The eye-popping, groan-inducing truth is that Americans spend 37 billion hours waiting in line every single year. And while we can get on board with some of these waits, most of them aren’t worth it. On any given day in any given place, the average person is wasting their time waiting. And here at Waitlist Me HQ, that’s not something we believe in.

Not sure if your wait is worth it? We’re breaking down the types of situations that warrant a wait and the ones that don’t to ensure that you, dear reader, get the most out of your most valuable commodity: time. Scroll down for four worth-it waits (and four more that should make you walk).

Eating out

Getting your grub on? Don’t be so quick to join the line.

Wait for…pop-up restaurants. If you have your eye on an hour-long wait, make sure that you’re waiting for something special, like a one-night-only dining concept or a chef collaboration that the whole town will be buzzing about over tomorrow’s breakfast.

Don’t wait for…a happy hour table. Don’t let trendy hot-spots trick you into queueing for a table when they’re not offering anything better than the less-busy bar down the block. Happy hour specials tend to feature common offerings that appeal to the masses rather than house specialties, anyway.

Playing ball

Trust us: There’s no need to sweat a long line 24/7.

Wait for…playoff tickets. Supporting your favorite teams is an investment that lasts longer that two halves, four quarters, or nine innings. When you show up en masse for a sport you love, it keeps the teams you enjoy cheering for hanging around from season to season—and that’s a win in our book.

Don’t wait for…gym equipment. A well-managed gym shouldn’t include a line of toe-tappers waiting to snag their 40 minutes on a treadmill. If your favorite workout spot refuses to evolve in order to keep up with demand, consider taking your membership dollars elsewhere.

Yukking it up

Nothing kills a good time quite like a queue.

Wait for…a big-time live show like SNL. Did you know people regularly camp out on New York City sidewalks for 12-plus hours at a time to see a taping of Saturday Night Live? For die-hard fans, it’s a worthwhile experience that comes with stories, new friends, and sometimes even munchies delivered by the host of the week.

Don’t wait for…trivia night seats. Waiting is stressful—that’s a fact. But your limited time out with your friends shouldn’t be a nail-biter! With British pub-style trivia exploding in popularity across the U.S., there’s no reason to queue for a table. Find another venue and discover a new favorite!

Finding a deal

Shop ‘til you drop? Fabulous. Wait ‘til late? Not so much.

Wait for…a sample sale. Whether you’re a bride-to-be or a bargain-hunting fashionista, you know that there are sales and then there are sales. Black Friday might make you feel more “eh” than “yay,” but if a favorite store or brand is having their once-a-year blow-out, go ahead and queue your heart out.

Don’t wait for…a Saturday afternoon shopping trip. A casual trip to the mall shouldn’t make you want to pull your hair out in frustration or grumble about how slow other shoppers are being in the dressing rooms. When it comes to brick-and-mortar stores that need your business to keep the lights on, stellar service should be offered alongside the merchandise.

Of course, businesses can improve the wait experience by using Waitlist Me. So if you find yourself stuck waiting somewhere, you can always mention that to them!    

We are happy to announce a number of new resource management features that extend the power of Waitlist Me through the whole customer visit, from checking in to leaving. Whether you assign customers to tables, staff, or other resources, you can serve them better by effectively tracking and managing the assignments with Waitlist Me.  By using a dynamic representation of resources, Waitlist Me simplifies the amount of data needed in different scenarios, so you can make smarter decisions faster.  Here are the details of how it works:

Assigning Customers

Customers can be assigned to one or more resources upon arrival or while waiting.  When choosing assignments, any available resources will show at the top of the list in alphabetical order with a green status.  Resources that are already assigned will have a red status and be sorted in order of how long they have been taken.  So when things get busy you can see what is available or coming available soon much faster, since they will be at the top of the list.

If a customer is already assigned to a resource from the waitlist or as a reservation, the estimated serving time for that customer will show along with any notes that were added.  Businesses that serve groups of customers can also define resource sizes and view those sizes in the status areas. For example a restaurant hostess seating a party could scan for open table sizes that would seat six or for smaller tables that could be combined.

Assignments – Grid View

The Assignment Grid view provides an intuitive way to get key information on assignments and availability at a glance.  It also has several options for changing the sort order and levels of information displayed.

At the simplest level, the colors of the boxes show whether the resource is available or not, so it is easy to do a quick scan and find ones that are open.  Across the bottom of the boxes are the resource sizes and time counters when it is in use.  Depending your preferences and goals the resources can be sorted in a couple ways:

– ABC – Sorts alphabetically by name
– Time – Shows available resources first and then taken resources by how long they have been in use
– Size then ABC – Groups by resource sizes first and then alphabetically
– Size then Time – Groups by sizes first, then ones that are open, and then ones in use the longest

The Grid view also has a control for changing the size of the boxes and amount of details displayed. For places with higher number of resources, the small size may work best to avoid scrolling, whereas for places with fewer resources the large or medium size might work better.  The smallest size has all the main information, including the resource names, sizes, time occupied, and estimated times for upcoming customers.  The medium size will also show the names for the customers scheduled and currently assigned to the resource, and the larger size will show any notes on these customers.

Assignments – List view

There is an option for seeing assignments in a list format.  Just press the toggle in the upper right of the Assignment area to switch between Grid and List views.  The resources in the list view are sorted to show available resources at the top and ones that have been taken the longest after that.  In both the assignment views, selecting the assignment gives the option to clear the resource, and more options will be coming soon.

Assignments are integrated with the waitlist so that when a customer that has been assigned a resource is checked off the waitlist, that resource will automatically switch to taken in the assignment view.  If a customer was using that resource it will switch them with the new customer without any additional steps.

Assignment Analytics

The more you use Waitlist Me to manage assignments, the more data you will have on how well you are managing your resources, and there are a number of new downloadable reports that can be run in the Analytics section of the Waitlist Me site.  Look for trends over time with the Assignment Overview, do deeper analysis with the more detailed data in the Assignment Logs, and see results split out by assignments and sizes in other reports.

Settings

Resources can be set up in the app settings as well as the online settings.  Add and edit the resources you need and set the size for each resource.  There is an option to require an assignment when adding the customer to the list so you don’t forget.  You can also switch back to the simple resource entry method if you like.

The new resource management features are part of Waitlist Me Pro, which has unlimited usage and all the other features for an introductory price of $39.99.  More feature will be coming soon, so lock in the low rate now, and keep it when the price goes up for others!

Running a busy restaurant is a balancing act. You want to fill every seat, but you also need to keep your best tables open for VIPs or ensure your staff isn’t overwhelmed by a sudden rush in one single section. Our new Availability and Priority feature gives you the tools to automate your seating strategy exactly how you want it.

Control Your Online Bookings

Not every table needs to be available for online booking. With the Availability setting, you decide which tables the system can auto-assign to self-service customers and which ones you want to hold back for walk-ins or special manual assignments. It’s the easiest way to protect your “power tables” or manage capacity during peak shifts.

Smart Auto-Assignment

When a reservation comes in, who gets the best seat? With Priority, you set the rules.

• Priority 1 tables are filled first.
• Higher numbers act as a fallback.
• Priority 0 keeps tables hidden until every other option is exhausted.

Strategies That Work

Whether you want to fill your most popular window seats first, keep a section clear for a private event, or spread guests evenly across the room to balance the workload for your servers, this feature handles the logic for you.

Getting Started

Ready to optimize your seating? Just head to Account → Settings → Availability and Scheduling → Advanced Scheduling Rules to start setting your priorities.

Running a successful restaurant means juggling a lot of moving parts, and managing the dining room floor is often one of the most challenging. Double-bookings, awkward overlaps, and unpredictable table turnover can quickly turn a great service into a stressful one.

Enter Duration Rules—a smart feature within Advanced Scheduling Rules designed to automate and optimize your table management.

Here is a breakdown of what Duration Rules are, how they work, and how they help your business.

What Are Duration Rules?

At their core, Duration Rules allow businesses to automatically control exactly how long a table is reserved based on the size of the party or the time of day.

Working seamlessly with your Table Management and Capacity Utilization tools, these rules calculate availability and assign tables automatically. This means your system can make reliable, split-second decisions during customer self-scheduling without any manual math or intervention from your staff.

The Magic Behind the Scenes: How They Work

When a customer attempts to book a table through your self-scheduling portal, the system follows a precise, automated logic:

1. Identifies the party size: The system notes how many guests are arriving.
2. Applies the rule: It looks at your predefined settings to find the correct duration for that party size.
3. Blocks the table: The specific table is reserved for that exact calculated time limit.
4. Checks availability: It instantly ensures no other reservations can overlap with this block.
5. Updates the customer: If no suitable table is available for the full duration of their requested time, that time slot is hidden or marked unavailable to prevent double-booking.

Customizing for the Rush: Time-Based Duration Rules

Not all service periods are created equal. Customers might want a quick bite during their lunch hour, but prefer to linger over a multi-course meal at dinner. Duration Rules can be customized to reflect these different dining habits.

By creating separate rules and applying them to specific blocks in your Business Hours settings, you can maximize efficiency.

Why Duration Rules Matter

By implementing Duration Rules, you ensure that the availability your customers see online perfectly matches the real capacity of your dining room, even during the Friday night rush.

The immediate benefits for your business include:

• Preventing double bookings: No more apologizing for a table not being ready.
• Reflecting realistic dining times: Tailoring your turnover expectations to the actual time of day.
• Improving the guest experience: Customers are seated promptly, and dining rooms feel well-managed.
• Reducing staff workload: Hosts can focus on greeting guests rather than playing calendar tetris.
• Enabling reliable self-scheduling: You can trust the system to run on autopilot.

For businesses using Waitlist Me’s public waitlist feature that allows people who’ve joined your waitlist to check their place in line from their phones, there is a new way to enhance the customer experience.

Now, an integration with the Perklist AI Assistant makes it possible for these waiting customers to explore your menu and ask questions directly from that public waitlist page.

When enabled, a simple message and link will appear above their wait time information. Clicking this link opens a chat with an AI Assistant capable of answering questions about your menu and business in real time. You can find more details and an overview video here of how the Perklist AI Assistant works.

Setting up the AI Assistant involves providing it with your menu and other relevant details, a process that generally takes a few minutes. There are also options to customize the text of the message and link shown on your public waitlist page. Additionally, you can choose whether customers see only the AI Assistant chat or both your menu and the chat window when they click the link.

Perklist is a service developed by Waitlist Me, aimed at helping businesses improve their digital interaction with customers, and includes features beyond just the AI Assistant.