Free Cancellation Policy Template for Salons and Restaurants

A three-line cancellation policy you can copy

Most clients read a line or two, so lead with a short version. Put it on your booking page, where people see it before they confirm, and in the confirmation email. For example:

• For a salon: "Free to cancel or change until 24 hours before your appointment. Cancel later, or don't arrive, and a fee of 50% of the service applies. It comes from the card you saved when booking."
• For a restaurant: "Free to cancel or change until 24 hours before your booking. Cancel later, or don't arrive, and a fee of $20 per guest applies. It comes from your deposit."

The first line says when a change is free and the second what a late one costs. The third says how you collect the fee. Leave it out and the fee is only a request.

What the full template covers

• Changing or cancelling: the notice needed for a free change, and how to make one, from the link in the confirmation email or by phone.
• Late cancellations and no-shows: the fee, as a share of the services booked or an amount per guest.
• Deposits and saved cards: when a deposit is needed and what happens to it, and that a saved card is only charged for a fee, after you tell the client.
• Running late: how long you hold the appointment or the table.
• For restaurants: group bookings, fewer guests on the day, and set menus and events.
• If you cancel: no fee, and any deposit refunded in full.
• A line saying the policy doesn't affect the client's rights under the Australian Consumer Law.

Every part to change is shaded. The first page has the three-line version, ready to print for the front desk or the window.

How much notice to ask for

Ask for as much notice as you need to fill the time again. A 30-minute trim might go to someone on the waitlist at short notice. A three-hour colour, a table for ten or a set menu night needs days. The template asks for more notice on group bookings for that reason, and you can do the same for long services.

You can also give a shorter window for moving a booking than for cancelling it. A client who moves keeps their booking with you; a cancellation loses it.

How much to charge for a late cancellation or no-show

Start from what the empty time costs you. For a salon, that is the price of the service, less the products you didn't use and whatever you earn by filling the gap. For a restaurant, it is what you would have made on the covers you turned away.

A share of the service price keeps the fee in proportion, so a fringe trim and a full colour don't carry the same fee. Restaurants can get the same effect with an amount per guest. You can also charge less for a late cancellation than for a no-show, since a late cancellation still leaves some chance of filling the time.

Is a cancellation fee legal in Australia?

Yes, as long as it is fair. The Australian Consumer Law bans unfair terms in standard form contracts, which the ACCC describes as a pre-written contract a business uses for all its customers, who can only take it or leave it. Booking terms usually work that way. Since 9 November 2023, proposing, using or relying on an unfair term can lead to penalties, and a term a court finds unfair is void.

The ACCC's test has three parts. A term is unfair if it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations, isn't reasonably necessary to protect the legitimate interests of the business it favours, and would cause the customer financial or other harm if it were enforced. One of the ACCC's examples is a term that penalises one party, but not the other, for breaching or ending the contract.

In practice that means a few habits:

• Keep the fee close to what a late change really costs you.
• Hold yourself to the same rule. If you cancel, the client pays nothing and gets any deposit back in full, and the template says so.
• Show the policy before the client confirms, so nobody sees the fee for the first time on their bill.
• Don't write "no refunds". The ACCC says a business can't take away consumer guarantee rights by displaying a "no refunds" sign, or by saying refunds are not available at all. Services must still be provided with due care and skill.

On deposits, Consumer Affairs Victoria's guidance for tourism businesses says a fair deposit is generally no more than 10% of the total cost, unless the likely loss or inconvenience justifies more. A larger deposit may be treated as a prepayment, refundable less any actual or reasonable costs. It is written for accommodation and tours, not salons or restaurants, but it shows how a regulator looks at deposits.

Collecting the fee: a deposit or a saved card

• A deposit is paid when the client books and comes off the bill on the day. It is money in hand if they don't arrive, but it adds a payment step to booking.
• A card saved at booking costs the client nothing up front. After a late cancellation or no-show you charge the fee to it, and the fee only arrives if that charge goes through.

Either way, tell the client before you charge a saved card, and give them a chance to explain. Illness and emergencies happen, and the template leaves room for them.

Where to put your cancellation policy

• On your booking page, above the button that confirms the booking.
• In the confirmation email and the reminder.
• On your website, the full version, linked from the booking page.
• At the front desk or in the window: print the three-line version from the template's first page.
• For phone and message bookings, read out or send the short version before you confirm.

Running your cancellation policy in Gaplessly

In Gaplessly, the policy is a setting, and the booking page applies it for you. Under Booking rules you pick Relaxed, Standard or Strict, or set your own windows, and moving a booking and cancelling it get a window each. Relaxed allows moves up to 1 hour before and cancellations up to 2 hours before; Standard, moves up to 24 hours before and cancellations up to 2 days before; and Strict, moves up to 3 days before and cancellations up to 7 days before. Clients make changes from the link in their confirmation email, and once a window closes they are asked to get in touch.

Deposits and cards saved at booking come with the Pro, Venue Pro and Custom plans, or as an add-on for A$15 a month on Solo and Growth and A$25 a month on Venue Growth. Up to 6 fee tiers let the fee rise as the notice gets shorter. A fee is never charged automatically: a team member charges it from the booking.

Where these rules come from

The ACCC's guidance on contracts and unfair contract terms and on consumer rights and guarantees, and Consumer Affairs Victoria's guidance for tourism businesses on cancellations, all read on 1 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice.