Due to significant fee increases from US mobile operators for sending text messages, we will no longer be including unlimited notifications in the subscription prices of US plans. Instead, we will include a bundle of notifications each month and the ability to pay separately for messages sent above this monthly allotment. These changes will affect all new signups from September 6, 2021 and apply to existing customers from Oct 4, 2021.

Our goals continue to be to offer the best value in waitlisting and scheduling services, while providing the flexibility for different businesses to send as many notifications as they need. It is important to note that the increases in mobile carrier fees affect all services sending text messages, and we believe that even with our latest plan updates that Waitlist Me will continue to be the price and value leader in its category.

The Premium plan includes 1,000 notifications per month, Pro includes 2,500 and Platinum 5,000. For businesses with heavier messaging needs, additional text and call notifications can be sent at a rate of $0.02 per notification, deducted from a prepaid balance. 

Monthly notifications reset when monthly subscription payments are processed. For users on annual plans, they reset every 30 days starting from the original payment date. Payments for adding to the prepaid balance can be made from the Account area of the Waitlist Me website, and there are settings to make it easy to auto-refresh the balance when it gets low.

Most businesses currently using our services would not hit these notification limits, and thus would not be affected by this update. Waitlist Me has several settings and options for sending notifications, so businesses can control when they don’t need to be sent. There are ways to monitor the usage of both the notifications that are included in the plan each month as well as the ones that are charged separately. The number of monthly text and call notifications sent can be viewed in the Settings area of the apps or in the Account area of the website. The website also shows a record of messages sent and the associated costs in the Messaging Costs area of the Billing History. 

Waitlist Me makes it simple to track table availability and server assignments. There are a couple options that can be customized to your business needs and workflows. 

If you manage your tables by section, the first thing you’d want to do is visit this page to learn more about setting up your sections and layouts. If your business isn’t a restaurant, you can also use these same features to group your staff, rooms, or other resources visually in the Grid view.

Our Pro level service provides a very simple way to know what server is assigned to what section by using the Assignment Notes feature. Simply tap on the “Notes” link to view a list of sections and text form fields where you can enter server names or other notes for each section. It is easy to see high level information about each section and make changes all at once.

With our Platinum level service, you can also set up an additional floorplan view, and be able to position these same notes where you’d like in the floorplan view.

Also with Platinum you also have the option to assign servers individually to tables and track the activity by server rather than section. This is especially useful if you don’t use sections and use a system of assigning tables based on server turns or server activity. Or if you have servers assigned to sections, but need to have some floaters to help out where needed or other cross section activity, you can combine the section notes with individual server assignments to keep track of everything.

To set up individual servers, tap on the gear icon in the Waitlist Me app to go to the Settings and then go to Manage Assignments > Servers. Here you can enter the names of your servers. Select Status on the upper right of this menu if you want to add colors for the servers. Using different colors can make it easier to see where your different servers are assigned. Or maybe you want all your patio servers coded as green to make it easier to distinguish them from the indoor servers. 

After a table has been seated, select the table to access the footer bar. Here you will see a Server button, which brings up a menu of active servers. Choose a name to assign that server. You can sort by alphabetical order, the number of tables or seats each has had, or the amount of time since the last table was sat for each employee. 

Also, in the upper right of this server window is a Status option. The Server Status area lets you mark the servers who aren’t working today as inactive, and to change status colors if needed. 

If you haven’t yet named your tables, you can do that in the settings under Assignments. For the Pro features, you can find helpful information on navigating the grid view here. For the Platinum features, the video on this page will show you how to place your tables in your floorplan. 

Sometimes if you press the notification button to send a text message to a customer and don’t see them right away, you may press the notification button again to trigger an automated call notification.  Premium subscribers have a list of several pre-recorded messages to choose from. Pro subscribers have all these options, and now have an additional option to type in their own message and have it played using text-to-speech. This provides more flexibility for what you may want to tell your customers when you notify them.

Changing these settings can be done on the Waitlist Me website, under Account > Settings > Notifications. Here you can select one of the pre-recorded messages, or create your own by flipping the switch to On under Custom Phone Notification. Use up to 160 characters to craft a message that fits your business, pick a voice option, and save! Now your customers will hear this message when they receive a notification call.

Waitlist Me assigns a unique phone number to your account for sending text and call notifications.  If customers try to call back, they will hear a message instructing them to call the business directly. This message can also be tailored to reflect your needs. Simply type in the message you would like clients to hear, decide on a voice, and save your work.

Owning or managing a business today is significantly more stressful than it was 10 years ago. So is being a human living in 2019.

We’re more stressed now than we’ve ever been before. Blame it on politics. Blame it on the economy. Blame it on your zany Aunt Maude. Regardless of the numerous places our stress is coming from, we know one place that can use some improvement in the stress department.

The bustle! The noise! The tight squeeze! There are all sorts of ways your waiting room could be skyrocketing your customers’ stress levels. Want to prevent walk-outs and increase customer loyalty? Here are three stressful problems in your waiting area and easy, inexpensive ways to fix them today.

A wall-to-wall wait

Achieving the right level of fullness is an art. An empty parking lot at 7 p.m. on a Friday night sends the wrong signal to hungry diners. But a jam-packed foyer? That sends a message, too, one that might intimidate a walk-in.

Stressor: The line is so long! I’ll be waiting forever!

Quick fix: Vacate your waiting area just enough by using Waitlist Me to notify guests when you’re ready for them. This leaves them free to explore the area while they wait—and keeps new customers feeling like they won’t be waiting an eternity.

“Was that me?” worries

A little background music, ordering drinks at the bar, nodding along to a conversation—it doesn’t take much to distract guests from a long wait. However, those little distractions come with their own problems.

Stressor: Did they call me already? Did I miss my table?!

Quick fix: Replace bulky buzzers and hovering hostesses with text notifications through our waitlist app. That way, your guests will be notified in a manner that suits them best. Plus, our public waitlist feature allows customers to check their place in line on a TV display in your waiting area or directly on their phone. That reduces the anxiety over how-much-longer ETAs.

Invisible customer syndrome

Hey, mistakes happen! But when you’re using a messy grease board or a hard-to-read, handwritten appointment book to keep track of your waitlist, mistakes happen far more frequently than if you brought your business into the 21^st century.

Stressor: Um, excuse me? Did you forget about me? I’ve been waiting an hour!

Quick fox: Nobody wants to feel invisible, and nobody wants to hang out in a foyer for 25 minutes before realizing they’ve been skipped by accident. With a digital waitlist, you can cut down on those negative experiences. Waitlist Me is straightforward. Think: One easy-to-read list and zero confusing scribbles. With a single glance, hosts can see exactly who’s waiting for what sort of table, how long they’ve been tapping their toes, and when you can get them seated.

We are happy to announce that our iOS and Android apps are now fully localized in Spanish for customers with plans in over 20 countries where Spanish is the local language.  Now it is even easier for businesses and their employees in Spanish-speaking countries to manage their waitlist and reservations with Waitlist Me.

This added localization follows our international launch in December where we started with the translation of all the customer facing parts of the Waitlist Me service in 30 languages, and we will be translating more parts of our websites into Spanish in the upcoming weeks.

We started with Spanish for a number of reasons, and while doing this initial localization of our service into a foreign language we have put into place a framework for flexibly managing updates to the translations and for plugging in additional languages in the future.