A cancellation one hour before an appointment leaves you no time to fill the slot. A cancellation policy sets a notice window (for example, 24 hours) and handles late cancellations for you. You get a clear record of every late cancel, so you can charge a fee or follow up without an awkward conversation.
How it works
You choose a notice window in hours or days. The cutoff is the appointment start time minus that window. A 24-hour window on a Friday 2 pm appointment means the cutoff is Thursday 2 pm.
Before the cutoff: nothing changes. Clients confirm, cancel and reschedule as they do today.
After the cutoff: the policy applies. Clients can still confirm at any time.
Set your account policy
Open the web app and go to Settings → Other Settings.
Under Cancellation policy, turn on Account cancellation policy, then click Turn on policy to confirm.
Set the Notice window: 1–720 hours or 1–30 days before the appointment starts.
Choose whether to Allow late cancels and Allow reschedules inside the window. Both are on to start with.
Check the Policy text (up to 300 characters). We write a starting version for you: "Please cancel at least 24 hours before your appointment. Late cancellations may be charged." Edit it to match your terms.
Give a service a different rule (optional)
Every appointment type uses your account policy to start with. To give a service its own rule:
Go to Settings → Booking Page and open your Appointment Types.
Click the pencil icon next to the type to open Edit Appointment Type.
Click Cancellation Policy and choose Use account policy, Custom policy or No policy.
A custom policy starts as a copy of your account policy, so you only change what's different. Your list of appointment types has a Cancellation Policy column, so you can see at a glance which types use the account policy.
[SCREENSHOT 03: Edit Appointment Type with the Cancellation Policy panel open and Custom policy selected — file: cancellation-policy/03-type-custom-policy.png]
To undo all custom choices, use Reset all appointment types to the account policy in your policy settings.
What happens to a late cancellation
You pick one of two options with Allow late cancels:
Allow late cancels (on, the default)
The client sees a warning with your policy text, for example that a fee may apply.
The client must confirm to cancel. If they change their mind and leave the page, nothing changes.
If they go ahead, the appointment is cancelled, turns red, and its title starts with Late Cancelled: in your Google Calendar.
The cancel is added to your Late cancels list, and we email you.
Block late cancels (off)
The appointment is not cancelled, and your calendar doesn't change.
The client sees a page that says the cancellation window has closed, shows your policy, and asks them to contact you.
The page shows your business name, but not your phone number or email. Make sure clients already know how to reach you.
Your Late cancels list
Every late cancel appears under Late cancels in the left menu, newest first. Follow up or charge your fee, then mark each one Resolved. See Follow up on late cancels.
Note: We don't charge the fee for you. The list gives you the facts, and you collect the fee in your usual way.
Reschedules inside the window
You decide whether clients can still reschedule after the cutoff with Allow reschedules inside the window. It's on to start with. If you turn it off, a client who tries to reschedule late sees your policy and is asked to contact you.
This option only works if Give your clients the option to re-schedule appointments is turned on in Settings → Other Settings.
Text replies inside the window
If a client texts "cancel" after the cutoff, the appointment isn't cancelled straight away. Instead, the client gets a reply with your policy:
If you allow late cancels, the reply includes a link. The client can use it to see the warning and cancel.
If you block late cancels, the reply asks the client to contact you.
Which appointments it covers
Appointments you add in Google Calendar use your account policy.
Appointments booked on your Booking Page use the policy of their appointment type.
The policy covers all upcoming appointments, including ones made before you turned it on. When you change the policy, the change applies straight away to every upcoming appointment it covers.
Important: Clients with appointments you add in Google Calendar only see the policy when they try to cancel or reschedule late. Tell them your policy another way, for example in your message template or on your website.
What clients see when they book online
Clients who book on your Booking Page see your policy under the appointment type before they book.
[SCREENSHOT 04: Booking page with the Cancellation Policy box under Appointment Type — file: cancellation-policy/04-booking-page-policy.png]
After booking, they see the cutoff date and time on the confirmation page and in their confirmation email. If they book inside the window, they're told the appointment is already inside the cancellation window.
[SCREENSHOT 05: Booking Confirmed page showing "This appointment is already inside the cancellation window." — file: cancellation-policy/05-confirmation-inside-window.png]
Other Things to Know
The policy is off until you turn it on. Without it, confirm, cancel and reschedule work exactly as before.
Your reminder texts don't change. The policy isn't added to them, so they stay the same length.
If you move an appointment, the cutoff moves with it. If the new time is inside the window, the policy applies straight away.
Recurring appointments work too. Each appointment in the series has its own cutoff.
Turning off your account policy doesn't touch appointment types that have a custom policy. Types set to Use account policy then have no policy.
If an appointment type doesn't let clients reschedule, the Allow reschedules inside the window option is greyed out for that type.
Blocked cancel attempts don't appear in your Late cancels list, because the appointment wasn't cancelled.
Related
Still stuck?
Start a chat with us using the Messenger in the bottom-right corner. Tell us your notice window and which appointment you're looking at.