Cancellation & No Show Tracker Spreadsheet
This spreadsheet records how much warning each cancellation gave you, and prices what that warning was worth.
Everybody records the cancellation: the value comes off the forecast, somebody sighs, and that is the end of it. Almost nobody writes down when they were told, which is the only part of a cancellation you can do anything about. This file bands the notice you were given, works out what you got back, and puts a figure on a day of warning.
What is in it
- Nine linked tabs, from Start Here through to a one-screen Overview.
- Cancellations — one row per booking that did not happen: two dates and six things typed, the rest worked out.
- By Notice — eight notice bands you name yourself, with the refill rate and the money in each.
- By Reason — which reasons come early and which come on the morning.
- Price Of Notice — one cancellation, priced at every length of warning.
- Setup — eight numbers and three short lists; change one and the whole year reprices.
Who it is for
Anywhere you sell time in a space: venues, salons, clinics, studios, tutors, hire firms, consultants, photographers, holiday lets and trades. A space can be a chair, a room, a van or a practitioner’s diary.
The worked example
The worked year holds 214 cancellations across four spaces, worth $338,030 and putting $209,579 of gross profit at risk. 62 slots were refilled and $57,203 of deposits kept, so $112,631 came back — but 546 hours of ringing round cost $18,553, and the year still cost $115,502, or 55.1% of the gross profit at risk.
The split is entirely about warning: 0% of the cancellations that arrived on the day were refilled, against 82% of those given two months out. The second row is the one to look at — 51 cancellations came with one day’s notice, five were refilled, and 157 hours of the year went on that band alone, because a day feels like enough time to save the slot. Price Of Notice puts the same cancellation at $693 on the day and $324 with a month: $316 more, every single time.
How it works
Compatible with Microsoft Excel 2016 or newer on Windows or Mac, Google Sheets, and LibreOffice. No macros, no add-ons, no account to create, nothing to install.
The download has two workbooks: one with the example above already filled in, so you can see what every column expects, and the same file completely blank for your own figures. A plain-English guide comes as a PDF. Buy it on Etsy — $9
Sold through my Etsy shop, ThePlainLedger, so the download, the payment and the buyer protection are all handled by Etsy.
A look inside the file
Questions people actually ask
How do I work out what a late cancellation actually costs me?
You record when you were told as well as what the booking was for, then price the gap between the two. In the worked year cancellations that arrived on the day were refilled 0% of the time and those given two months out 82%, and the year cost $115,502, which was 55.1% of the gross profit at risk. Price Of Notice puts a figure on one cancellation at every length of notice: $693 on the day, $512 with a week, $324 with a month.
We are a salon, not a venue. Does this fit?
Yes, a space is a chair and a booking is an appointment. Clinics, studios, tutors, hire firms, consultants, photographers, holiday lets and trades all work the same way. The arithmetic does not care what you sell time in.
We do not take deposits and we do not record the hours we spend rebooking.
Leave the deposit column at zero and the file simply shows what notice is worth without one, which is usually the argument for taking them. For the rebooking hours, an honest half-hour estimate per cancellation, put in as you go, beats a precise number that does not exist. The two refill rates in Setup can be estimates at first, and after a year you replace them with what actually happened.
Will it open in Google Sheets, and is there a subscription?
It opens in Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice, and there is no subscription. It is built as .xlsx for Excel 2016 or newer on Windows or Mac, and loads into Google Sheets through File then Import then Upload. No macros, no add-ons, no account to create, nothing to install.
Does it hold customer names, and can it tell me what my cancellation terms should say?
No to both. It holds bookings, spaces and amounts with no customer names anywhere, and it cannot tell you what your terms may lawfully say, which is a question for somebody qualified to answer it where you are. It is not a booking system, a diary or a CRM, and it will not stop people cancelling; it tells you what a day of notice is worth before you write the terms.
Need it built around your business?
This file assumes a booked slot in a space with a deposit and a chance of refilling it. If your bookings work differently — a no-show with no cancellation at all, a course place where one drop-out does not free any cost, a mobile service where the lost slot is a driving window rather than a room, or a contract with a fixed notice period written into the terms — I can build the same arithmetic around how your diary and your terms actually work.
All other templates are listed on the Excel & Google Sheets Templates page.