Cattery Revenue Optimization: Using Waitlists

Why waitlists help cattery revenue optimization

A cattery's demand curve is brutal: school holidays, Christmas and summer run at capacity while quiet weeks yawn. When you're full, the standard reply — “sorry, try somewhere else” — hands your best-timed demand directly to a competitor.

A waitlist builds better customer relationships because it communicates that you will help if you can, that you have a professional setup, and that your cattery is well-managed. You capture clients' contact details, build your database of leads, and make sure you help facilitate clients every chance you get — and of course the waitlist helps you transform a cancellation into a replacement booking, which increases your revenue.

A waitlist is an experience — the more seamless the experience for the customer and for you, the more success you will see. So what are the elements of an effective waitlist?

4 tips for an effective waitlist

These four tips turn a waitlist from a polite “no” into a revenue tool:

1. Surface availability early in the booking process
2. Enable single-click join waitlist option
3. Preserve the booking details
4. Cancellations should prompt you suggestions for replacement bookings

Tip 1: Surface availability early in the booking process

One best practice for your booking platform is to split availability checking and actual booking. The booking process should enable a customer to first check availability and then proceed to booking when there is availability.

This enables customers to just check availability — sometimes that's all a customer wants to know for now. A customer might want to research available flights, hotels and pet care before committing to a holiday.

Obviously once dates and number of pets show a possible availability, the option to book can show, which uses all this data. But there's no point in asking customers to enter all the pet data, personal data and vaccination records only to say “sorry, we're full”. Nobody will thank you for that. The best customer experience is to enter the info needed to check availability and then prompt for the rest of the information if the availability is there and the customer decides to proceed.

This is where the waitlist comes in. If there isn't availability, you can offer the join-the-waitlist option, and it's one click for the customer to be notified if things change. It's easy, it's helpful, it's easily understood and completely free of friction.

Tip 2: Enable single-click join waitlist option

You want to make it as easy as possible for customers to determine availability and as easy as possible for customers to join the waitlist if there is no current availability.

If you can't take the booking, allow a single-click join waitlist option that doesn't require the entry of further information. None of that information matters until there is a space available. Obviously you need to know the dates and how many cats, but you don't need a full set of information at this time.

A single-click join waitlist option gives the customer a helpful option and doesn't take up their precious time.

Tip 3: Preserve the booking details

When you do have a new spot and you invite someone from the waitlist, it's important that you retain the previous booking information. Obviously this is good for the customer because they don't have to start from scratch and enter everything in again. But it's also a matter of control — when you invite someone on the waitlist with 2 cats for certain dates to make a booking, you don't want them to be able to book in 3 cats on different dates! So it's very important to retain the integrity of the initial booking — and this is good for all concerned.

Tip 4: Cancellations should prompt you suggestions for replacement bookings

The vital moment for you is when cancellations come in. Your customers will cancel sometimes for very good reasons, and if you can instantly replace the booking without losing revenue, you'll accept good-faith cancellations gracefully.

You can really cement relationships this way. If a holiday is cancelled due to a family bereavement and you know the family and waive cancellation charges, that family will continue to book with you — no question about it.

Our platform offers you suggestions when a cancellation happens and shows you a list of waitlisted bookings that correspond to the number of cats and the relevant dates. You just choose from the list, and with one click an invite email is sent to the waitlisted booking you select. And they just click the button in that email to make that booking!

This saves you time when you're at your busiest. A cancellation will come in and you can invite another booking from the waitlist in seconds. This optimizes your revenue while preserving your precious time.

How our waitlist functionality works

We obviously follow our own advice when it comes to the tips for an effective waitlist!

• When a requested range is full, the online booking flow offers a Join the waitlist option with a single click — you get notified and they join the waitlist.
• When space opens, you send an invite from the request itself; the customer's link resumes their booking with dates and party size prefilled, and availability is confirmed live when they complete it.
• When a booking is cancelled, the system suggests a list of perfect replacement bookings to promote from the waitlist in a single click. And you can filter and search by other criteria if you ever need to.

Boost your revenue, help your customers, build relationships and save time with our waitlist feature.