We know how frustrating it can be for a shop or salon when a customer doesn't show up for an appointment, which is why we've introduced 'Cancellation Protection' - a Treatwell Pro feature that allows customers to be charged for the booking they didn't show up to.

"Cancellation Protection" is a function that can be activated by contacting our customer service and will work for cancellations related to the no-show of the customer. All other causes of cancellations related to the shop or salon will not be covered.

When you create an appointment in your Agenda, you will notice a shield icon in the icon list below the client's name. By clicking on it, you can choose between two ways to add cancellation protection:

1) You can ask the client for their credit card details when they are in the salon or by phone, and then enter the necessary data by clicking on "Add credit card information".

2) You can choose to send them an SMS which will contain a safe and secure link where they can enter the data themselves.

You can check at any time which customers have not yet provided card details from the "Bookings pending protection" list by clicking on the shield icon in the top right corner of the Agenda. Once a customer enters their card details, their name will disappear from the list and the reservation will be confirmed.

Your customers will have 24 hours to add their card details and confirm the booking. If they do not enter the requested data within this period, the link sent via SMS will expire. However, you can choose whether to cancel the appointment (by clicking ❌) or confirm it anyway (by clicking ✅).

Please note that if you choose to confirm it, we will not be able to secure the transaction as the customer has not provided their card details yet.

NB: For security reasons, the customer's card details are deleted by 5:00 a.m. of the day after the appointment.

The cancellation protection function must be managed entirely through the Agenda in order to apply the charge. Only by canceling the appointment and clicking on "The client did not show up" will you be able to choose whether or not to charge a cancellation fee to the customer.

If a customer has multiple appointments booked on the same day, the conditions of the first appointment will determine the policy for subsequent appointments. Here are the possible cases:

You can charge any amount, up to the total cost of the reservation, by selecting "Custom" and entering the desired amount, or by choosing a percentage of the amount due (100%, 50% or 25%). The two options are only available for offline appointments.

However, for appointments booked online and prepaid, it is possible to charge only 100% of the amount of the service. It will not be possible to choose lower percentages.

Treatwell will apply a transaction fee of 2% (+VAT) on amounts charged to the customer.

All cancelled or no-show appointments (those in which the customer did not show up and where a charge was requested) are visible in the "Cancellations and no-shows" list in the "Daily overview". Both the salon and the client will be notified by email if an amount has been charged and if the payment was successful.

Please note: If the client cancels the appointment outside the period provided by the cancellation policy, we will attempt to charge the amount to the payment card he used at the time of booking. The refund will be successful only if there are sufficient funds on the card to cover the payment.

Here is a short guide on how to activate the Cancellation Protection. Finally, please note that Offline Cancellation Protection for Direct Appointments is only available for Treatwell Pro Advanced and Premium plans.