Cancellation Policy for Your Business: How to Write One Clients Respect, With Ready-Made Templates

The Short Answer

A cancellation policy clients respect is short, clear and reaches them before they need it. It answers four questions: until when clients can cancel or move an appointment, how they cancel, what happens after the deadline or when they do not show up, and which cases are exceptions. Four lines a client has actually read do more than a strict policy nobody saw. Below are three templates ready to copy, and how Timing holds the deadline you set.

What Goes Into a Cancellation Policy

A good policy fits in one message. Any longer and clients skip it. These are the four things it needs:

• The cancellation deadline. How long before the appointment a client can still cancel or move it. Choose a time that leaves you a real chance to fill the freed slot, for example 24 hours before a long treatment.
• How to cancel. Say exactly how: online, by message or by phone. A client who does not know how to cancel may simply not show up.
• What happens after the deadline or on a no-show. Say it plainly and without threats. For example: the appointment counts as one that took place, or the next booking is made only with you directly.
• Fair exceptions. Illness, an emergency or a reserve duty call-up. One sentence saying you understand saves arguments, and the decision stays with you.

Three Templates Ready to Copy

Copy the one that suits your business, replace what is in brackets, and change the times to what works for you. The numbers here are only examples.

For a treatment: nails, cosmetics or lashes

You can cancel or move your appointment up to 24 hours before it, on "My Bookings" or by message to [the business's phone number]. If you cancel later than that or do not come, [what happens, for example: your next appointment is booked by phone only]. Feeling ill, or something urgent came up? Write to us as early as you can, and we will find another time together. Thank you for helping us keep everyone's time.

For a session: therapists, counsellors and personal trainers

Your hour is kept for you alone, so you can cancel or move a session up to 48 hours before it. A session cancelled later, or one you did not come to, [what happens, for example: counts as a session that took place]. If you are ill, have an emergency or get a reserve duty call-up, we will talk and find a way. Know about a change in advance? Tell us early, so someone waiting for that hour can have it.

For a lesson or class: private tutors, pilates and yoga

You can cancel a lesson up to 12 hours before it starts. Cancelling in time frees the place for someone waiting for it. A lesson cancelled later, or one you did not come to, [what happens, for example: does not get a make-up lesson]. Ill, or a test moved earlier? Write to us, and we will find another lesson that week if there is room.

Where to Put It So Clients See It

A policy that waits at the bottom of a website, or only in your head, helps nobody. Put it in three places a client meets on the way to an appointment:

• In the service's permanent note. In Timing you write it on the service, in the "Permanent note for customers" field: a client who books on your booking page sees it before confirming the appointment, and it goes out again with the WhatsApp reminder. One line is enough, for example: "You can cancel or move up to 24 hours before the appointment".
• On your business page. In the "About Your Business" window you write two or three lines on what you do. Add one sentence about cancellations there, so a new client can read it before booking too. How to edit your business page.
• In a few words, when you book. When you book a client by phone or message, say the cancellation deadline in a few words. That way the client hears it from you, and does not find out only when trying to cancel.

The cancellation deadline you set is not shown on Timing's booking page, and clients meet it only when they try to cancel or move. That is why it pays to write the policy in your own words, in the permanent note and on your business page.

What About a Fee for Late Cancellations?

Some businesses set a charge for a late cancellation or for an appointment nobody came to, and some settle for a conversation. That is the business's own decision. If you decide on a charge, write in the policy, ahead of time and in plain words, how much and when, and collect it yourself, the way you take any other payment in your business. Timing charges your clients nothing.

Consumer protection rules on cancelling a deal and on charging for a cancellation differ by the kind of service and by the case. This is general information, not legal advice: before you set an amount, check with a lawyer what applies to your business.

How Timing Holds the Cancellation Deadline

You write the policy once, and Timing holds the deadline itself:

• One setting for the whole business. In the business settings, in the "Customers can cancel up to" row, you choose how many hours before the appointment a client can still cancel or move it alone, or "the start time". The default is 24 hours. The guide to business settings.
• Until the deadline, clients manage alone. On their "My Bookings" page they cancel, or choose "Reschedule" and move to an open time, without writing to you. A client who moves an appointment you already approved sends it back for your approval.
• After the deadline, they contact you. A client who tries to cancel or move after the deadline is told the policy no longer allows it, so the decision comes back to you. The limit applies to clients only: you can cancel or move for them even after the deadline. How to cancel or move an appointment.
• The cancel button in the reminder. When you turn on attendance confirmations, the WhatsApp reminder comes with a confirm button and a cancel button, and the cancel button works only until the cancellation deadline. So choose a reminder time that goes out before the deadline, for example 48 hours before the appointment when the deadline is 24 hours. If the reminder goes out too late, a warning appears under "Cancellations". A cancel from the button frees the time and sends you a notification in the app. About attendance confirmations.
• A waiting list for the freed time. The waiting list stays off until you turn it on. Once it is on and an appointment is cancelled, the time goes to the first client on the list whose appointment fits it, right away or after your approval. About the waiting list.
• A change applies to what is already booked. A new deadline you choose applies to appointments already booked too, not only to new bookings.

The Client Who Keeps Not Showing Up

A policy is there to protect the calendar, not to punish. A client who missed once needs a gentle reminder, not a lecture. Step up one stage at a time:

1. Mark "No-show". Instead of cancelling, mark the appointment "No-show" from the appointment window. That way the client's history shows what really happened.
2. One calm message. After the first time, ask if everything is all right and mention the policy in one sentence. Ready wording is in the WhatsApp message templates.
3. A talk, and a line on the card. The second time, a short conversation. Write what you agreed on the client's card, in a note the client never sees.
4. The next booking goes through you. If it keeps happening, ask the client to book the next appointment through you, by message, and you put it in the calendar. That way you know they mean to come.
5. Manual approval, when it is wider. If it happens with many clients, leave "Automatic booking approval" off, which is how every new business starts, or turn it off. Then every booking waits for you in the "Requests" tab. It is one setting for the whole business, not for one client, and you can reject a request with a message to the client. How to approve requests.

More ways to cut last-minute cancellations are in the guide to reducing no-shows.

Where to Start

1. Pick one of the three templates, adapt it to your business, and shorten it until it fits in one message.
2. Set the cancellation deadline in your business settings, and choose a reminder time that goes out before it.
3. Add a line about cancellations to the permanent note of each service and to the "About Your Business" window.

A short policy, which clients meet when they book and again in the reminder, protects your calendar without arguments. Start free: creating your business takes about 3 minutes.