> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ontimebookings.com.au/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Cancel, no-show, and complete

> The three ways a booking ends — and the money difference between cancelling and marking a no-show.

Every booking ends one of three ways. Two of them look similar and are not, so this page starts there.

## Cancel or no-show?

Both close the booking. They do the opposite thing with the customer's money.

|                | **Cancel**                                            | **No show**                                       |
| -------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| The session is | Called off                                            | Counted as delivered                              |
| Their credit   | **Comes back** — they can rebook                      | **Is used up** — nothing returns                  |
| A refund       | You can refund the returned credit from their profile | Nothing is refunded automatically                 |
| Reason         | Required                                              | Not asked for                                     |
| Use it when    | The session didn't happen and they shouldn't pay      | They didn't turn up and your policy says they pay |

Get this wrong in one direction and you've given away a session. Wrong in the other and you've charged for one the customer thinks they still have — which is the call you don't want.

<Warning>
  Neither can be undone. Read the dialog before you confirm — both spell out what's about to happen.
</Warning>

## Cancel a booking

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the booking and choose Cancel">
    Available while the booking is confirmed or awaiting approval.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Read what it tells you">
    The dialog confirms the slot will be released and the session returned to the customer's voucher balance.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Give a reason">
    Required. It's stored on the booking and shown to anyone who opens it afterwards.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Confirm">
    The slot frees up and the credit goes back.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Write the reason as if the customer will read it back to you in three months, because sometimes they do. "Customer requested — family emergency" beats "cancelled".

**After cancelling**, the customer has their credit back and two options: rebook with it, or be refunded. Refunds are handled from the customer's profile against their voucher balance, not from the booking.

The cancelled booking keeps a record of who cancelled it, when, and why — visible on the booking panel from then on.

<Tip>
  Cancelled bookings are hidden from the calendar by default. Turn off **Hide cancelled** in the calendar controls to see them in place, which helps when you're working out what happened to a day.
</Tip>

## Mark a no-show

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the booking and choose No Show">
    Available on confirmed bookings.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Read what it tells you">
    The dialog is explicit: the session counts as used, no credit returns, and no refund is issued. It also reminds you to use Cancel instead if the customer should keep their credit.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Confirm">
    The booking closes as **Failed to Attend**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

**Before you do it**, be sure of your policy and that the customer knows it. A no-show is a charge. If you have a late-cancellation window on the service, check whether they gave notice inside it — the [cancellation notice](/set-up/services/booking-settings) you set is what customers were promised.

<Tip>
  Add an internal note before you mark it — what time the provider waited until, whether you called. If the customer disputes the charge later, that note is your answer.
</Tip>

## Complete a booking

The ordinary ending. The session happened.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the booking and choose Complete">
    Available on confirmed bookings.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add closing notes if you want to">
    Optional. How it went, what to pick up next time, anything for the record.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Complete booking">
    The booking closes as **Completed**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  Closing notes are saved as an **internal note**. The customer never sees them.
</Note>

Completing bookings matters more than it looks. It's what separates "the day is booked" from "the day was delivered" in your reports, and for businesses where staff are paid per session it's part of what their earnings are calculated from.

<Tip>
  Get providers into the habit of completing bookings at the end of each session, with a line about how it went. A customer's history then reads as a record of progress rather than a list of dates — which is worth a lot on the phone when they ask how their teenager is going.
</Tip>

## Approve a booking

If a service needs approval, its bookings arrive as **Approval Pending** and sit there until someone acts.

Open the booking and choose **Approve** to confirm it. Or **Cancel** if you can't take it.

<Warning>
  Bookings awaiting approval aren't confirmed. The slot is held, but the customer hasn't been told it's going ahead. Check for them daily — an unapproved booking is a customer waiting to hear from you.
</Warning>

## After a booking is closed

Completed, cancelled, and no-show bookings can't be edited or rescheduled. The action buttons disappear.

If you close one by mistake, create a new booking for the customer. Where credit was wrongly used up, sort it out from the customer's voucher balance in their profile.