How To

What is a Cancellation Fee?

The Cancellation Fee (also known as No-Show Fee) is a pre-authorization feature that allows you to hold an amount on your customer's card when they make a reservation. If the customer cancels too late or doesn't show up, the held amount is automatically charged.

Step 1: Connect Your Stripe Account

Before setting up cancellation fees, your venue must have a connected Stripe account. This is done from the Administration panel:

1. Open the Administration panel
2. Go to Venues and select your venue
3. Click the "Integrations" tab
4. Find Stripe and click "Configure"
5. Follow the Stripe onboarding process to link your bank account
6. Once connected, the Stripe integration will appear as active

Without a connected Stripe account, cancellation fee features will not be available.

Step 2: Enable Pre-Authorization and Set the Grace Period

Once Stripe is connected, enable pre-authorization from the same place in the Administration panel:

1. In the Administration panel, go to Venues → your venue → Integrations → Stripe → Configure
2. Enable the "Enable Pre-Authorization" checkbox
3. Set the "Cancellation Time" — this is the grace period in hours, which defines the window for free cancellation. For example, if set to 24 hours and the reservation is at 20:00, the customer can cancel free of charge until 20:00 the day before. If the customer cancels after that — the held amount will be charged

Step 3: Create a Cancellation Fee Rule

Cancellation fees are configured as rules from the application:

1. Open the application and go to Menu → Working time
2. Click the "Rules" tab
3. Click "Add Rule" and select type "No-Show Fee Required"
4. Configure the rule:
   • Name — e.g., "Weekend Cancellation Fee" or "Standard No-Show Fee"
   • Amount — the fee amount (e.g., 20.00)
   • Mode — choose between:
     • Fixed — a single amount regardless of party size
     • Per Person — the amount is multiplied by the number of guests
   • Deadline — how long the customer has to accept and pay the fee, in minutes (e.g., 1440 = 24 hours). If the customer does not pay within this deadline, the reservation is automatically rejected
   • Area Pricing (optional) — set different fee amounts for different dining areas
5. Click "Save"

Step 4: Assign the Rule to Work Time Slots

After creating the rule, assign it to specific time slots from the application:

1. Go to Menu → Working time
2. Each time slot has a dropdown menu listing all available rules
3. Click the dropdown on the desired time slot and select the cancellation fee rule you created
4. You can assign multiple rules to the same slot
5. Save your changes

Note: The No-Show Fee applies only to reservations within 7 days from now. If a Deposit rule also exists for the same slot, the No-Show Fee takes priority during that 7-day window.

Step 5: How the Cancellation Fee Is Applied to Reservations

Automatic creation

When a reservation is created as New (Pending) and falls within a time slot with an active cancellation fee rule, the system automatically creates the cancellation fee. For this to work, the reservation must:

• Have status New / Pending (not directly approved)
• Have a client assigned (not anonymous)
• Be within the 7-day pre-authorization window

The customer automatically receives an email notification with a payment link and the deadline to accept.

Manual addition

In some cases you may need to add the cancellation fee manually via the "Add Cancellation Fee" button in the payments section when editing a reservation. This is needed when:

• The reservation was created before the 7-day window and has now entered it
• The reservation was created directly as Approved/Confirmed, bypassing the automatic creation

What Happens Automatically?

If the customer does not accept the fee

When the deadline expires and the customer has not completed the payment, the system automatically rejects the reservation. The customer receives a notification that their reservation has been rejected. No manual action is needed from the venue.

Free cancellation period

The "Cancellation Time" setting from Step 2 defines a grace period during which the customer can cancel without being charged. For example, with a 24-hour grace period, if the reservation is at 20:00 on Saturday, the customer can cancel free of charge until 20:00 on Friday. After that, cancellation will result in the fee being charged.

Cancellation and charge scenarios

• Customer shows up → the hold is released, no charge
• Customer cancels within the grace period → the hold is released, no charge
• Customer cancels after the grace period → the held amount is charged
• Customer does not show up (no-show) → the held amount is charged automatically
• Customer does not pay by the deadline → the reservation is automatically rejected
• Reservation is rejected by the venue → the hold is released, no charge