Reduce last minute cancellations

If you own a business that requires advanced booking, I’m sure you have become well acquainted with no-shows. No-Shows can kill your profits, especially on busy nights, where those time slots could have been filled by another customer. Your profitability depends on people showing up for their reservations, on time. When customers don’t show up, you lose money – it’s as simple as that.

Send your Customers a Booking Confirmation Email.

A booking confirmation email serves many purposes. It lets customers know that you have received their reservation, payment, and look forward to serving them. It also gives you the opportunity to let them know your cancellation policy. Cancellation policies should be clear and upfront. Not informing customers of your cancellation policy could potentially lead to negative reviews and feedback.

Automated Reminders

Do you send your customers a reminder text or email prior to their reservation? People are busy….and they forget things. ActiveBooker allows for emails and text messages to be sent to customers at predetermined time intervals.

We recommend an email or text message be sent 24 hours in advance, and another, 2 hours prior. All ActiveBooker clients have the ability to choose the frequency, and delivery option for these reminders.

While occasional reminders can be helpful, bombarding customers with frequent reminders may be perceived as annoying or spammy. Tailor the frequency of reminders to the urgency and importance of the event or commitment.

Enable Deposits or Prepayment

Do you require customers to pay in full at the time of booking?

ActiveBooker gives business owners the ability to customize the prepayment options, by offering the following pre-payment options.

• Percentage of total booking
• Flat rate
• 1 customer amount
• No pre-payment

While our software does allow for clients to not accept a pre-payment during the booking process, we highly recommend enabling some sort of pre-payment. Pre-payments ensure that the customer is financially invested in their reservation and is more likely to show up. Every business is different, and this is why we give business owners the ability to choose what’s best for them.

What’s your Cancellation Policy?

Cancellation policies are often overlooked by business owners. It’s important to carefully think about and answer these 3 questions:

1. Do you have a cut-off time on when the cancellation can be made?
2. If the cancellation happens within 24 hours, will you offer a full or partial refund?
3. Would you like to give customers the ability to cancel themselves?

All of these options are customizable inside your ActiveBooker cancellation policy dashboard. We also recommend business owners list these policies on their website terms & conditions page.

Overall, by implementing all of these strategies, you can significantly reduce no-shows. Choosing a reservation platform that offers flexible payment options and effective communication tools is crucial. If you would like to view our platform, book a demo here.