Virtual queue vs timed tickets: which fits your event?

Virtual queue

Guests join a line from their phone and keep their place while they do something else. The system calls them when it's their turn. The order is the order in which they joined.

Timed tickets

Guests pick a set time, in advance or on arrival, and come back for it. Capacity per time is fixed, and once the times are gone, they're gone.

Hybrid

Guests can book a time, and a standby queue runs alongside. When booked guests don't arrive, the next people in the standby queue fill the empty places.

Neither is better in general. They solve different problems, and many events need both.

A virtual queue works best when the experience runs continuously and most guests arrive without a plan. Typical examples:

• Simulators, rides and photo spots that run back to back.
• Product demos and short consultations.
• Merch drops and limited items, with stock shown as guests join.
• Any experience where guests decide on the spot whether to take part.

Waits are estimates, so show them honestly and round them rather than promising an exact time. The guest's only effort is joining. They don't need to plan, and if they leave early, their place goes to the next person automatically.

• Experiences with a fixed start for a whole group, such as a reveal, a workshop or a show.
• Very limited capacity, where guests need to know early whether they'll get in.
• Experiences guests travel for and want to plan their visit around.

Timed tickets also ask more of guests: they have to remember the time and be back for it, which is harder for families and large groups. The other weakness is no-shows. A booked time that nobody uses is capacity lost, unless you have a way to refill it, which is where the hybrid comes in.

A hybrid keeps the certainty of a booking and fixes the no-show problem. Guests who planned ahead book a time. Everyone else joins a standby queue. When a booked guest doesn't arrive within the hold time, staff call the standby queue to fill the place.

In Cue, the same experience can offer both, and staff run them from one console. Our attractions demo uses this for its Infinity Room, with entries at fixed intervals and a standby line. See how it fits attractions and pop-ups.

Setting the hold time

The hold time decides how long a booked place waits before standby guests can have it. Too short, and guests who are a minute late lose out. Too long, and the room runs half empty. Start with a few minutes and adjust once you see how guests behave on the day. Guests in standby should see that they're in standby, so nobody is surprised when a booked guest goes in first.

Restaurants, beach clubs and pools work differently. Guests don't need a time; they need a table or a cabana of the right size. A waitlist by party size estimates the wait for each size separately, because a table for two frees up long before a table for eight.

Many venues combine a waitlist with fixed-time reservations, so regulars can book and walk-ins can still get a table. Read more about hotels and beach clubs.

Most events end up with a mix, and that's normal. Choose per experience, and make sure guests see all of them in one place, so a timed workshop and a walk-in simulator feel like parts of the same visit. If you're unsure, start with a queue for everything except fixed-start sessions, and add booking where a line grows too long.

Whatever you choose, make it obvious. On the pass, show the next available times next to the live wait, so guests can decide for themselves. On signs, say which experiences need booking and which they can simply join. On the screens, show both the codes being called and the next entry times, so guests in either system know where they stand.