Salon no-show policy: what to take, how long to give, and how to say it

A gap in the diary where a booking used to be is the one loss an appointment business cannot make back. You cannot sell yesterday's empty chair today. A no-show policy is how you stop paying for that gap yourself — and done right, it is not a warning sign on the wall but a plain sentence at the moment of booking that most clients never think twice about.

This is the general version: what a deposit is for, what a fair one looks like, how long a cancellation window needs to be, and how to say all of it. If your work runs long, or you go to the client, the numbers change enough to need their own page — braids and other six-hour bookings, and mobile work, where the journey is part of the cost.

Why take a deposit at all

Your time is your stock. A missed appointment is the fee you did not earn, plus the person you turned away who wanted that slot. A deposit does two things about that: it makes the client's decision to book a real one, and it gives you something back when they do not come.

It is not about distrust. Most clients understand it instinctively, and the ones who have worked in a shop or a restaurant understand it best. A policy is just the expectation, written down once, so neither of you has to have the conversation later.

What makes a deposit fair

Three rules, whatever the number.

It comes off the bill. A deposit is part payment, not a booking fee. Say so: "£20 now, the rest on the day." Clients are comfortable with money they were going to pay anyway; they are not comfortable with an extra charge for the privilege of booking.

It is taken when they book, not asked for afterwards. A deposit requested by message the next morning gets forgotten, argued with, or paid late — and until it is paid you are holding a slot for someone who has committed nothing. Wunderhand takes the deposit as part of the booking, before the slot is confirmed, and pays it straight into your own Stripe account.

It is the same for everyone. New client, regular, friend. The moment you charge some people and not others, word gets round and the policy stops meaning anything. If you want to reward regulars, do it with a price, not with an exception.

How big? Big enough that skipping the appointment costs the client something real; small enough that a first-time client pays it before she has met you. For a short service a round number does the job. For long work it has to reflect the day at stake — the braider's page puts a figure on that.

How long a cancellation window really needs to be

A deposit needs a partner: a cancellation window. Cancel before it and the deposit goes back; cancel after it, or not turn up, and it stays with you.

The honest test for the window is one question: with that much notice, could you actually refill the slot? For a forty-minute cut, 24 hours is often enough — there are people who will take a slot tomorrow. For a full day of colour or braids there are not, and the window needs to be longer, not softer. The general rule: set the window to the notice you genuinely need to sell the time to someone else, and no shorter.

Wunderhand applies whatever window you set. Cancel in time and the deposit is refunded automatically; cancel late, or not turn up, and it stays with you — without you having to send a single message about it.

Say it before they book, and keep it short

Under UK consumer law a cancellation charge has to reflect what the cancellation genuinely costs you, not punish the client, and the client has to be told the terms before they book — not find them afterwards in the small print. That is not legal advice, but it is a useful test for any wording: could you explain the amount to the client in one sentence?

Two that pass it:

• "To hold your appointment I ask for a £20 deposit when you book. It comes off your total."
• "Free to cancel up to 24 hours before. After that the deposit stays with me, so I can offer the slot to someone else in time."

Notice neither threatens or lectures. They explain, and move on.

Where to put them: on the booking page, at the moment the client pays, not buried in terms; restated plainly in the confirmation email; on a small card by the till for walk-ins. A booking page that shows the deposit and the window before the client pays does the reassurance for you — Wunderhand puts your rules in the booking flow, so the client sees them before she confirms rather than being surprised by them later.

Reminders stop most no-shows before they happen

Most no-shows are not malice. Somebody forgot, or thought it was next week. An email reminder a day or two out, with a link to move or cancel the appointment, catches a good share of them while there is still time to sell the slot. Wunderhand sends those reminders by email, and the link in them lets the client move or cancel within your rules without ringing you.

When to let it go, and when not to

Rigid rules with no judgement do as much harm as no rules. A regular with years of turning up who has a genuine emergency is not the same as someone who has done it twice. Waive the deposit for the first and say so; it costs you less than losing her over a fee. Hold the line for the second — and for long work, where one waived deposit is a whole day's money, be slower to waive at all. The braider's and mobile pages say why.

For the pattern, the fair answer is not a ban but a change of terms: a client who has not turned up twice pays in full when she books from then on. Wunderhand can apply that for you automatically.

Write it down this week

• Your deposit, as a number, for each service that needs one.
• Your cancellation window: the notice you genuinely need to refill the time.
• One sentence for each, in your own words, on your booking page.

Then read the page for your kind of work — long bookings such as braids or going to the client — where the numbers are worked through. What Wunderhand costs to run it, per person and with no cut of your bookings, is on the pricing page.