Feature spotlight · new in May 2026
Charge late cancels and no-shows, on your terms
Booking Protection saves the customer's card at booking, with their explicit consent, and only charges if your late cancel or no-show policy applies. No charge is taken at the time of booking.
It is included in your £14.99 per month subscription. Setora adds no commission, no platform fee, and no markup on top of Stripe. You pay Stripe's standard processing fee at cost, and only when a card is actually charged.
What you get
A real cost behind every empty chair
A no-show is a chair sitting empty. Booking Protection turns that into a clear policy customers agree to upfront, with the card on file to back it up. Not sure what no-shows are costing you? Run the numbers in our barbershop no-show calculator.
Protect the diary without charging upfront
No charge is taken at booking. Setora saves the customer's card and only uses it if your late cancel or no-show policy applies.
Sensible defaults, fully configurable
Late cancellation defaults to 50% of the booking total, no-shows default to 100%. Adjust either percentage in the Hub at any time.
Deposits count toward the fee
If a deposit has already been retained for a booking, it credits against the protection fee. Customers are never charged twice for the same missed booking.
Explicit consent every time
Customers tick a dedicated consent box and see the exact late cancel and no-show amounts before their card is saved. No silent agreements.
Per-location opt-out
Run Booking Protection across the whole organisation by default, then opt individual locations out for shops with mixed policies.
Stripe at cost, zero markup
Cards are saved and charged on your connected Stripe account. Setora adds no commission, no platform fee, and no markup on top of Stripe. You pay Stripe's standard processing fee at cost, and only when a card is actually charged. Stripe sends the customer their receipt.
Deposits vs Booking Protection
Two different jobs. They work together.
Deposits and Booking Protection are separate features in Setora. You can run one, the other, or both. They combine cleanly without double-charging the customer.
Take money upfront.
Deposits
A deposit is an immediate payment at booking. If the customer cancels late, the deposit is retained per your cancellation policy. If they cancel in good time, it can be refunded.
Save a card. Charge only if policy applies.
Booking Protection
No charge is taken at booking. Setora saves the customer's card with their consent and only charges the late cancel or no-show fee if the booking is breached. A retained deposit credits against the fee so the customer is not charged twice.
How it works
From card setup to a clean cancellation
Setora handles the consent, the card setup, the fee calculation, and the deposit credit. Staff just confirm the outcome on cancel or no-show.
Turn it on in Payments
Enable Booking Protection from the Payments area in the Hub, set your late cancellation and no-show percentages, and opt locations out if needed. Existing deposit settings keep working alongside it.
Customer sees the fees and consents
Public booking shows the exact late cancel and no-show amounts for the service, then asks the customer to tick a dedicated consent box before card details are saved. The slot is held for 15 minutes while they finish.
Charge or waive on cancel or no-show
When a booking is cancelled late or marked as no-show, staff see the calculated fee and can either charge or waive it. The booking status changes either way, and failed Stripe charges are surfaced on the booking instead of being silently hidden.
Held slot, not a held card
The slot is held for 15 minutes while the customer completes card setup. If they abandon, the booking expires, with no fake cancellation email, no stuck slot, and no charge.
Customers can still cancel themselves
If late online cancellation is enabled, customers see the calculated fee before they confirm. They make an informed choice and the diary stays accurate either way.
Frequently asked questions
No. Booking Protection is included in your £14.99 per month per location subscription. Setora adds no commission, no platform fee, and no markup on top of Stripe. You pay Stripe's standard processing fee at cost, and only when a card is actually charged.
No, not for Booking Protection itself. The card is saved with the customer's consent and is only charged if a late cancel or no-show fee applies. A deposit, where required, is taken at booking and is a separate setting.
Fees are a percentage of the booking's service total. The defaults are 50% for late cancellations and 100% for no-shows, and both are configurable per organisation. The booking's service price is snapshotted at creation, so later price changes do not affect existing bookings.
A retained deposit is credited against the protection fee. If the deposit equals or exceeds the fee, no further charge is made to the saved card. If the deposit is refunded, it no longer counts toward the fee.
Yes, with the right permission. Setora ships a dedicated waiver permission separate from the standard booking permission. Staff without the waiver permission see the calculated fee but cannot override it.
The booking status still changes, so a no-show stays a no-show. The failed charge is surfaced on the booking with the Stripe failure reason so staff can follow up, and the customer is not silently re-billed.
For now, fee percentages are set at the organisation level, and locations can opt out of Booking Protection entirely. Per-location and per-service fee overrides are on the roadmap.
REST API v1 exposes booking protection state as read-only fields. Creating protected card setup flows from the API is not supported in v1. Customers complete the card setup on your public Setora booking page.