Cancellation Policy
Overview
A Cancellation Policy is a rule that incentivizes Customers to cancel their Reservations or Event attendance as early as possible. When a Customer cancels at the last minute, the Club is left with a court or table that another Customer could have booked. That missed sale is lost inventory (inventory = court or table time). A Cancellation Policy with early-cancellation incentives lets the Club recover that lost value with another Customer booking.
After years of testing, the default cancellation policy is:
10-minute grace period after booking: free
24 hours or more in advance: free
Less than 24 hours in advance: full cost
When a Customer books a Reservation or joins an Event by mistake, there is a 10-minute grace period in which they can cancel for free. This grace period is independent of the cancellation policy, and can be removed if desired.
The 10-minute grace period does not apply to Reservations or Events that start within 40 minutes. If a Customer books something starting in 20 minutes and then cancels, they are charged, regardless of the Club's cancellation policy.
Reservations vs. Events
There is a slight difference between the two policies and how they apply.
Reservations
The Reservation cancellation policy is set once, during onboarding if unique, inside the Company Settings page. You can edit the Reservation cancellation policy in the Company Settings page of the Dashboard if you have the Owner role.
Events
The Event cancellation policy can be set inside each Event during Event creation, or on the Settings tab after the Event programmed. Event cancellation policies can be changed on a whim and range from 1 month - a few hours in time.
It's very simple for both the Customer and an Admin to cancel a Reservation or an Event.
Event Signup Cancellation Penalty
The Cancellation Penalty charges Members who cancel an Event signup within the cancellation window when their cost to sign-up was $0 (whether by price or by perk like a Pass). When it's ON, Members are charged the Non-member admission rate for a late cancellation instead of their usual $0, and the fee can be edited to a unique amount that applies to everyone.
How the Penalty Works
The Event Signup Cancellation Penalty toggle is OFF by default. Anyone with the Owner role can change this and turn the penalty ON inside the Company Settings page of the Dashboard.
Members who normally sign up for Events at $0 have their cancellation fee (which equals their admission rate) as $0. Turning ON the penalty charges the Customer the full signup price (the Non-member rate) when they cancel within the window, regardless of Membership tier. Non-members are already charged their admission rate for a late cancellation, so the penalty is aimed at Members who would otherwise cancel for free.
The penalty relies on the Non-member Admission Rate. If a Members-only Event has no Non-member Admission Rate above $0 and the Member's Admission Rate is $0, there is no cancellation penalty to charge.
Setting a Unique Cancellation Fee
Once the penalty is ON, you can edit the cancellation fee to any amount in the Event settings. The amount you set applies to everyone: both Members and Non-members are charged that amount when they cancel within the window.
You can change it at any time and on a case-by-case basis per Event.
Set a nominal fee (for example $3, $5, or $10) to discourage late cancellations without charging the full admission rate.
Set the fee to $0 to let both Members and Non-members cancel for free.
Why Set the Fee Below the Admission Rate
The cancellation fee can be set lower than the admission rate to reward canceling over no-showing. A Non-member with a $15 admission rate who no-shows is still charged the full $15. If that same Non-member cancels, they're charged only the cancellation fee (for example $10), which frees the spot for someone else and costs them less than a no-show.
Pairing With No-Show Fees
Use the Cancellation Penalty alongside the No-Show Fee (the button above the attendee list) to reinforce the behavior you want. Pricing a cancellation lower than a no-show gives Customers a reason to cancel and open their spot rather than simply not showing up.
Timing of Charge
The cancellation fee is charged at the moment the Customer cancels. This is different from a normal Reservation, where the system waits until after the Reservation ends to bundle charges together. Because a canceling Customer is no longer visiting the Club, the system does not expect any further charges to bundle, so it captures the charge right away.
Stripe Processing
Every Customer transaction carries a Stripe fee. Because the cancellation fee is a charge, it carries a Stripe fee like any other transaction.
Where to See Charged Cancellation Fees
Every charged cancellation fee appears as its own Cancellation Fee purchase. You can find it:
On the Customer's profile, under the Purchases tab
In the Purchases section of the canceled Reservation or Event
On the Orders page, using the
Cancellation Feefilter
The purchase shows the fee amount, tax, and payment status, so front desk staff can answer "what was I charged for?" without digging into the original Reservation's charges.
Handling of Passes
If a Customer used a Pass for the sign-up or booking:
Cancel outside the window and the Pass is returned to the Customer (so long as said Pass is still viable and has not expired).
Cancel inside the window and the Pass is not returned.
Cancellations with Bill Splitting
Two situations come up with cancellations on a Reservation that uses Bill Splitting:
The Reservation Holder cancels the whole Reservation
An invitee cancels their own participation
When the Reservation Holder cancels the Reservation, only the Reservation Holder is charged, if a charge applies. This is true whether or not their invited friends accepted the invite. Making only the Reservation Holder responsible for the cancellation fee gives the other Customers they were going to play with a chance to book another court.
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