Bookings & Sessions
Cancel a booking and choose the refund
Cancel a session from the Bookings list, read the cancellation window that applies, and decide between a full refund, a refund per your policy, no refund, or restoring a package credit.
Sometimes a session has to come off the calendar — you're ill, the client moved countries, or a paid booking needs unwinding cleanly. Calso puts the cancellation and the money decision on one screen, so you settle both at once and know exactly what the client will be told.
Cancelling lives on the booking itself. Open Bookings in the sidebar, then either use the action menu at the end of a row and choose Cancel booking, or click the row to open the booking panel and press Cancel in its footer. Both open the same panel, titled Cancel Booking.
When the cancel action is available
A Confirmed session, a request sitting at Pending Approval, and a Payment Pending hold can all be cancelled. Bookings already marked Cancelled, Completed or No-Show are finished, so the action isn't offered — see what each booking status means.
Cancelling a Payment Pending booking releases the client's unfinished payment too. If their payment happened to land in the seconds before you pressed the button, Calso stops and asks you to refresh rather than filing a paid session as cancelled.
Cancelling a booking
- Open the Cancel Booking panel
From Bookings, open the action menu on the row and choose Cancel booking — or click the row and press Cancel at the bottom of the booking panel. The same panel opens from a client's record, so you can cancel without leaving their history.
- Check what was charged
Booking Details repeats the session, date, time and client's name, so you can be certain you have the right one. Payment Info underneath breaks out Subtotal, Tax and Total charged — free sessions and credit-paid sessions have no money to show, so that block is left out for them.
- Read the highlighted window
Cancellation Policy lists your cancellation windows, each labelled with the stretch of time it covers, and marks the one this session falls into Current — with the hours remaining printed beneath the list. That highlighted row is the one Calso will use if you choose to follow your policy.
- Choose the refund
Under Refund Option, pick one of the three choices. Refund per policy is selected for you, so if your policy already says what you want, there is nothing to change here.
- Add a note the client will read
Note to client (optional) takes up to 500 characters and is quoted back to the client in their cancellation email, attributed to you. A sentence naming the reason and what happens next spares you a follow-up message.
- Confirm
Press the red Cancel Booking button to commit, or Keep Booking to back out with nothing changed. The panel warns you first that this will cancel the booking and notify the client, and that the action cannot be undone.
Reading the cancellation window
Your windows come from the Policies tab in Settings, where each row pairs a number of hours before the session with the fee charged inside that stretch. An event type can carry its own override, and when it does, that is what the panel shows — see set your cancellation policy and waivers.
Each row names the stretch it covers in full — Between 24 and 48 hours before, Less than 24 hours before — so the labels and the Current marker tell you the same story. The hours remaining print underneath the list, which is all you need to confirm the match at a glance.
If no window covers the time remaining — you're cancelling further out than your widest one — nothing is highlighted and there is no fee, so Refund per policy comes to the full amount.
The three refund choices
Each option prints the exact amount it will send before you commit.
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Full refund | Returns everything the client paid, tax included. |
| Refund per policy | Applies the fee from the Current window and refunds the rest. The fee comes off the pre-tax amount and the tax is refunded in proportion. The line underneath names the fee, or reads No fee when none applies. |
| No refund — keep full payment | Cancels the session and sends nothing back. |
Refunds go back to the original payment method through Stripe. Only Cancel Booking and Decline issue refunds in Calso — there is no separate refund button on a booking.
Sessions booked with a package credit
When the session was paid for with a credit, the refund options are replaced by a Package Session note explaining that no monetary refund applies, and a Package Credit block with a checkbox reading Restore 1 credit to followed by the package's name. It is ticked by default, so the credit goes back unless you deliberately clear it. Restoring also reopens a package the client had already used up.
Credits are only taken when you approve a request, so a Pending Approval booking has nothing to give back — cancel it and the client's balance is untouched. If a package needs money returned rather than a credit, the panel points you to your Stripe dashboard. To change a balance outside a cancellation, see adjust a client's package credits.
What the client is told
Cancelling emails the client straight away, with the session's original details, your note quoted under your name if you wrote one, and a Refund Details section stating the amount coming back, any fee that was applied, or that no refund applies. Credit restorations are named there too. The email closes with a Book a New Session button pointing at that event type, and carries a calendar cancellation so the session disappears from their calendar as well as yours.
The calendar event and any generated meeting link are removed on your side at the same time, and the time returns to your booking page. The email is controlled by the Cancellation confirmation checkbox in your notification preferences, and cancelling fires the Booking Cancelled automation trigger, so you can alert yourself or start a win-back sequence — see automation triggers and actions.
If the session only needs a different time, reschedule it instead — that keeps the same booking, payment and credit. And when a client simply didn't turn up, the decision is a different one: mark a no-show and decide the credit.
Frequently asked questions
Can I undo a cancelled booking in Calso?
No. Cancelling is final — the booking moves to Cancelled, the calendar event is deleted, and the client has already been emailed. If the client wants the time back, book the session again from their client record or send them your booking link, which creates a fresh booking.
Does my cancellation policy stop me from issuing a full refund?
No. The cancellation windows you set apply to clients cancelling themselves. When you cancel from the dashboard, Calso shows you which window the session falls into but lets you pick any of the three refund options regardless. Refund per policy is simply the option that follows your own rules.
What happens to a session that was booked with a package credit?
There is no money to refund, so the panel hides the refund options and offers a checkbox to put the credit back on the client's package instead. It is ticked by default. The credit returns to their balance and their package reopens if it had already been used up.
Will the client know why I cancelled?
Only if you tell them. The Note to client (optional) box holds up to 500 characters, and whatever you type is quoted inside the cancellation email under your name. Leave it blank and the email simply confirms the cancellation and any refund.