booking-and-no-show-control

name	booking-and-no-show-control
description	Control the perishable-inventory leak: design a no-show / late-cancel policy with deposits or card-on-file, a rebook-at-checkout habit, a reminder cadence, and a waitlist that backfills cancellations. Prevent the no-show first; enforce the policy second.

Booking & No-Show Control

A booked slot that no-shows is inventory you cannot resell tomorrow. This skill is the front desk's defense of the calendar: prevent the no-show, capture the rebook, and turn a cancellation into a fill.

The loop

1. Set the no-show / late-cancel policy. Define the notice window, the deposit or card-on-file rule, the fee, and the enforcement + exception path. Size it to the practice's actual no-show rate — a low rate needs a lighter touch than a chronic one. Traverse the no-show-policy tree in ../../knowledge/salon-spa-decision-trees.md. Treat benchmark no-show rates as [verify-at-use].
2. Prevent with reminders. A confirming reminder cadence (text/email with one-tap reschedule) stops more no-shows than any fee recovers. The easy path must be the confirming path.
3. Rebook at checkout. Book the next visit before the client leaves the chair, at the recommended interval. Track rebooking rate per provider — see ../retail-attach-and-service-mix/SKILL.md for the checkout moment it shares.
4. Backfill from the waitlist. Every late cancel triggers a waitlist offer / auto-fill so a lost slot becomes a sale.

Metrics

Metric	Reads	Note
No-show rate	no-shows / booked appointments	The leak you're closing; [verify-at-use] on any norm
Late-cancel rate	cancels inside the notice window	Feeds the deposit-policy decision
Rebooking rate at checkout	rebooked / checked-out	The leading indicator of a full future book
Waitlist fill rate	filled cancellations / total cancellations	Turns lost inventory into revenue
Confirmation rate	confirmed / reminded	Reminder-cadence effectiveness

Anti-patterns

• A stated policy that is never enforced — trains clients to ignore it.
• A deposit rule with no easy reschedule path — punishes the loyal, not the flaky.
• "Call us to rebook" instead of booking it at the chair.
• Treating cancellations as gone rather than waitlist triggers.

See also

• ../compensation-models-commission-vs-booth-rent/SKILL.md — a no-show costs the provider a resellable hour too.
• Best practices: ../../best-practices/a-no-show-is-inventory-you-cant-resell.md, ../../best-practices/rebook-before-they-leave-the-chair.md.
• Command: /set-noshow-policy.