A boardroom booked for a whole Friday, lunch ordered for twelve, and at half past nine nobody has arrived. An hour-long room left empty is an annoyance. A full day in your biggest room, with catering already paid for, is a real loss. Most people who hire your rooms are booking for a business, and that changes what your terms can say. This guide covers the cancellation window, the deposit and the no-show rule for each kind of booking, whatever tool you use.
Who is booking decides the rules
Consumer law protects consumers, and the Consumer Rights Act 2015 defines one as an individual acting for purposes "wholly or mainly outside" their trade or profession. A company holding an away day, a charity, or a self-employed coach meeting a client is not one. For them, the terms they accept when booking are the deal.
That gives you more room, not unlimited room. A sum due for breaking the contract can still be unenforceable as a penalty if it is out of all proportion to your legitimate interest, the test the Supreme Court set in Cavendish v Makdessi. A charge in line with what the booking was worth is a long way from that.
The exception is an individual booking for themselves, say for a family meeting. Then the CMA's guidance on fair terms applies: a deposit kept in full should be a small percentage of the price, and a cancellation charge should reflect what you actually lose.
Either way, put the terms in front of the booker before payment and have them accept them. This is general information, not legal advice.
Scale the window to the booking
The window should grow with how hard the slot is to resell. A one-hour room for four is easy to fill again. A boardroom for a full day, cancelled two days before, rarely is. A starting point:
- One or two hours: 24 hours' notice.
- Half a day: 48 hours.
- A full day, or your largest room: five working days.
- Catering: your caterer's own cut-off, stated separately, because that cost is real the moment it's ordered.
Full payment, a deposit or a card held
Say a six-person room is £40 an hour and the boardroom £450 a day.
- Short bookings from people you don't know: full payment at booking. £40 doesn't put anyone off, and invoicing a stranger afterwards is how a no-show turns into a bad debt.
- Full days: a deposit, say £100, with the balance on the day. It secures the date without asking a company to pay £450 weeks ahead.
- Companies that book every month: a card held at booking, charged only if they don't turn up or cancel late.
Get the slot back on sale
A late cancellation only costs you if the room stays empty. Before accepting one, offer to move the booking to another day: the booker keeps their money and you keep the booking. If they cancel anyway, make sure the slot goes back on sale at once, and if someone else books it, refund the first booker. You've lost nothing, and they'll remember it next time they need a room.
Members and outside bookers
Members who already pay you every month have earned a lighter rule than strangers: a card on file, or paying at reception. Keep full payment for outsiders. If your rooms are short at peak times, open them to members first and to outside bookers later, so a stranger's no-show never keeps a member out.
The repeat no-show
Keep a count for each customer, and act on it in steps:
- The first no-show is charged under your policy, without comment.
- The second gets a phone call to ask what happened, and a reminder of the rule.
- After the third, that customer pays in full at booking, whatever they had before, and you tell them why.
Doing it with Tuora
Tuora gives you a booking page that shows only the rooms that are really free, with prices that change with the length of the booking. You set how late each kind of booking can be cancelled. Bookers pay in full or a deposit online, straight into your own Stripe account, or leave a card that staff charge for a no-show. Catering and equipment are extras with their own price. Staff mark no-shows, and each customer's record counts them. More on coworking and meeting rooms.
Try it before talking to anyone: book a room at our demo coworking.