What this helps you do
Configure how your business handles late arrivals and no-shows at the business level — your grace period, whether a no-show costs the client anything, and optional escalation for repeat no-shows.
Before you start
- Know whether your business books appointments on a calendar (slot scheduling). These booking rules only apply there — businesses running a different model won't see them.
- These settings are owner-only. If you're a team member, you'll need your business owner to make these changes, or open this page yourself if you're the owner.
Steps
Step 1: Open your policies
Go to Settings → Policies. This page prints a plain-language summary of exactly what's configured — nothing is shown that hasn't actually been saved.
Step 2: Open the policy writer
Select the link to open the policy writer, or go directly to the Deposits, cancellation & no-show leaf under Policies. This opens the editor where grace period, deposits, and no-show escalation actually get set.
Step 3: Set your grace period
Under Late arrival grace period, turn the grace period on and set how many minutes (0–30, default 15) a booking is held past its start time before it can be marked a no-show. If a client taps Running late on their end, Bloomber extends the window using their estimate — so a client who flags it ahead of time isn't cut off the instant your flat grace period would otherwise expire.
Step 4: Decide what a no-show actually costs
Bloomber doesn't have a separate no-show fee field — the charge is tied to your deposit settings. Under Deposit settings, turn on Require deposit and choose a capture mode:
- Authorization only — the deposit is held on the client's card, not charged, when they book. If they no-show, Bloomber captures that hold as the no-show charge. If they show up, nothing is captured.
- Capture immediately — the deposit is charged the moment the client books. There's nothing left to capture on a no-show, because the client already paid it.
If you don't require a deposit, a no-show doesn't charge the client anything — it just marks the appointment and frees up the slot.
Step 5: Turn on no-show escalation (optional)
If advanced controls are collapsed, select Show advanced no-show controls, then turn on Enable no-show escalation if you want repeat no-shows to automatically require a higher deposit on future bookings. Set a threshold (after how many no-shows), an escalated deposit percentage, and a lookback period (how far back no-shows count). You can also set a default manual ban duration — how long a client stays blocked from booking if you ban them without picking an end date yourself.
Step 6: Save
Select Save policies. The change takes effect immediately, and the Policies page updates to reflect exactly what's now configured.
What success looks like
- The Policies page prints a no-show row that matches what you just set.
- A client who taps Running late gets the benefit of their own estimate, not just your flat grace period.
- A no-show either captures your held deposit (Authorization-only mode) or charges nothing extra (no deposit required) — matching the choice you made.
Common problems
- I don't see these controls at all — These booking rules only apply to appointment-based (slot) scheduling. If your business runs a different fulfillment model, this section shows a note that it doesn't apply instead of the controls.
- I set a deposit, but nothing was charged when the client no-showed — Check your capture mode. Only Authorization-only deposits get captured at the moment of a no-show; Capture-immediately deposits were already charged when the client booked, so there's nothing left to take.
- I'm not sure what my business's policy actually is right now — Go back to Settings → Policies. It only prints what's genuinely saved, so a missing row means that setting isn't configured yet.
- I can't open the Policies page — These settings are owner-only. Team members get a message asking them to have the owner open it.