Booking Protection saves a Customer's card during an online Booking. You can then charge a late-cancellation or no-show fee when your policy applies. Booking Protection itself does not take money at booking. A separate Deposit may still be collected at that point.
- Connect Stripe and check it is ready.
- Open Organisation > Deposits & Payments in Setora Hub.
- Turn on Enable Booking Protection.
- Set the Late cancellation fee and No-show fee percentages.
- Check your Cancellation notice in Organisation > Booking policy.
- Test the Booking Page and read the consent Customers see.
1. Connect Stripe
Booking Protection needs a connected Stripe account because Stripe stores the reusable payment method. Follow Connect Stripe to Setora if you have not connected Stripe yet.
In Organisation > Deposits & Payments, check that the Payment Integration status is Connected. Setup incomplete means Stripe still needs information from you. Choose Continue set-up and finish Stripe's verification before enabling Booking Protection.
Stripe may ask for business, identity and bank details. Setora cannot complete those checks for you. Do not enable protection until Hub shows Connected.
2. Enable Booking Protection
Open Organisation > Deposits & Payments and find the Booking Protection section. Turn on Enable Booking Protection.
Set both fee percentages, then choose Save changes. They apply to the Booking's Service total and are capped at that total. The default is 50% for a late cancellation and 100% for a no-show. You can change either percentage from 1% to 100% to match your written policy.
Turning protection on is saved immediately with the percentages displayed at that moment. Later percentage edits are not applied until you choose Save changes.
Check before moving on: If you do not want to charge either type of fee, turn Booking Protection off. Leaving an old percentage in place does not disable that fee path.
If prices are hidden in Organisation > Booking policy, Booking Protection cannot be enabled because its fees are calculated from the Service price.
3. Set the cancellation notice
Set the free period with Cancellation notice in Organisation > Booking policy. A cancellation made at least that many hours before the appointment is within the free period. A cancellation closer to the start time is late and can incur the late-cancellation fee.
Choose a notice that matches the policy you publish. Tell Customers the notice, the late-cancellation fee percentage and the no-show fee percentage before they book.
4. Explain consent to Customers
On the public Booking Page, Customers see the potential late-cancellation and no-show charges and must accept the Booking Protection consent before continuing. The consent means their card may be charged later if they cancel late or do not attend. It does not mean they are charged at the time the card is saved.
Stripe handles card entry and authentication. Setora does not ask you to collect card details in the shop or in a message. Use the same plain wording in your shop, messages and Booking Page policy so Customers know:
- what counts as a late cancellation;
- what counts as a no-show;
- the percentage that may be charged for each; and
- that a retained Deposit can reduce the protection fee.
Booking Protection is not a Deposit. A Deposit is money paid before the visit. Booking Protection saves a card for a possible later fee. You can use either feature, or both. If a Deposit is retained, it credits the protection fee first, so the Customer is not charged twice for the same missed Booking.
5. Test the protected Booking flow
Open the Booking Page as a Customer and choose a Service with a price. Check that the fee amounts, consent wording and payment step are clear before finishing the test.
When a new card is needed, the Booking is held while Stripe's hosted checkout saves the card. A browser return is not proof that setup succeeded. The Booking is confirmed only after Setora verifies the Stripe result. Check the Booking in Hub before treating the test as complete.
Do not use a real Customer's card for a test. If a Deposit is also required, the Customer pays it during the same Stripe flow. That Deposit and the saved-card consent are separate parts of the Booking.
What happens when a policy applies
When a protected Booking is cancelled late or marked as a no-show, Hub shows the fee before the action is confirmed. The configured percentage is applied to the Service total, any retained Deposit is credited against it and a remaining amount may be attempted on the saved card.
Read Understand Booking Protection charges for the exact charge, Deposit-covered, waived and failed outcomes. For changing or cancelling the Booking itself, see Create and manage a Booking.
If you enable Charge saved card at checkout, Staff can use the same saved card to take payment at the visit. This is separate from protection fees. Only enable it if your Customers have agreed that the saved card can be charged for the Booking.
If Booking Protection is not working as expected
- Check the Payment Integration status is Connected, not Setup incomplete.
- Check Enable Booking Protection is on and both percentages are between 1% and 100%.
- Check pricing is not hidden in Organisation > Booking policy.
- Check the Cancellation notice matches the policy you gave Customers.
- Check the Booking was made online rather than added by your team.
- Check the Booking detail, not only the Calendar label, for the fee outcome.
- Check whether a retained Deposit already covered some or all of the fee.
- If a charge failed, check that the Stripe account is still connected and that a saved card exists.
If consent, the fee calculation or the Stripe status is not what you expect, open the Help Centre chat. Tell us the Location, Service, Booking reference, policy settings, Stripe status and Booking status. Do not send card details, Stripe IDs or secret keys.