No-show and late cancellation fees

No-show and late cancellation are the two most common financial risks for a salon business. Bookinda's payment system handles both automatically.

Where to configure

Settings → Payments → Policy → No-show and cancellation fees.

No-show fee

How it works

When a staff member (or automatic system) sets booking to "No-show", a fee modal pops up:

• Shows the fee amount (per setting)
• Three options:
  1. Charge saved card (Stripe or Barion saved card)
  2. Add as debt (PENDING sale, debt badge)
  3. Waive fee (no-show but no fee)

Customer auto-receives email about the no-show fee.

Fee type

• Percentage: % of service price (e.g., 50%)
• Fixed amount: e.g., 3,000 Ft

Late cancellation fee

How it works

When a customer cancels within the "Late cancellation window", same fee modal appears.

What's the "Late cancellation window"

Configurable: e.g., 24 hours. Cancel within 24h = "late", fee applies.

Refund tiers

More granular booking policy: e.g., 48h cancel 25% fee, 24h 50%, 4h 100%.

Saved card

"Charge saved card" only appears if:

• Customer previously paid by card (Stripe or Barion)
• Card had "future use" save permission

If no saved card, option is greyed.

Add as debt

If you pick "Add as debt":

• Fee becomes a PENDING (unpaid) sale
• Customer profile shows "Debt" badge
• Reception at next visit sees and can collect
• Debt management lists these

Walk-in and no-customer bookings

If booking is walk-in (no customer record), no-show modal doesn't appear (no one to charge). Status just changes to "No-show".

Use case scenarios

Scenario 1: Standard 50% no-show

Customer doesn't show. Reception sets "No-show", modal: "Charge 5k Ft (50%)?" Pick "Charge saved card". Stripe deducts. Customer emailed.

Scenario 2: Goodwill on first time

Long-term customer's first no-show ever. Modal pops. "Waive fee" + note "First time, regular customer". Relationship preserved.

Scenario 3: Cancellation within 4 hours

Customer at 8am cancels 12-noon booking. Modal pops (within-4-hour cancel = 100% fee). "Charge saved card". Customer sees salon enforces rules.

Scenario 4: Repeat no-show

One customer no-shows 3 times. Each time "Add as debt". Profile shows debt badge. Conversation: pay up or lose booking privilege (deposit-only after).

Scenario 5: 7-day flexible policy

Salon's lenient: cancel 7 days+ 0% fee, 3-7d 25%, 1-3d 50%, within 24h 100%. Customer experience good, risk covered.

Tips

• No-show fee is protection, not punishment: covers salon's time loss. Communicate this way.
• Forgive first no-show: long-term customer experience > 5k Ft.
• Saved card only works if you collected: online booking with mandatory deposit auto-saves.
• Avoid debt accumulation: 1-2 debtors OK, 20+ is a problem. Weekly review.
• Tell customers the policy: on booking page and confirmation email.