Cancellations are a big headache in the spa and salon business. They cost you revenue and mess up your schedule. You can’t avoid them – but you can minimise the damage.

There are several measures you can take – such as asking for a credit card deposit at time of booking and sending out reminders – but there is no one solution as it differs from business to business and situation to situation.

Let’s have a look at the steps you can take.

Set parameters

First things first, you must have a policy in place. This doesn’t mean you will always stick to that policy – there are situations in which you might waiver from it – but it’s better to have a starting point and to set parameters.

Consider different rules for different types of bookings and booking times. You want to maintain your cancellation policy, but still have the flexibility to show empathy and be able to say: “I totally understand that your car broke down.”

Be sure to communicate your policy to your guests. You can’t enforce it if they’re unaware of it.

Use your available resources and tools

Use your own data to track revenue lost through cancellations. With Turn Away Tracking, you can track times with high cancellation rates, equate that to a cost and look at trends.

Then, if you know people are more likely to cancel a Sunday morning 9am appointment, you might charge a 50 per cent deposit for those specific reservations.

Empower your staff to make decisions

Your front desk staff should be empowered to make decisions regarding who is charged for a no-show and who isn’t, without needing to pass it on to a manager or director, and they should be supported in their decisions.

Exercise good judgement and remember you’re in the guest experience business

Judgement is key. How hard are you going to enforce your cancellation policy if you’re losing $50 revenue on one 45-minute manicure, or losing $320 on a couples’ massage? Is it worth it?

If you’re a hotel spa, you would probably not charge a hotel guest who is already paying $500 a night for a missed $150 massage.

We are in the industry of providing customer satisfaction, so we have to be aware of the point at which charging guests for no-shows negatively impacts upon building your customer base.

Find out how Book4Time’s turn-away tracking can support your cancellations; book a demo with us today.