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What is a Cancellation Policy and how does it work?
What is a Cancellation Policy and how does it work?
Gnomes avatar
Written by Gnomes
Updated over a week ago

What is it? 

Kitchen Administrators can set a Cancellation Policy that is applied to all their clients. The Cancellation Period is the number of hours after which a cancellation fee will apply to a cancelled booking. Examples include, 24 hours for 1 day notice or 72 hours for 3 day notice. 

If a client cancels within the Cancellation Period, the Fee amount (a percentage of the booking or a flat fee) will be automatically applied to a Client's account and billed at midnight, to the payment they have on file.

The cancellation policy applies to the space booked as well as any equipment that's reserved. 

For Clients on Hourly plan or Credit-Based billing plan

  • Client cancels a booking during peak hours - the peak hours are used to calculate the cancellation fee

  • Client cancels a booking that overlaps off-peak hours in calendar - the off-peak hours are taken into account when calculating the cancellation fee 

  • Client on custom hourly rate cancels a booking - the custom hourly rate is used to calculate the cancellation fee

For Clients on Time-Based billing plan

  • Client cancels a booking anytime - the cancellation fee is charged based on the hourly rate, calculated by taking the base price of the time-based plan and dividing the base number of hours in the plan

Example 1 - Percentage Cancellation Fee

Dan is on a Credit Based monthly plan with Kitchener, who charges $10/hour for the space that Dan likes to book in. Kitchener has a Cancellation Period of 24 hours and a cancellation fee of 50%. If Dan cancels within 24 hours of his scheduled booking he will be charged a cancellation fee, billed that day. Anything cancelled 24 or more hours ahead of time incurs no fee.

Dan books 5 hours, and then cancels 2 hours ahead of time. Silly Dan! He is in the cancellation penalty window-- and he took hours from the kitchen that aren’t able to be resold easily.

Dan gets the 5 hours added back to his plan to use later in the month, but pays a cancellation fee. The fee is calculated by assuming the hourly rate of the space calendar (in this case $10/hr) and then multiplying by the number of hours in the booking (5), and then by the cancellation fee (50%). So Dan would pay a fee of $25 (5*$10*50%). This is assessed automatically by the platform.

Example 2 - Flat Cancellation Fee

Dan is on an Hourly plan with Kitchener, who charges $10/hour for the space that Dan likes to book in. Kitchener has a Cancellation Period of 24 hours and a cancellation fee of $50

Dan books 3 hours, and then cancels 2 hours ahead of time. Silly Dan!

Dan gets credited back $30 for those 3 hours, but pays a cancellation fee. The fee is calculated by assuming the lesser amount between the flat cancellation fee ($50) and the total cost of the booking. In this case, the total cost of the booking is calculated by the hourly rate of the space calendar ($10/hr) multiplied by the number of hours in the booking (3). Since $30 is less than the $50 flat cancellation fee, Dan will be automatically charged $30 for his cancellation instead of $50.


Exception for $0 Spaces

A cancellation fee will not be charged for cancelled bookings in spaces that are $0/hour. This means kitchens can have free spaces, like a conference room, where cancellation fees will not be charged.

Note: the exception to this is if a client is on a custom hourly rate. In this case, the cancellation fee will be calculated based off the client's custom rate, even for $0 spaces.

Notifications 

The Kitchen Administrator and client are both informed whenever a client cancels, whether they are in the penalty window or not, via private message. 

The cancellation policy is always displayed for a food business when they cancel an approved booking as well as on the calendar page where they can book.

To set your kitchen's cancellation policy, go to Kitchen Settings > General > Cancellation Policy.

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