No-Show Policy Kit

When this helps

You've set a cancellation fee, but you're not sure what rate you can justify or whether you told customers clearly enough

What it does

For restaurants, salons, classes and small inns. Give it your business type, reservation type and rate, and it drafts a cancellation policy, flagging fixes (fees over the price, missing average spend for seat-only bookings) and items to verify (rates above government examples, missing justification). Once settled, it produces a storefront notice, booking-page text, and per-reservation confirmations and day-before reminders. For a no-show, it calculates the fee under the policy in effect at booking time, drafts a notice, then an invoice, then a final notice, and tracks payment in an Excel ledger. It also checks SNS or review-reply drafts for leaked customer names. The rate is always the business's call; the kit never calls a rate illegal.

The fixes baked into this kit

1. One policy, with no basis for seat-only calculationsThe kit originally assumed only set-menu reservations, with nothing to multiply for seat-only bookings. Restaurant policies are now split into course and seat-only, and seat-only is flagged to fix if there's no average spend per customer.
2. Full-price no-show fees ignored reusable-ingredient costsA no-show can justify the full price, but government guidance says costs for ingredients, labor etc. that can still be used must be excluded. Full-price fees are now flagged to verify unless the stated basis mentions reuse, prep or waste.
3. High rates went unflaggedTesting with the Consumer Affairs Agency's example (rates over 80% a year out are presumed excessive) showed the check caught nothing. Rates taken 21+ days out, and rates above the government's example tiers, are now flagged to verify.
4. Raising the rate recalculated past reservations tooChanging the policy changed the amount owed on already-made reservations. Policies are now saved as versions, and each reservation is calculated using the version in effect when it was made.
5. Bookings via an inn's own site were mistaken for OTA bookingsTreating direct bookings from a hotel's own website as agency bookings could cause double billing or confusion over who collects the fee. Official/own websites are no longer treated as travel-agency bookings.
6. A booking number in the name field leaked into the addressBooking sites sometimes send the name field as "Name (booking number)". The number is now split into its own field instead of being used as-is in the addressee line.
7. Cancellation reasons and the bank account number stuck around in recordsReasons like "my child had a fever" and the shop's bank account number were being saved verbatim. Health-related reasons are now recorded only as "a health matter", and account numbers are no longer kept in copies.
8. Internal pricing notes leaked into customer-facing lettersInternal notes in the price field (e.g. "negotiating a discount") were copied verbatim into letters sent to customers. Customer letters are now built only from fields meant to be shown, with only the confirmed amount and a fixed phrase for how the policy was communicated.

What's inside

• The flow (set policy → check it → make notices and text → calculate and send when it happens → track in the ledger)
• A check that flags must-fix issues before you publish (fees exceeding the price, missing average spend for seat-only bookings)
• A check that flags items to verify (rates above government examples, missing justification)
• Storefront notices, booking-page text, and a per-reservation confirmation and day-before reminder
• Cancellation-fee calculation and the notice → invoice → final-notice letters
• An Excel ledger tracking no-shows, payments and progress
• A tool that checks SNS/review-reply and notice drafts for leaked customer names or details
• A sample fictional shop to try the whole flow (course and seat-only bookings, a no-show case)

The first three decisions

1. Business type (restaurant, salon, class or inn) and your shop's name
2. Reservation type and the cancellation fee rate
3. Cancellation contact, and how many minutes late counts as a no-show

What you need

• No extra costClaude Code or CodexBoth CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md are included
• No extra costNode.js 18+Needed to run the tools. Nothing else to install
• No extra costA browser and ExcelTo view the result pages, notices and ledger. Any app that opens Excel files works too

How to use

Just paste this into your AI.

I want to use the nice to have kit "No-Show Policy Kit". Follow https://nicetohave.app/en/g/BV9SEKBJ-•••••••••• and set it up.

Works the same in Claude Code or Codex.
Read what this tells your AI to do, before you paste it

FAQ

Can I use it for bookings made through an OTA like Booking.com?

Yes. It flags a check to confirm the OTA's terms and who is entitled to collect the fee first. Bookings made directly through an inn's own website are treated separately, not as OTA bookings.

Does a cancellation reason like illness get recorded as-is?

No. Health-related reasons are recorded only as "a health matter" — specific details aren't kept.

Does the kit send the email or SMS for me?

No. It drafts the notice, invoice and final-notice text; actually sending it is up to you.

How is the fee calculated if fewer people show up than booked?

It subtracts the number who showed up from the party size and applies the no-show rate only to the people who didn't come.

What happens if I delete a reservation I recorded by mistake?

Deleting it removes the prior version too, and that can't be undone. Normally it's better to "close" the reservation, which keeps the record but marks it finished.

Supporters

Once support opens, the people who backed this kit will be listed here.