The month of July was really rough for folks cancelling last minute and just not showing up. No joke, people texting 15 minutes before their appointments to cancel. Two clients on the same day who scheduled during their work day, and then their boss scheduled a meeting they couldn’t miss. One day, my entire day of clients cancelled… Like whaaaat?! is happening?
But, it wasn’t just me with this problem. When I went to the Nebraska Massage Therapists group on FB, soo many LMT’s were having trouble getting clients to show up to their appointments in July. Though, some LMT’s were having that problem less, the ones that required a credit card in order to book. And when it did happen, they could offset their loss of income with a late or no-show fee.
I have clients who have been with me for years, who are wonderful and consistent and have helped keep me in business so far. No one likes change, or giving out their CC information, so I held out for as long as I could. It’s true that requiring a CC at booking is, or is becoming, an industry standard. But the truth is that this last month was just so erratic and unstable with newer clients that I needed to change things for my own protection. I don’t want to charge people fees, I want people to show up and get their massage. Hopefully the change will make people plan better so I don’t have to charge anyone.
You can check out my new cancellation and no-show policies under the ‘Policies and FAQ’ tab.