No-show calculator
Work out what the empty chair costs you in a year, and how much of that a deposit taken at booking would already be holding.
What it costs you
Appointments missed, per year
312
Value of those appointments, per year
14,040
Already held as deposits, per year
3,510
Still exposed, per year
10,530
A deposit is taken through your own payment account when the booking is made, so on a no-show the money is already yours. Nothing here charges a card after the event.
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Why a deposit is the only line that counts as recovered
There are three ways a booking system is supposed to help with no-shows, and only one of them is money you can count. A reminder may well reduce the rate, and Webkio sends one before every appointment, but we do not publish a percentage for it because we have no evidence that would survive being checked. A stated no-show fee is your policy shown to the customer; it is not collected on your behalf.
A deposit is different in kind. It moves at the moment of booking, into your own payment account, before anyone has the chance not to turn up. That is why it is the only figure this page treats as recovered, and why the honest version of the calculation puts everything else in the "still exposed" row.
The worked example above, in full
| Appointments a week | 60 |
| Appointments a year | 3,120 |
| Missed at 10% | 312 |
| Value at 45 each | 14,040 |
| Held as deposits at 25% | 3,510 |
| Still exposed per year | 10,530 |
Set the deposit to zero and the whole figure moves into the bottom row. That single input is the decision this page exists to inform.
What to do with the number
- Salon and clinic booking system - deposits, reminders and a diary that stops double-booking.
- Booking and appointment website builder - the site that goes around it.
- Selling rather than booking? The same shape of arithmetic for marketplace commission is in the marketplace fee calculator.
- Every free tool we publish is listed on free tools.
Questions
Is the deposit charged automatically if someone does not turn up?
The deposit is taken at the moment of booking, through your own payment account, so on a no-show the money is already yours and the only decision is whether to refund it. That is different from charging a card after the event, which Webkio does not do. A stated no-show fee is shown to the customer as your policy; it is not collected for you.
What no-show rate should I use?
Your own. Count the missed appointments in your diary over a month and divide by the total booked. The figure the page opens with is a placeholder to show the shape of the sum, not a benchmark for your trade, and using it instead of your real number will give you a real-looking answer that means nothing.
Do reminders reduce no-shows?
Webkio sends a reminder before every appointment, and most owners believe it helps. We do not publish a percentage for it because we have no evidence that would survive being checked, and a number invented for a calculator is worse than no number.
Does the deposit have to be the full price?
No, and usually it should not be. A deposit large enough to hurt to lose and small enough to feel reasonable is the one people actually pay. You set it as a fixed amount or a percentage per service, so a consultation and a full day can carry different rules.
What does the calculator leave out?
The slot itself. A missed appointment is counted at its full value here, which is right when the chair sat empty and generous when you filled it from a waiting list. It also ignores the products a client would have bought while they were in. Treat the output as the size of the problem, not an invoice.