The deposit, the clock, the cancel link
A no-show policy for a salon is only words until something enforces it
You can write whatever policy you like. What decides whether it means anything is what happens at 9 PM when somebody books and does not pay: whether the money is asked for at all, how long the slot waits, and what the client is told when it stops waiting.
Free to try, up to 15 bookings/month · calendar protection included on every plan
Need to change or cancel? chairwarden.com/manage/8f2c
The amount is named before the card screen, not on it
A client who reaches a card form without knowing what is being taken today closes the tab, and the slot goes with them. So the number is on the details screen, above the button.
A share you choose
10, 20, 25, 30, 50, 75 or 100 percent of the service, one number for the account.
Only where it hurts
Switch it on for the appointments where a no-show is expensive, and leave a quick trim booking with no card at all.
Straight into your account
A direct charge on your own Stripe account, and the payment screen says so. Chairwarden adds no percentage.
The balance is at the visit
A deposit holds the appointment, it does not pay for it. The rest is settled however you already take payment.
The slot has a clock, and the order matters
You decide how long an unpaid booking holds its time. From then on it runs itself, in this order.
The client is emailed first, telling them the appointment needed a deposit, that it was not received, that the time has been released, and that they have not been charged.
Only if that email went out is the booking cancelled. A client who cannot be reached keeps their slot until you decide, and so does a booking with no email address on it.
Before any of it, Stripe is asked whether the money actually arrived. A payment that landed while our record still said pending, because a webhook went missing, is corrected to paid instead of released.
You get a notification when a release happens. Your calendar changed while you were not looking, and finding out by noticing a gap is not good enough.
The window is yours: never, or 12, 24, 48 or 72 hours. Never means an unpaid booking keeps its time until you cancel it yourself.
Your policy stays your policy
This is the part most booking tools are vague about, so here it is plainly.
The wording of your cancellation policy, the notice period, and every refund. Chairwarden does not read your terms and does not decide who gets money back. You are the merchant of record, and that is where those decisions belong.
Two rules you set in the software: whether a service asks for a deposit, and how long an unpaid booking holds its slot. Those two are what turn a policy on a page into something that happens at 9 PM on a Sunday.
The cancel linkEvery confirmation and reminder carries one. The client can cancel from it up until the appointment starts, and after that it says so instead of pretending it worked.
No no-show flagNobody is marked as a no-show for you. If you want that record, cancelling the booking yourself is how you keep it.
The other halfA deposit changes what a no-show costs. The reminder in the day or two before changes how often it happens. This page is about the first, and there is a whole page about the second.
A deposit defends an hour, and protection defends what is in it
Holding a slot is worth less if the slot has already been broken into two pieces you cannot sell.
Strict mode never offers a short service a place inside a protected block. Relaxed mode allows one at or under your quick threshold to take it.
Synced events block online booking in both modes, so the appointment a client puts a deposit on is one you can actually keep.
Booking someone in yourself always works and is saved as an override, protection never gets between you and a client in front of you.
Everything the deposit sits inside
A public booking link with your own address, and no account for the client to create.
Calendar protection, on the free tier as well as the paid one.
Two-way Google Calendar sync, so the days you are not working are never bookable.
Your existing client list comes across from a CSV or an export, phone numbers included, and you approve it before anything is written.
Reminders by email on every plan and by text on the paid one, so the deposit has a companion that gets people there.
A monthly view of what you took, how full the month was, and how much of it sat inside protected blocks.
And what it is not
Not a debt collector: an unpaid deposit releases a slot, it does not chase anyone.
No card terminal, and no payment at the chair. Deposits are online before the appointment.
No no-show reports or client blacklists.
One chair per account, and the phone app is iOS only for now.
No cut of the deposit, on any plan
$29 a month, or $23 a month billed annually. The deposit is a direct charge on your Stripe, so there is nothing for us to take a percentage of.
Starter
$0
no credit card, enough bookings to prove the protection works
- Up to 15 bookings/month
- Calendar protection, Strict & Relaxed modes
- Public booking link, your own URL
- Email reminders
- Deposit & no-show protection via Stripe
- Google Calendar sync
No credit card needed to start.
Get startedIndividual
$29/mo
or $23/mo billed annually
Everything in Starter, plus:
- Unlimited bookings
- SMS + email reminders (500 SMS/mo included)
- Import wizard: bring your client list from Vagaro, Square & more
- Full stats dashboard: revenue, utilization, top services
Cancel anytime from your dashboard.
Get startedFree is 15 bookings a month with no card. Deposits need your own Stripe account connected, which you can do whenever you are ready.
Questions about no-shows and deposits
No, and this is the line worth being clear about. Your cancellation policy is yours: the wording, the notice period, whether you charge, and every refund decision. Chairwarden is not a legal document and does not interpret your terms. What it does is enforce the two rules you set in the software: the deposit on a service, and how long an unpaid booking holds its slot.
You do, and it is already in your account: the deposit is a direct charge on your own Stripe account, not money we hold. What you do about the no-show (keep it, refund it, put it towards a rebooking) is your decision and your policy, and we take no cut either way. One thing we do not do: there is no no-show flag, so nobody is marked as one for you.
The release step asks Stripe first. If a payment actually succeeded, even when our own record still says pending because a webhook went missing, the booking is corrected to paid instead of being released. That is why a released booking means the money genuinely did not arrive.
Nothing automatic. The release happens only after the client has been emailed, so a booking with no email address is left alone and shows up on your calendar as unpaid, for you to decide. The same is true if the email fails to send.
No. The link in their reminder and confirmation lets them cancel up until the appointment starts. After that it says so plainly and tells them to contact you, rather than pretending the cancellation worked.
It makes one cost the client instead of only costing you, which changes the arithmetic without changing people. The other half is the reminder in the day or two before. Neither is a guarantee, and any tool that promises you one is selling you something it cannot deliver.
Everything on the comparison pages cites where the number came from and when it was read.
Put a deposit on the appointments that hurt
Two switches: which services ask for one, and how long a slot waits to be paid. The rest happens without you.
Start freeNo card required, and no policy of yours gets rewritten.
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