Last updated 20 October 2026
How to reduce no-shows.
Short version: send a text the day before that asks the customer to reply to confirm, take a small deposit or hold a card at booking, and show a short cancellation policy before they book, not after. Most booking tools do all three, several of them free.
The part every other guide skips is the law. In the UK you can only keep what is fair, and the CMA says a deposit you keep should normally be a small percentage of the price. And a service booked online can come with a 14-day right to cancel and get the money back.
Step one
A reminder they have to answer.
A reminder people can ignore gets ignored. One UK salon owner on Salon Geek sends a text 24 hours before asking the client to reply YES, and cancels the slot if no reply comes, which they say "has worked extremely well". The point is the reply: it turns a reminder into a decision, and gives you a day to fill the gap.
What reminders cost on the tools most small businesses use:
| Tool | Text reminders | Email reminders |
|---|---|---|
| Square Appointments | Free, on the free plan | Free |
| Booksy | Always free | Free |
| Fresha | 20 free a month, then 6p each | Free |
| Google booking pages | None | On paid Workspace plans |
Step two
Deposit, or a card on file?
Both give a no-show something to lose. A deposit is taken when they book and comes off the bill when they turn up. A card on file takes nothing until you need to charge a late cancellation or no-show fee. Owners who use deposits report the same thing: a £15 booking fee on Salon Geek that comes off the price after the treatment, which clients "agreed to no problem".
| Tool | Deposit at booking | Fee on a card on file |
|---|---|---|
| Square Appointments | Free plan | Plus plan, £29 a month |
| Booksy | Yes, 1.29% + 20p + VAT | Yes, same rate |
| Fresha | Yes, needs Fresha Payments | Yes, needs Fresha Payments |
You do not have to ask everyone. Fresha lets you apply a deposit only to new clients or people who have missed before, and Booksy has a Trusted Client setting so regulars skip it. Asking first-timers and repeat offenders only keeps your loyal customers happy.
What nobody else covers
What UK law lets you keep.
Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, an unfair term in a contract with a consumer does not bind them. That covers your cancellation policy. The Act's list of terms that may be unfair includes keeping a customer's money when they pull out, and charging a disproportionately high sum when they cancel or do not turn up.
The Competition and Markets Authority's guidance turns that into rules you can work to:
| The CMA says | What it means for your policy |
|---|---|
| A genuine deposit may be kept in full if it is a binding reservation and you say upfront exactly when it is non-refundable | State the deposit and the cut-off before they book |
| Such a deposit will not normally be more than a small percentage of the price | A slice of the price, not the whole thing |
| A fee is more likely to be unfair if it ignores your ability to reduce the loss, for instance by finding another customer | If you refill the slot, you lost less |
| A sliding scale can be acceptable if it is never disproportionate | Free if early, a set fee if late |
The CMA's own example of a term that is unlikely to be fair is a cancellation fee of a minimum of 30 per cent of the order value. This is general information from the guidance, not legal advice for your business.
The online booking trap
The 14-day cooling-off.
Under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, a service booked at a distance, online, by phone or by message, comes with a right to cancel for 14 days after booking, without a reason. If the customer cancels in that window, you have to refund what they paid within 14 days, with no fee taken off. Citizens Advice gives hiring a cleaner or a gardener as examples.
So a deposit set as "non-refundable" in a booking app, which is how Fresha's help centre describes its deposits, may still have to go back if somebody books online and cancels inside the 14 days. Three things change the picture:
Booked in person
Citizens Advice says a service arranged at the business's premises gets no cooling-off. Rebook regulars before they leave.
Started at their request
You must not start inside the 14 days unless they expressly ask. If they ask, they pay for what you have done, and once the service is complete the right to cancel ends.
Leisure on a fixed date
The regulations exclude leisure services booked for a specific date, like restaurants and theatre. Whether a haircut counts has not been tested, so do not rely on it.
Outside the cooling-off, Citizens Advice says a business can charge a cancellation fee or keep some or all of a deposit to cover its loss, for example time set aside that it cannot rebook.
Copy this
A policy that stands up.
The CMA publishes the shape of a cancellation term it considers more likely to be fair: no charge if you cancel more than a set number of days before, then a stated charge that is "a proportionate contribution towards the costs incurred". Adapted for an appointment:
A £[deposit] deposit secures your appointment and comes off your bill on the day. Cancel or move it more than [48] hours before and your deposit is refunded. Cancel later, or miss the appointment, and we keep the deposit towards the time we set aside for you. If you booked online, you can also cancel within 14 days of booking for a full refund.
Keep the deposit small against the price, show the policy before they pay, and send it again with the reminder.
The bigger picture
The best no-show cure is a full diary.
A missed slot hurts most when there is nobody to put in it. When bookings come in steadily through your own website and your own Google listing, a no-show is a gap you can fill from the people who could not get in. For the booking tools behind all of this, see booking system for salons and online booking systems for small business.
Straight answers
Questions owners actually ask.
- What is a reasonable cancellation policy?
- One that charges nothing if the customer cancels in good time, a stated fee if they cancel late or do not turn up, and tells them all of that before they book. The CMA's guidance is that a deposit you keep should normally be no more than a small percentage of the price, and any fee should reflect what you actually lose, taking into account whether you can fill the slot again. A rule that keeps everything whatever happens is the kind it calls unlikely to be fair.
- Can I keep a deposit if a customer cancels?
- Usually, if it was a genuine deposit, small compared with the price, and you told them clearly before booking when it becomes non-refundable. There is one trap: a service booked online or by phone can carry a 14-day cooling-off period under the Consumer Contracts Regulations, and a customer who cancels inside it is entitled to their money back. Bookings made in person do not get the cooling-off, which is one reason to rebook regulars before they leave.
- Can I charge a customer for a no-show?
- Yes, if your terms said so before they booked and the fee is proportionate to what you lost. Collecting it is the practical problem: chasing a small fee after the event rarely works. That is why most booking tools offer either a deposit taken at booking or a card held on file that you can charge, with the policy shown at the moment they book.
- What should a salon cancellation policy say?
- Keep it to three lines: how much notice you need to cancel without charge, what you charge for late cancellation or a no-show, and how the deposit or card on file is used. For example: cancel more than 48 hours before and there is nothing to pay; cancel later or miss the appointment and your deposit covers part of the time we set aside. Show it at booking, not afterwards.
- When should I send appointment reminders?
- One approach UK salon owners report working is a text 24 hours before that asks the customer to reply to confirm, cancelling or chasing anyone who does not. Square and Booksy include text reminders free; Fresha includes 20 texts a month and charges 6p each after that.
Keep reading
More straight answers for trades.
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