How to write a deposit and cancellation policy.

A policy exists to make one awkward conversation happen once, in writing, instead of every time. If it is longer than a paragraph or nobody can find it, it is decoration.

1. 1

   Decide what you are actually protecting

   Not every appointment needs a policy. Work out which bookings genuinely hurt to lose — usually the long ones, the ones that block a colourist for an afternoon, and new clients you have never met. Applying a deposit to everything is how you annoy the regulars who were never the problem.

2. 2

   Pick a notice period you can actually fill

   The right notice period is however long it realistically takes you to fill a slot. For most salons that is forty-eight hours; if your book fills a week out, twenty-four is plenty. Do not copy a seventy-two-hour policy from a salon in a different city with a different waiting list.

3. 3

   Say the amount, in money

   “A deposit may be required” tells a client nothing and will not help you when they argue. Say the figure, or say the percentage and what it is a percentage of. A client who knows it is thirty pounds does not feel ambushed by thirty pounds.

4. 4

   Put it where they agree to it, not just on the website

   A policy on a page nobody visited is hard to lean on. It needs to be in front of the client at the moment they book, and in the confirmation they receive — those are the two places a reasonable person would expect to see it.

5. 5

   Write down when you will waive it

   Decide in advance what counts — illness, a bereavement, a first offence from a client of six years — and let your team apply it without ringing you. A policy applied inconsistently by mood is worse than no policy; a policy with stated exceptions is one people accept.