Automatic Late Cancellation & No-Show Penalties

If you're on the Studio Grow or Studio Max plan, you can automatically charge clients penalty fees when they late cancel or no-show for a class. This saves you from having to manually track and apply fees, and gives you flexible control over rules, grace periods, and reset cycles.

Enabling the Cancellation Policy

Before setting up penalty rules, you'll need to turn on the feature.

1. Go to Cancellation Policy Settings
2. Toggle Late Cancellation & No-Show Penalties on
3. Once enabled, additional configuration options will appear

Set the No-Show Detection Delay

The no-show detection delay gives you (or your instructors) a buffer after a class ends before the system marks anyone as a no-show. This helps prevent mistakes during busy check-ins.

To configure this:

1. Find the No-Show Detection Delay setting
2. Enter the number of hours before no-shows are recorded (e.g. 2 hours)
3. Save your setting

💡 Tip: We highly recommend setting this to at least 2 hours to allow time for check-in corrections.

Create Penalty Rules

Penalty rules define who gets charged, how much, and under what circumstances. You can create multiple rules and apply them to specific memberships or packages.

1. Click Add Rule
2. Select the membership or package this rule applies to (or choose all memberships/all packages)
3. Choose what triggers the penalty:
   • Late cancellation only
   • No-show only
   • Both
4. Set the penalty fee amount (e.g. $15)
5. Hit Create Rule to save the set up

Configure the Frequency Tracker (Optional)

The frequency tracker counts how many violations a client has accumulated and lets you offer a grace period before charging kicks in.

To set it up:

1. Toggle the Frequency Tracker on
2. Set the violation number at which charging begins (e.g. charge from the 2nd violation onward)
3. The violations before that number will be forgiven automatically
4. Once you've configured your settings, click Create Rule

💡 Example: If set to 2, the first violation is free — the client is only charged from their second violation onward.

Set the Violation Reset Period

You can choose when the violation count resets for each client. There are three options:

Important Note:

1. To add another rule, click Add Rule and repeat the steps above
2. Rules are applied in priority order — drag and reorder them to control which rule is matched first
3. Click Save when you're done

💡 Tip: If a client belongs to a membership covered by multiple rules, the system will use the rule ranked highest in your list.

How Penalties Are Applied to Clients

Once your rules are live, the system handles charges automatically. Here's what happens when a client late cancels or no-shows:

• The violation is logged and displayed on the Roster, Schedule, Late Cancellation & No Show, and Late Cancellation Charges Reports
• If the violation doesn't yet meet the charge threshold (e.g. it's their first violation and you've granted a grace period), no charge is applied
• If the threshold is met, the charge is marked as pending and will be automatically processed within 24 hours

Manual Options

For any pending charge, you have two manual options:

• Waive the fee — remove the charge entirely
• Charge immediately — don't wait for the 24-hour window

⚠️ Important: Penalty fees only apply to clients paying via a package or membership. Clients on cash payments are excluded from automatic charges.

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