[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":221},["ShallowReactive",2],{"marketing-blog-blog\u002Ftimed-entry-slots-that-actually-spread-the-queue":3,"marketing-blog-related-blog\u002Ftimed-entry-slots-that-actually-spread-the-queue":201},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"body":7,"category":179,"date":180,"description":181,"draft":182,"extension":183,"image":184,"imageAlt":185,"imageCredit":186,"imageCreditUrl":187,"meta":188,"navigation":189,"path":190,"readTime":191,"seo":192,"stem":193,"tags":194,"__hash__":200},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Ftimed-entry-slots-that-actually-spread-the-queue.md","Timed entry slots that actually spread the queue","The CheckInHub team",{"type":8,"value":9,"toc":168},"minimark",[10,14,17,22,25,32,38,41,45,54,62,66,74,78,81,94,98,101,109,113,121,129,133,158],[11,12,13],"p",{},"The next few weeks are the busiest of the year for timed entry. Pumpkin patches and Halloween trails run through October half term, Halloween itself falls on a Saturday this year, and the Christmas grottos, light trails and late openings start selling their December slots now.",[11,15,16],{},"Timed slots exist to stop everyone arriving at once. Done well, the gate sees a steady trickle all day. Done badly, the slots are printed on the tickets and the queue still reaches the car park, because nobody decided what the slot actually controls, how big it should be, or what the door does when a family turns up forty minutes early.",[18,19,21],"h2",{"id":20},"decide-what-the-slot-controls","Decide what the slot controls",[11,23,24],{},"A timed slot can mean two different things, and the door crew need to know which one you are selling.",[11,26,27,31],{},[28,29,30],"strong",{},"Entry only."," The slot is the window in which the guest can come through the gate. Once inside they stay as long as they like. This is the common choice for farms, trails and gardens, and it is the easier one to run.",[11,33,34,37],{},[28,35,36],{},"The whole visit."," The slot is the time the guest is on site, as with a grotto visit or a guided session. The next group cannot start until the last one has finished, so the door has to manage both ends.",[11,39,40],{},"Put the rule on the booking confirmation, on the pass and on the sign at the gate, in the same words. Most of the arguments at a timed-entry gate start with a guest who read the slot as one thing and a volunteer who was told it meant the other.",[18,42,44],{"id":43},"size-the-slot-to-the-door-not-just-the-site","Size the slot to the door, not just the site",[11,46,47,48,53],{},"Most organisers size their slots from the site capacity in the safety plan. That number matters, but it is not the only one. If guests stay for about ninety minutes and you sell thirty-minute entry slots, roughly three slots' worth of people are on site at any moment. Work that out before you set the slot size, and check it against your capacity. Our guide to ",[49,50,52],"a",{"href":51},"\u002Fblog\u002Fcapacity-planning-without-the-guesswork","capacity planning without the guesswork"," goes through the arithmetic.",[11,55,56,57,61],{},"Then check it against the gate. A slot of 300 people is fine for the field and impossible for a single lane if they all arrive in the first ten minutes of it. Time a few check-ins in a dry run, multiply by the number of lanes you will actually staff, and make sure the gate can clear a full slot well inside the slot itself. ",[49,58,60],{"href":59},"\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-eight-second-check-in-explained","The eight-second check-in, explained"," shows where those seconds go.",[18,63,65],{"id":64},"count-people-not-bookings","Count people, not bookings",[11,67,68,69,73],{},"At a family attraction, one booking is rarely one person. A parent books for two adults and three children, and the gate needs to know it is letting five people in, not one. Record the party size at booking, show it at the gate and confirm it on arrival, so the number on site is a headcount rather than a count of emails. ",[49,70,72],{"href":71},"\u002Fblog\u002Fgroup-and-household-check-in-handled","Group and household check-in, handled"," covers the options.",[18,75,77],{"id":76},"write-down-the-early-and-late-rule","Write down the early and late rule",[11,79,80],{},"Some people will always arrive early, and some will always arrive late. The worst answer is to let each volunteer decide on the spot, because the guest at gate one gets a different answer from the guest at gate two and both of them notice.",[11,82,83,84,88,89,93],{},"Pick a grace window, for example fifteen minutes either side, and decide what happens outside it. Early guests wait in a marked area or are offered the next slot with space. Late guests are let in if the following slot has room, or moved to it. Brief it in the ",[49,85,87],{"href":86},"\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-door-brief-that-takes-five-minutes","five-minute door brief"," and make sure the crew can see the booked slot when they scan or look someone up, so the decision is a fact on a screen and not a debate. ",[49,90,92],{"href":91},"\u002Fblog\u002Fdesigning-for-guests-who-arrive-late","Designing for guests who arrive late"," has more on the late end.",[18,95,97],{"id":96},"hold-some-space-back-for-the-day","Hold some space back for the day",[11,99,100],{},"Timed attractions draw walk-ups, especially on a dry half-term afternoon. If every slot is sold, they either get turned away at the gate or slipped in, and slipping people in quietly breaks the count you built the slots to protect.",[11,102,103,104,108],{},"Hold a small share of each slot back for on-the-day sales, and release it to online buyers if it has not gone by the day before. Give walk-ups their own lane with a QR code on a sign, so they book into a slot on their own phone without holding up the pre-booked queue. ",[49,105,107],{"href":106},"\u002Fblog\u002Fwalk-up-registration-without-the-chaos","Walk-up registration without the chaos"," explains the set-up.",[18,110,112],{"id":111},"close-each-slot-properly","Close each slot properly",[11,114,115,116,120],{},"When a slot's window ends, the guests who never came are Absent, not \"still due\". Mark them, and if your rules allow it, release their places to the walk-up lane or the next slot. A ",[49,117,119],{"href":118},"\u002Fblog\u002Fcancellations-and-a-waitlist-that-works","waitlist that works"," makes this simple.",[11,122,123,124,128],{},"Keep the Absent numbers by slot afterwards. If the 10:00 slot on a Sunday loses a fifth of its bookings every week, you can sell it a little deeper next year with some confidence. ",[49,125,127],{"href":126},"\u002Fblog\u002Fplanning-for-the-no-shows-you-cannot-predict","Planning for the no-shows you cannot predict"," goes into how far to push it.",[18,130,132],{"id":131},"a-short-list-for-timed-entry","A short list for timed entry",[134,135,136,140,143,146,149,152,155],"ul",{},[137,138,139],"li",{},"Decide whether the slot covers entry only or the whole visit, and say so everywhere.",[137,141,142],{},"Size slots against both the site capacity and what the gate can clear.",[137,144,145],{},"Record party size, not just bookings.",[137,147,148],{},"Set one grace window and one rule for early and late arrivals.",[137,150,151],{},"Hold back a share of each slot for walk-ups, with its own lane.",[137,153,154],{},"Mark the people who never came as Absent and release their places.",[137,156,157],{},"Keep the slot-by-slot numbers for next season.",[11,159,160,161,167],{},"CheckInHub keeps every gate on one live list, with walk-up registration, offline scanning and every guest shown as Registered, Checked in, Departed or Absent, at ",[49,162,166],{"href":163,"rel":164},"https:\u002F\u002Fcheckinhub.co.uk",[165],"nofollow","checkinhub.co.uk",".",{"title":169,"searchDepth":170,"depth":170,"links":171},"",2,[172,173,174,175,176,177,178],{"id":20,"depth":170,"text":21},{"id":43,"depth":170,"text":44},{"id":64,"depth":170,"text":65},{"id":76,"depth":170,"text":77},{"id":96,"depth":170,"text":97},{"id":111,"depth":170,"text":112},{"id":131,"depth":170,"text":132},"Registration & check-in","2026-10-17","Pumpkin patches, Halloween trails and Christmas grottos all sell timed slots, and plenty of them still end up with a queue at the gate. Here is how to size the slots, set the rules and brief the door so the slots do the job they were sold to do.",false,"md","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1698322281578-459790c95ff3?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&w=1600&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop","A group of visitors walking through a pumpkin patch","Toa Heftiba","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002Fphotos\u002Fa-group-of-people-standing-around-a-pumpkin-patch-wtY3loUgGhU?utm_source=checkinhub&utm_medium=referral",{},true,"\u002Fblog\u002Ftimed-entry-slots-that-actually-spread-the-queue",5,{"title":5,"description":181},"blog\u002Ftimed-entry-slots-that-actually-spread-the-queue",[195,196,197,198,199],"timed entry","capacity","queues","walk-up registration","check-in","TAFZ5KffdoNAqr1tuntRtt6Gm4pNbKhNcilYRhp11Qw",[202,208,214],{"to":203,"title":204,"description":205,"date":206,"category":179,"image":207,"readTime":191},"\u002Fblog\u002Frunning-the-front-door-at-an-open-day","Running the front door at an open day","Autumn is open day season for colleges, universities and schools. Families arrive in twos and threes, half of them never registered, and they all want to be somewhere at the same time. Here is how to run the door so the count holds and the follow-up works.","2026-10-09","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1662148965079-7fbb45160973?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&w=1600&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop",{"to":209,"title":210,"description":211,"date":212,"category":179,"image":213,"readTime":191},"\u002Fblog\u002Fchecking-in-speakers-before-they-are-needed-on-stage","Checking in speakers before they are needed on stage","Speakers are the guests with a deadline. They arrive at odd times, by odd doors, and the programme falls over if nobody knows they are in the building. Here is how to give them a front door of their own.","2026-09-29","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1582192730841-2a682d7375f9?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&w=1600&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop",{"to":215,"title":216,"description":217,"date":218,"category":179,"image":219,"readTime":220},"\u002Fblog\u002Fopening-badge-collection-the-night-before","Opening badge collection the night before","An evening desk at the conference hotel takes a chunk of the morning queue away before it forms. Here is when it is worth running, how to staff it, and how to keep one count across both desks.","2026-09-18","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1782834294703-5b73c59466e3?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&w=1600&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop",6,1792518509150]