No-show cost calculator

How it works

1. 1 Say what people book, what a booking brings in and how many you take a week, then how many don't show up or cancel too late. The bill adds up as you type.
2. 2 Try a plan: text reminders, a waitlist for late cancellations, a deposit. Each line shows what it wins back, on top of the ones before it, less what it costs.
3. 3 Take the words with you: a reminder text and a cancellation policy in English, French or both, appointment cards to hand over at the desk, and a report of the year to keep.

Free, with no account. The sums happen on this device, and nothing you type is sent anywhere until you download. Nothing is kept.

Good to know

Do text reminders really work?

For health appointments, yes. Across 7 studies with 5,841 people, a Cochrane review found a text reminder took attendance from 67.8% to 78.6%, against no reminder (Gurol-Urganci and others, 2013). Your customers aren't patients, so the calculator lets you choose how many no-shows reminders stop, from 1 in 2 to 1 in 5, rather than promising a number.

Can I text customers a reminder?

A reminder about a booking someone made with you is generally treated as a message that completes a transaction under Canada's anti-spam law, CASL, so it doesn't need separate consent. It still has to say who it's from and give a way to stop the messages, which is why the reminder ends with “Reply STOP” (verify). The CRTC's CASL questions and answers cover it. Don't add offers to a reminder: that makes it a marketing message. This is a guide, not legal advice.

Can I keep a deposit when someone doesn't show?

Say so before they book, plainly, where they'll see it: on your booking page, in your confirmation email and on the card you hand over. That's what the cancellation policy is for. Keep the deposit small next to the price, and take it off the bill when they come. Rules on deposits differ by province, so check yours (verify).

Why does it count no-shows in weeks?

Because a yearly total is easy to shrug at, and “every booking from four weeks of your year” isn't. It divides the bookings lost by how many you take in a week. Each square in the year is one week you're open.

Why doesn't the plan just add up?

Because reminders, a waitlist and deposits overlap. A deposit can't be kept from someone a reminder already brought in. Each line counts what it adds after the ones above it, so nothing is counted twice, and the reminder service's cost comes off the total.

How do I print the appointment cards?

On US Letter business card stock or card paper, at 100% or “Actual size”, not “Fit to page”: ten cards to a sheet, cut along the marks. They print on one side, so the lines take any pen.

Is the French right?

It was written for this tool and kept short and plain, but have a French speaker read it before you use it. Once you've pasted the reminder into your booking system and the policy onto your page, you can change any word of either.