fits, offers it to the first in line by email. It holds the offer for your set hours. If they say no, or do not answer in time, the next person gets it. Accepting books the bed in one step, so a freed bed is filled in a day instead of a week.
The problem it solves
- In admission season you turn away twenty people a day and keep none of their details.
- A bed frees up and the desk calls whoever it remembers, not who asked first.
- Someone who was promised the next bed finds out it went to a walk-in.
- The bed stays empty for a week while the desk works out who to call.
How it works
- Put someone on the list with Add to Waitlist on their enquiry, or with New under Hostel > Front Desk > Waitlist. Give the name, email or mobile, hostel, room type, category, gender and the dates wanted.
- Mark priority if you need to: Normal, High or Urgent. Higher priority comes first, then first come, first served.
- Every hour the system looks for a free bed for each person waiting, in order. It must be the right hostel, room type and gender, free for the dates. A bed already offered to someone is not offered twice.
- The first person a bed fits gets an email. It gives the bed, the hostel, the date, and how long the offer is held (24 hours to start with). The entry becomes Offered, with the Bed Offered and when the offer ends.
- When the person says yes, the desk presses Accept Offer. The bed is booked for them, a login is made from their email or mobile, and their enquiry becomes Booked.
- If they say no, the desk presses Decline. If nobody answers in time, the offer expires. Either way the bed goes to the next in line at the next hourly check.
Everything it does
A waitlist entry
- Name; Resident if they already have a login, else Email or Mobile (a login is made from it when they accept)
- Hostel and Category (both needed), Room Type and Gender (empty: any)
- From (today to start with) and To (empty: open-ended)
- Priority shown as stars: Normal, High, Urgent
- Status: Waiting, Offered, Booked, Offer Expired, Cancelled
- Bed Offered, offer end time, and the booking once made
- The enquiry it came from, and a history of every offer
Offers
- Checked every hour: offers past their time expire first, then free beds are offered
- Line order: priority first, then the order people were added
- A bed fits when it is in the hostel, of the room type and for the gender. It must also be not blocked, in a room in use and free for the dates
- Each free bed is offered to one person at a time
- The offer is an email to the resident's contact, or to the enquiry's email
- Held for Waitlist Offer Valid (hours) of the hostel, 24 to start with
Answers
- Accept Offer: the bed is booked as a new stay with the entry's category and dates; the entry becomes Booked
- Decline: the entry is cancelled and the bed goes to the next in line
- No answer in time: Offer Expired, and the bed goes to the next in line
- Cancel takes someone off the list; Back in Line puts an expired or cancelled entry back in its place
- The person answers the hostel by reply or by phone; the desk presses the button
Lists and counts
- Filters Waiting, Offered, Booked, Offer Expired, Cancelled, and by date
- Group by status, hostel, room type, resident, Entity or from date
- The dashboard's enquiries block counts the people waiting or offered
- Enquiries on the list show as waitlisted in the staff app
What it does not do
- No WhatsApp, SMS or app message for an offer: email only
- No email address: no offer is sent, and the desk calls the person
- While a bed is offered the desk can still book it for someone else; accepting then reports that the bed is taken
- No self-service accept: the person replies, the desk accepts
Who uses it
Front Desk / AccountsPuts people on the list, sets priority, and presses Accept Offer or Decline when they answer.
Hostel ManagerSets how long an offer is held and watches the line on the dashboard.
Person waitingGets the offer by email and replies to the hostel to accept or decline.
Where you use it
- Web: Hostel > Front Desk > Waitlist, and Add to Waitlist on an enquiry
- The SmartMy Hostel Staff app: Put on the waitlist on an enquiry. The app is built and in testing, not in the app stores yet
- Email: the offer to the person waiting
- Not on the public page: a full hostel's page asks visitors to send an enquiry, and the desk adds them to the list
What you control
Settings
- Waitlist Offer Valid (hours): 24 per hostel
- Priority of a new entry: Normal
- Offer check: every hour
Notifications
- Waitlist offer: an email to the person waiting, with the bed, the date and the hours the offer is held
- Once booked: Hostel Booking Confirmed to the new resident and the guardians: in the app and by email. WhatsApp and SMS come from your message credits, and app push once the apps are in the stores
Questions
Who gets the bed when two people are waiting?
The one with the higher priority. With the same priority, the one added first.How does the person accept?
They reply to the email or call the hostel. The desk then presses Accept Offer, which books the bed for them.What if they do not answer?
After the hostel's offer hours, 24 to start with, the offer expires. Then the bed is offered to the next person at the next hourly check. Back in Line puts the first person back in their place.Can the offer go by WhatsApp?
Not yet. Offers go by email only. For someone with only a mobile number, the desk calls when the entry shows Offered.Which plan has the waitlist?
Scale. Enquiries themselves are in every plan.Related features
ENQUIRIES, BOOKINGS, WAITLISTEnquiries, site visits and the funnelEvery person who asks for a bed is an enquiry with where they came from, what they want and who follows them up. Plan a site visit, book a bed straight from the enquiry, or close it with a lost reason, and see which sources fill your beds.STAYSBed booking without double bookingSearch the free beds for any dates, room type and gender, and book one in a few clicks. The system refuses a second booking of the same bed for the same days and names who holds it.PUBLIC PAGE AND ONLINE BOOKINGA public page for each hostelEach hostel you choose gets a public web page with its photo, amenities, room types, rent from, the beds free today and an enquiry form. Enquiries from the page land in your desk's list with the source Website.PUBLIC PAGE AND ONLINE BOOKINGOnline bed booking with paymentVisitors of your public hostel page press Book now, choose a move-in date and get a bed at once. The deposit and booking fee are invoiced on the spot and paid online; a booking not paid within your hold hours is released.STAYSNotice to vacate and the exit dateA resident gives notice from the portal or the app, or the desk records it. The exit date is proposed from the notice period and the days short are counted. The bed is free for the next resident from that date.HOSTELS, ROOMS, BEDSBed map with the status of every bedSee every bed room by room, coloured by its status: vacant, reserved, occupied, on notice or blocked. Each bed shows who is in it, from when it is free and every stay it has had.
See it with your own blocks and classes.
Tell us how many hostels and students you have. We will show you an allotment, a leave request approved by a parent and a night roll call, set up the way your hostel works.