No-show fees
The empty chair costs real money, and every spa wants a fee for it. Here's the honest state of no-show fees today, and the setup that actually protects the hour in the meantime.
What happens today
- Marking an appointment Mark no-show records the miss on the client's history. It does not charge anything automatically.
- There's no standalone fee charge in the app yet; checkout charges appointments, not penalties.
- Automatic no-show fees are part of the live payments release, alongside cards on file.
The protection that works right now
- Deposits. Money collected at booking is money you keep deciding about, not money you chase. See Take a deposit at booking.
- The cancellation window. Clients can't silently self-cancel an hour before; inside the window they have to call, which is when you fill the slot from the waitlist.
- History. The no-show mark builds the record that justifies "we'll need a deposit to book you" next time.
Example. After a client's second no-show in a month, Golden Coast books her third visit only with a deposit. She shows up. The deposit didn't punish anyone; it made the appointment real.
Common questions
- Can I charge a fee through the app right now? No. If your policy charges one, collect it outside the app for now, and put the policy in writing where clients book.
- Should the fee be a policy anyway? Publish the policy, enforce it with deposits. A stated fee changes behavior even before the charging is automatic.
- Does marking no-show tell the client anything? No message goes out. The mark is for your records and your booking decisions.
- What about late cancels? Same economics, same answer: the cancellation window plus deposits. The window is what makes "late" a real line.
Good to know
- A no-show keeps its services and prices on record, so you can put a number on what empty chairs cost you per month. That number is the best argument for deposits.
- Repeat no-shows cluster. The history on the client record is your early-warning system.