Salon cancellation and deposit policy: a UK guide
By Martynas Gecas, Founder, Elite Booker. Updated .
A booking policy tells clients what happens if they cancel, move or miss an appointment, and what happens to any deposit. A clear, fair policy protects your time without putting good clients off. This guide covers what UK guidance says, gives example wording to adapt, and explains how to show the policy before clients book. It is not legal advice.
What a booking policy should cover
Whether you take a deposit or full payment when clients book, and how much. How much notice a client must give to cancel or reschedule for free. What happens with less notice, and if they do not turn up. How late a client can be before the appointment has to be shortened or rebooked. And when and how refunds are paid.
What UK guidance says
The Competition and Markets Authority's guidance on fair contracts says cancellation charges should reflect a genuine estimate of what you lose because the customer cancelled, and that any cancellation fee must not be excessive. Terms that make prepayments non-refundable regardless of why the customer cancels are unlikely to be fair. You may keep a deposit in full if it is no more than a small percentage of the price.
The guidance also says terms must be transparent, and that terms with a significant effect on the customer must be made prominent. In practice: show the policy before the client pays, in plain words, not only in a footnote.
Example policy wording to adapt
Use this as a starting point, change the numbers to suit your treatments, and have it checked for your business.
"A deposit of [amount] is taken when you book and comes off the price of your treatment. You can cancel or move your appointment for free up to [48] hours before it starts, and your deposit will be refunded. If you cancel with less notice, [part of] your deposit is kept to cover the time we held for you. If you do not attend, your deposit is kept. If you are more than [15] minutes late, we may need to shorten your treatment or rebook you. If we cancel, you will always get a full refund."
Nails, lashes and longer treatments
Longer and higher-value appointments are harder to refill at short notice, so many businesses ask for a deposit on them and not on short ones. Infills are time-sensitive: say how many weeks after a full set an infill can be booked, and what happens if a client books too late. If a patch test is needed before a treatment, say so in the policy and the service description.
Setting the policy up in Elite Booker
In Elite Booker, the booking policy sets a free-cancellation period, a no-refund window close to the appointment, the refund percentage for cancellations in between, a short grace period after booking when clients can always cancel for a full refund, and the minimum notice for rescheduling. You choose whether refunds apply to the whole amount paid online or only to the deposit, and a live preview shows what clients will get.
Once you connect Stripe, clients choose to pay in full or pay a deposit when they book, and the rest is paid at your business. Clients see the policy before they book.
Telling clients about the policy
Show the policy before payment, include it with the booking confirmation and mention it in reminders. Apply it the same way to everyone, and be ready to waive a fee for a genuine emergency; a policy that clients understand and see applied fairly is easier to keep than a strict one.
Sources and further reading
See deposits and cancellation settings