What it should do
- Appear where people get stuck: under a fully booked date, and when nothing is open.
- Ask how many places. A family of four has no use for a single place.
- Tell visitors where they stand: first or second on the list.
- Notify one person at a time. Writing to five people about a single place means disappointing four.
By hand, or on its own
By hand, you choose who to write to when a place frees up. You keep the decision, but you have to be there at the right moment.
On its own, the list writes to the first person as soon as a place frees up, gives them time to take it, then moves on to the next. It works at night and on Sundays. During that time, the place must be held for that person: otherwise, another visitor can take it in the meantime.
What to avoid
- Promising what the tool doesn't do: an SMS it doesn't send, a chance of getting a place that no figure calculates.
- Keeping addresses forever. A sign-up has no reason to exist once the date has passed.
- Forgetting to say how to leave the list.