Cancellation & No-Show Fees

Overview

Cancellation fees let you charge clients who cancel late or do not show up. You also control what happens when a prepaid client cancels -- whether they get a full refund, a partial refund, or no refund. Configure everything in Settings > Scheduling > Cancellation Policy.

Notice Period

The notice period is the cutoff for a "late" cancellation. Any cancellation submitted fewer hours before the appointment than this setting is treated as a late cancel.

Example: notice period set to 24 hours. A client cancels 18 hours before their appointment -- that is a late cancellation and the fee applies.

If a client cancels before the notice period, it is an early cancellation and no fee is charged.

Late Cancellation Fee

Set the fee type and amount:

• Percentage -- charges a percentage of the total booking price (e.g., 50%)
• Fixed -- charges a flat amount regardless of the booking price (e.g., $25)

The booking price used for percentage calculations is snapshotted at the time of booking. Changing service prices afterward does not affect existing bookings.

No-Show Fee

The no-show fee applies when a client has not arrived and you mark the appointment as a no-show in the console. It uses the same type options (percentage or fixed) and can be set to a different amount than the late cancel fee.

To apply a no-show fee:

1. Open the appointment in the calendar or orders view
2. Mark it as No-Show
3. The system presents the configured fee for confirmation before charging

No-show fees are never refunded automatically.

Rescheduling

You can allow or disallow last-minute rescheduling separately from cancellations:

• Allow reschedule -- clients can reschedule without paying a late cancel fee, subject to a separate reschedule notice period
• Reschedule notice period -- the minimum hours in advance a reschedule must be requested to avoid the fee

If rescheduling is disabled, clients must cancel and rebook. The cancellation fee applies if they cancel inside the notice period.

Prepaid Booking Refunds

When clients pay online at booking time, the system automatically handles refunds based on your settings. You do not need to open a refund dialog manually.

Salon-initiated cancellations

When your team cancels a booking from the console, the full prepaid amount is always refunded to the client automatically. This is not configurable -- it is the expected industry standard and protects client trust.

Early cancellations (client cancels before notice period)

Toggle Auto-refund early cancellations to control this:

• On (default) -- the full prepaid amount is refunded automatically when a client cancels with enough notice
• Off -- you keep the prepaid amount even on early cancellations

Late cancellations (client cancels within notice period)

Use the When a prepaid client cancels late dropdown:

• Refund prepaid minus late-cancel fee (default) -- the client gets back whatever they paid minus the late-cancel fee. No additional card charge is made. Example: client paid $100 upfront, late-cancel fee is $25, client receives $75 back.
• Keep prepaid, waive any extra charge -- you keep the full prepaid amount, which covers the late-cancel fee. No extra card charge is made to the client.

For clients who paid in person (not prepaid), the late-cancel fee is charged to their saved payment method on file as before.

Stripe refund timeline

Refunds appear in the client's bank account within 3-5 business days, depending on their bank. The refund appears on their original payment method.

No payment method on file

If a late-cancelling client paid in person and has no saved card, the fee cannot be charged automatically. Collect it manually at the next visit or through another arrangement.

Things to Know

• Cancellation policy terms shown to clients in the booking flow come from Settings > Scheduling > Cancellation Policy Text -- keep that text consistent with your fee settings
• Staff and admin can waive a fee on a per-appointment basis from the appointment detail view
• Waived fees are recorded in the audit log with the reason
• Automatic refunds send the client a refund notification via their preferred channel