Why can't customers join the waitlist right now?

Waitlist joins are blocked when the waitlist is off, joining has closed for the night, you're on a break, the date is blocked for online bookings, the party is too big, the wait is too long, or a table is free right now.

There are seven usual reasons:

• The waitlist isn't running. It needs the Complete plan and Turn on the waitlist switched on in Settings → Bookings → How people book; for customers joining from their phone, Let customers join from their phone must be on too.
• Joining has closed for the night — once you're within the waitlist's last-joining time: the Waitlist line of Last booking before you close, on Settings → Bookings → When people can book (default 60 minutes before closing).
• You're on your break with Let customers join the waitlist during a break switched off (Settings → Venue → Hours).
• You've blocked online bookings for that date or time (a date's Online bookings closed, on Settings → Bookings → Special dates). The public waitlist closes too: customers read "The waitlist is closed today" (or closed until a time), with the special date's name as the reason.
• The party is bigger than your Maximum party size (Settings → Bookings → How many at once) — or, on a special date with its own Party sizes online, bigger than that date's biggest party. They're asked to contact you directly instead.
• The waitlist is full — the estimated wait is longer than your Maximum wait time (default 120 minutes, on Settings → Bookings → Waitlist). Customers see "Waitlist full".
• A suitable table is free right now. Customers joining from their phone are told "Tables are available!" and asked to let a member of staff know, instead of joining — unless you've switched on Allow customers to join when tables are available (on the Waitlist page).

From the dashboard your team can still add someone on a blocked date, and a bigger party after a warning (unless Apply max party size to staff bookings too is on). Closing time, your break and a free table apply to them too: Add a guest is greyed out and says why — for a free table, "A table's free right now — seat them or take a booking instead of adding to the waitlist." — unless Allow customers to join when tables are available is on.

Related: How do I configure how the waitlist behaves? · How do I manage the waitlist during service?