A floodlit court at 7pm on a Thursday is the hour everyone wants. When the four who booked it don't turn up, the hour is gone: nobody arranges a doubles match on ten minutes' notice. Taking payment up front with a clear cancellation policy fixes most of it, but your players are consumers, and a term the law treats as unfair can't be enforced. Handled clumsily, it also costs you the regulars who fill your week. This guide covers what you can charge, how, and to whom, whatever tool you use.
What the law lets you keep
Yes, you can charge a no-show fee or keep the payment for a late cancellation, as long as it reflects what you actually lose. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, an unfair term in a consumer contract isn't binding, and the Act's list of potentially unfair terms names two that matter here: making a consumer who cancels pay "a disproportionately high sum in compensation", and keeping their money without "compensation of an equivalent amount" for them when you are the one who cancels.
The CMA's guide, Writing a fair contract for customers, turns that into practice:
- A deposit you keep in full should be "no more than a small percentage of the price", and you should say when it stops being refundable.
- A cancellation charge should be a genuine estimate of your loss.
- Charging when you could reasonably have cut that loss, for example by rebooking the court, is unlikely to be fair.
One point in your favour: the 14-day right to cancel a purchase made online or by phone doesn't apply to leisure services booked for a specific date. Your own terms govern, so write them well.
Match the guarantee to the hour
Ask for more security where an empty court costs you more. Say a padel court is £44 an hour at 6pm and £24 at 10am. Without a guarantee, a no-show at 6pm costs you £44 and four players who would have paid it. At 10am, most weeks nobody else wanted the court.
- Peak evenings and weekends: full payment at booking, refunded in full up to the deadline.
- Off-peak: a card kept on file and charged only for a no-show. Casual daytime players aren't put off, and you're still covered.
Show the deadline before they pay
Set the deadline by how quickly the court refills. If evening courts usually go the day before, 24 hours gives you time to resell. Weekend mornings that are gone by Wednesday justify 48.
Put it in one sentence beside the price, before payment, not in terms nobody opens: "Free cancellation up to 24 hours before. After that, no refund." Repeat it in the confirmation email.
If you also list courts on a booking marketplace, line its window up with yours. Players will hold you to whichever is kinder, and they'll have a point.
When a late canceller's court is rebooked, refund them: you've lost nothing.
Regulars and members
The four who play every Tuesday at eight keep the club going. Being firm with them doesn't mean making them prepay every week.
- A card on file instead of payment. They pay at the desk as always, and the card is charged only if they don't come.
- Members who book free court time have already paid a subscription, so the lever is a booking rule: each no-show is noted, and a set number in a season pauses their booking for a fortnight.
- One written exception, the same for everyone: a free pass each season, or an injury. If the long-standing member gets it and the newcomer doesn't, you have a favour, not a policy.
- Take it to the committee first, then give a month's notice and a start date. Nobody should learn the policy from a charge on their card.
When the club cancels
Rain on outdoor courts or a failed floodlight is not the player's fault, so refund in full without waiting to be asked. When the decision is yours, such as handing the courts to a club tournament, the same logic runs the other way: if you keep their money when they cancel late, offer them an equivalent amount when you do.
Resurfacing is planned months ahead, so close those days before they go on sale. For courts already booked, a phone call from someone at the club does more for goodwill than any automated email.
This is general information, not legal advice.
Doing it with Tuora
Tuora gives your club its own booking page that shows only the courts that are free, with 90-minute matches and prices by time of day. You choose how bookings are paid: in full or as a deposit online, straight into your own Stripe account, at the desk, or with a card on file that staff charge for a no-show. You set how late each kind of booking can be cancelled. Before then everything is refunded, as it is when you cancel. Staff mark no-shows, and each player's record counts them. More on tennis and padel clubs.
Try it before talking to anyone: book a court at our demo club.