Never Double Book Again: Live Updates with Real-Time Seat Availability
Have you ever had two customers try to book the same seat at the same time? This common problem leads to frustration and support headaches. Today, we’re excited to solve this issue with our new real-time seat availability feature. Your seating chart is no longer a static map; it’s a live, dynamic environment that keeps everyone in sync. This is a huge step forward for creating a seamless booking experience.
What is Real-Time Polling?
In simple terms, “polling” means your website periodically asks the server for new information. With this new feature, your frontend seating chart will silently check for updates every 20 seconds. It specifically asks, “Has anyone else booked or reserved a seat since I last checked?” This all happens in the background without the user needing to do anything.
Consequently, if a seat is taken, the chart updates for everyone viewing it. This ensures that the availability your customers see is always accurate and up-to-the-minute. You can learn more about how AJAX powers these kinds of live updates on the official jQuery API documentation.
How Live Availability Improves the Customer Journey
Imagine your most popular event goes on sale. Dozens of people are trying to buy tickets at once. Without live seat updates, multiple customers could add the same seat to their cart. They would only discover the problem at checkout, which is a frustrating experience.
Our new feature completely prevents this. Here’s how it helps:
- Instant Visual Feedback: When a seat is held in another person’s cart, it instantly turns gray and becomes unselectable for everyone else.
- Prevents Double Bookings: Because the chart is always current, it’s impossible for two people to select the same seat.
- Reduces Cart Abandonment: Customers can book with confidence, knowing the seat they choose is truly theirs. This leads to a smoother path to checkout.
For more details on setting up booking rules, see our guide on configuring event settings.
No Configuration Needed
Best of all, this powerful real-time availability feature works right out of the box. There are no settings to configure. As soon as you update the plugin, your frontend charts will automatically start polling for live updates. This ensures a reliable and professional booking process for all of your events.
Ready to offer your customers the best booking experience possible? Get the latest version of our plugin now