More than anything, I'd like to just get my number in the waiting-list, and if possible, how many rooms were opened up last year. If I'm nr 400 on the list, I'm not even gonna wait, and just book somewhere else right now. If I'm nr 4 on the list, I'm gonna wait. However, with no information at all, I can't make an informed choice.
As for the future, perhaps prioritize 2+ reservations over single rooms? I know that for The Gathering (computer-LAN-event thing) you have to first register a user then link together users into a group before you can even buy tickets. I don't know if this could be interesting or even useful for EF, but perhaps that would lighten the load on everyone?