Reservations

Reservations (also called Invitations) let you hold spots for specific people before they complete their booking. This is useful when you want to ensure particular attendees can join your event, especially for invite-only or limited-capacity sessions.

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Quick Summary
Create a reservation by entering someone's email address and selecting a ticket. The seat is immediately held for them, and they receive an invitation email with a link to complete their booking. Reservations count against your ticket capacity until they're accepted or cancelled.

What are Reservations?

A reservation is a held spot for a specific person. When you create a reservation:

Reservations vs Regular Bookings

Feature Regular Booking Reservation
Who initiates Attendee finds and books Organiser invites specific person
Discovery Event found via search, embeds, direct link Email invitation sent directly
Capacity impact Seat taken when booking confirmed Seat held immediately when reservation created
Access control Anyone can book (if event is public) Only invited person can use their reservation

When to Use Reservations

Reservations are ideal for:

The Reservation Lifecycle

Every reservation goes through a clear lifecycle:

You create reservation
↓
PENDING
↓
Invitee receives email
↓
Invitee clicks link and decides...
↙          ↘
ACCEPTED          CANCELLED
(booking created)          (seat released)

Reservation Statuses

Status Meaning Seat Status
Pending Invitation sent, waiting for invitee to respond Held (counts against capacity)
Accepted Invitee confirmed and completed booking Taken (converted to booking)
Cancelled Invitee declined or organiser revoked Released (available again)
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Capacity Impact
Pending reservations count against your capacity. If you have 10 seats and create 3 reservations, only 7 seats remain for public booking. This ensures reserved spots aren't accidentally sold to others.

How Reservations Affect Capacity

Understanding how reservations interact with your ticket capacity is important:

Capacity Calculation

Available Seats = Total Capacity - Confirmed Bookings - Pending Reservations

Example:

What Happens When Capacity is Full

If your event is at capacity (bookings + reservations = capacity):

Reservations and Waitlists

Reservations and waitlists are separate systems:

If you cancel a reservation, the released seat goes to public availability first. Waitlisted attendees are notified based on your waitlist settings.

Creating Reservations

Step-by-Step Guide

  1. Open your event
  2. Navigate to the session you want to invite people to
  3. Click Attendees in the session navigation
  4. Select the Reservations tab
  5. Click Invite or Add Reservation
  6. Enter the invitee's email address
  7. Select which ticket type to reserve
  8. Click Send Invitation
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Bulk Invitations
You can invite multiple people at once. Enter multiple email addresses separated by commas, or paste a list. All invitees will receive the same ticket type.

What the Invitee Receives

The invitee receives an email containing:

For Paid Tickets

If the reserved ticket has a price:

Managing Reservations

From the Reservations tab, you can perform several actions:

View Reservation Status

The reservations list shows:

Resend Invitation

If an invitee hasn't received or can't find their invitation:

  1. Find their reservation in the list
  2. Click the menu (three dots) or Resend button
  3. Confirm you want to resend

This sends a fresh invitation email to the same address.

Edit Reservation

You can modify a pending reservation:

  1. Find the reservation
  2. Click Edit
  3. Make your changes
  4. Save
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Editing Accepted Reservations
Once a reservation is accepted (booking created), you can no longer edit it as a reservation. You would manage it as a regular booking instead. See Booking Management.

Cancel Reservation

To revoke a pending invitation:

  1. Find the reservation
  2. Click Cancel or select it from the menu
  3. Confirm cancellation

When you cancel:

Search and Filter

Use the search and filter options to find specific reservations:

Export Reservation Data

You can export your reservations for record-keeping:

  1. Go to the Reservations tab
  2. Click Export
  3. Choose your format (CSV or Excel)

The export includes email addresses, ticket types, statuses, and dates.

The Invitee Experience

Understanding what your invitees see helps you communicate clearly with them.

Receiving the Invitation

The invitee receives an email with:

Clicking the Link

When the invitee clicks the link:

  1. They see the event details and their reserved ticket
  2. Their email is pre-filled in the booking form
  3. They can review ticket details and price
  4. They proceed to checkout (payment if required)

Completing the Booking

To accept their reservation:

Once complete, the reservation converts to a confirmed booking, and they receive a booking confirmation email.

Declining the Invitation

If the invitee doesn't want to attend:

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Unresponded Invitations
If an invitee never responds, the reservation stays pending indefinitely and the seat remains held. Monitor your pending reservations and cancel those that won't be used to free up seats.

Reservations vs Waitlists

Both features help manage limited capacity, but they work differently:

Aspect Reservations Waitlists
Who initiates Organiser invites Attendee requests
When used Before or during registration After event is sold out
Seat held? Yes, immediately No, until spot opens
Guarantee Guaranteed spot if accepted May or may not get a spot
Best for VIPs, invite-only, specific people Overflow demand, cancellations

Using both together: You might reserve spots for VIPs, open public registration for remaining seats, and enable waitlist for overflow. This gives you maximum flexibility.

Best Practices

Common Questions

Can I invite someone who already has a booking?

No, the system prevents creating a reservation for someone who already has an active booking for the same ticket/session. This avoids duplicate bookings. If they need a different ticket, they would need to cancel their existing booking first.

What happens if I cancel a reservation after they paid?

If the invitee has already accepted and paid (reservation became a booking), you cannot cancel the "reservation" - it no longer exists. You would cancel the booking instead, which triggers the normal refund process.

Can invitees book a different ticket than reserved?

No, the invitation link is tied to the specific ticket you selected. If they want a different ticket, you would need to cancel the reservation and create a new one, or they could book separately through public registration.

Do reservations expire automatically?

No, reservations do not expire automatically. They remain pending until the invitee accepts, declines, or you cancel them. Monitor your pending reservations and manually cancel those that are no longer needed.

Can I see if an invitee opened their email?

Currently, Medtribe doesn't provide email open tracking for invitations. You can see whether they've clicked through (the reservation would show activity) but not whether they opened the email.

What if the invitee's email bounces?

If the email fails to deliver, the reservation still exists and the seat remains held. Check for typos in the email address, edit the reservation with the correct address, and resend the invitation.

Troubleshooting

Invitee says they didn't receive the email

Reservation link not working

Can't create reservation - capacity full

Wrong ticket type on reservation

Related Guides

For reservation-related questions, contact support@medtribe.com.