Cancellation Policy
A set of rules defining the notice period required for cancellations and the financial consequences of late cancellations or no-shows.
A cancellation policy establishes the advance notice required for an appointment cancellation without penalty, the fee charged for cancellations that occur within the notice window, and the consequences of a no-show. Enforced cancellation policies protect the revenue of service providers from the cost of late-notice cancellations that cannot be filled. They also align client incentives by making last-minute cancellations financially consequential.
How to Enforce Your Cancellation Policy Without Awkward Conversations
The cancellation policy conversation is one of the most consistently dreaded interactions in service business. Telling a client they owe a fee for cancelling their appointment inside the 24-hour window -- even when that policy was clearly communicated at booking -- feels confrontational and risks damaging the relationship. The solution is to remove the human from the enforcement process entirely: when cancellation fees are charged automatically via Stripe, there is no conversation to have.
Designing a Cancellation Policy That Works
An effective cancellation policy balances protecting your revenue with maintaining client goodwill. A policy so strict that clients avoid booking is counterproductive. The most successful approaches collect a credit card at booking (which signals the policy will be enforced), set a 24-48 hour cancellation window, charge 50% of the service value for late cancellations, and communicate the policy clearly at the time of booking so there are no surprises.
How Schedly implements cancellation policy
Schedly builds cancellation policy directly into the scheduling flow — you configure it once in your dashboard and it runs automatically for every booking. There's no code, no integrations to wire up, and no manual steps. It's one of the core reasons service businesses choose Schedly over simpler booking tools that lack this capability.
How Schedly handles cancellation policy
Turn this concept into a live, automated feature — not just a definition in a textbook.
Configure in your dashboard
This concept maps directly to a setting in your Schedly account — no technical background required.
Automates instantly
Once configured, Schedly handles the logic automatically — set it once and it runs for every booking.
Tracked in real-time
Your Schedly analytics dashboard shows the impact at a glance — bookings, no-shows, and revenue.
Common questions about cancellation policy
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