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A waitlist is the ordered queue of members who want a spot in a class that is already full. When a booked member cancels, 1club works down the queue for you: it either books the next person straight away or sends them a time-limited offer to claim the spot. This page walks through the full workflow, from joining a waitlist to the moment an offer turns into a confirmed booking.

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Overview

  • On by default - Every class supports a waitlist automatically; it only kicks in when the class has a max capacity set and is full.
  • Ordered queue - Members join with Join waiting list, get a pending entry, and are placed in line by the order they joined.
  • Self-service and staff - Members join and track their spot under Account > Waitlist; staff can add someone with Add to waitlist on a full class.
  • Automatic when a seat frees - Cancelling a booking triggers processing, which either auto-books the next member or sends them a time-limited offer to claim.
  • Claim window - A notified member has a set time to claim (15 minutes by default), configured per booking policy.
  • One offer at a time - A freed seat is only ever promised to one person; unclaimed offers expire and cascade to the next member in line.
  • Tracked statuses - Each entry moves through pending, notified, converted, expired, or cancelled, with converted entries linked to the booking they created.
  • Managed on the class - Staff see and manage waitlist entries from the Attendance card on the class detail page.

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When a waitlist applies

Every class supports a waitlist by default, so nothing needs to be switched on for the queue to work. A waitlist only comes into play when both of these are true:
  • The class has a Max capacity set. Classes with unlimited capacity are never full, so there is nothing to wait for.
  • The class is full - the number of booked seats plus anonymous check-ins has reached the max capacity.
While seats are still open, members book directly and never touch the waitlist. If a member tries to join the waitlist on a class that still has space, 1club blocks it and points them back to the normal booking flow. A member can only be in one place at a time for a given class occurrence. If someone already has a booking or a check-in for that class on that date, they cannot also join the waitlist for it, and they cannot join the same waitlist twice.

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How members join a full class

When a class is full, the booking control changes from Book to Join waiting list everywhere the class appears - the class detail page, the schedule grid, and class cards.
  1. The member taps Join waiting list and confirms in the dialog.
  2. If they are not signed in, they are asked to log in first, then the join continues automatically.
  3. 1club creates a waitlist entry with the status pending and emails the member to confirm they are on the list, including their current position in the queue.
Position is calculated from the order members joined - the earliest to join is first in line. Members can see their entries, their position, and any live offers under Account > Waitlist in the member portal. Staff can also add someone to a waitlist on the member’s behalf. On the class detail page, the Add to waitlist button in the Attendance card is enabled only when the class is full. See Classes for the attendance grid, which lists booked seats, anonymous check-ins, and waitlist entries side by side.

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What happens when a spot opens

The queue is processed automatically whenever a booked member cancels and frees a seat. 1club picks the person at the front of the queue and takes one of two paths, depending on how far away the class is.
1

A booking is cancelled

Cancelling a booking frees a seat and triggers waitlist processing for that class occurrence. Only occurrences that have not yet started are processed - a cancellation on a class that has already begun does not generate offers.
2

Auto-book, or offer to claim

1club looks at the first person in line:
  • Auto-book - If the class is at least 12 hours away and the cancellation still falls inside the full-refund window of the matching booking policy, 1club books the next member straight into the seat. No action is needed from them.
  • Offer to claim - Otherwise, 1club marks the entry notified, generates a one-time claim link, and sends a “A spot is now available” notification with a deadline to claim.
3

The member claims the spot

The member opens the claim link and confirms. 1club turns their waitlist entry into a confirmed booking and clears the offer.
4

The offer rolls on if unclaimed

If the deadline passes with no claim, the entry expires and the same offer is passed to the next person in line.
Only one person is ever offered a spot at a time, so a single freed seat is never promised to two people at once.

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The claim window

The claim window is how long a notified member has to confirm before the offer moves on. It defaults to 15 minutes and is set per policy by the Waitlist claim window (minutes) field - see Booking policies. The spot-available notification tells the member the exact deadline. Offers are only sent when the freed seat is realistically claimable, so notifications cluster in the hours before a class rather than days ahead.

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How members claim

A notified member can claim from either place the offer appears:
  • The claim link in the notification. This opens a claim page showing the class, date, and gym. Confirming books the seat. If the member does not have a password yet - for example, a contact a staff member added to the list - they set one on this page, and 1club creates their account and signs them in as part of the confirmation.
  • Account > Waitlist in the portal. A notified entry shows a Book now button and the deadline to book before. Confirming books the seat.
Claiming runs the same checks as a normal booking. If the offer has expired, the class has already ended, or the seat was filled in the meantime, the claim is rejected with a clear message and the entry is moved on rather than left in limbo. A member can also decline or leave a waitlist. Declining a live offer removes them from the queue and immediately passes the spot to the next person in line. Leaving a pending entry simply takes them off the list.

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Entry statuses

Every waitlist entry moves through these statuses: A converted entry is linked to the booking it created, so the seat and the queue history stay connected.

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Behind the scenes: expiring offers

A background job runs every few minutes to keep the queue moving without anyone having to watch it. For each offer whose claim window has passed, the job:
  1. Marks the entry expired.
  2. Notifies the member that their opportunity has expired and the spot went to the next person.
  3. Offers the freed spot to the next pending member in line, starting a fresh claim window.
This is what lets an unclaimed offer cascade down the queue automatically until someone claims it or the class fills.

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Where staff manage waitlists

Waitlists live on the class itself. Open a class from Operations > Classes and use the Attendance card on the detail page to:
  • See who is on the waitlist alongside the booked seats and check-ins.
  • Add a member to the waitlist with Add to waitlist (enabled only when the class is full).
  • Convert a waitlist entry into a booking manually, when you want to seat someone directly rather than wait for the automatic flow.
For the full class detail layout and capacity tiles, see Classes.
  • Classes - Set capacity, run the attendance grid, and convert waitlist entries.
  • Booking policies - Set the waitlist claim window and the refund tiers that drive auto-booking.
  • Bookings - Where a claimed or auto-booked seat shows up as a confirmed booking.
  • Events - For one-off ticketed happenings, use an event instead of a class.