Cancellation policy for personal trainers

A personal trainer cancellation policy is a short rule, in writing and known to the client before they start: how much notice is needed to cancel or move a session, how to give notice and what happens if notice is late or not given at all. It is not there to punish, but to protect your diary and take the tension out of the conversation when someone lets you down. Here is what it needs to say, how it fits with a fee or session pack, how to apply it without losing clients and what to do about those who do not turn up.

What a cancellation policy is for

A session cancelled at the last minute is a slot you can no longer offer to anyone. One cancelled with notice is a slot you can refill. The policy exists so that most changes arrive with notice and, when they do not, you both already know what happens.

It also protects you from yourself. Without a written rule, every late cancellation is decided on the spot, differently for each client, and that ends in grievances: “you didn't charge him for it”. With the rule in writing, applying it is a formality, the same for everyone.

What it needs to say

It fits in a few lines. Answer these questions:

1. Notice period. How much notice is needed to cancel or move a session with no consequences.
2. How to give notice. Through which channel: the appointment link, the chat, a message. One or two, not whichever they like.
3. If notice is given in time. Whether the session is moved to another slot, made up later or lost.
4. If notice is late or not given. Whether the session counts as done, is deducted from the pack or is simply lost.
5. Lateness. If the client arrives late, whether the session ends at the scheduled time or is extended if you can.
6. When you cancel. What you offer the client: another slot, making it up or deducting it.
7. Exceptions. Whether you allow for force majeure and how many times.

A hypothetical example of how it could look, to adapt to your case: “You can cancel or move your session up to 24 hours beforehand, from your appointment link or by chat. If you cancel with less notice or do not come, the session counts as done. If I cancel, I'll offer you another slot this week or next.”

Include only what you will apply. A rule you often skip teaches the client that you are not serious about it.

How it fits with a fee or session pack

The same rule has different effects depending on how you charge:

• Session pack. The question is whether a late-cancelled session is deducted from the pack. Write it down in exactly those words, and record each session used at the time.
• Monthly fee with sessions included. The question is whether a session cancelled in time can be made up and until when: within the same month or also in the next.
• Online follow-up. If there are reviews or appointments with a date, the rule applies in the same way to those appointments.

If you are still choosing a format, in monthly fee or session pack you will find what each gives you.

How to communicate it

A policy the client has not read does not exist. To make it work:

1. Before the first session. Hand it over in writing together with the terms of service, not after the first problem.
2. Get it accepted. A signature or a written confirmation avoids the “I didn't know”.
3. Make it easy to cancel in time. If cancelling means calling you, the client is more likely to leave it until the last moment. A link in the confirmation or a clear channel gets them to give notice earlier.
4. Remind them without repeating it. An appointment reminder before the notice period runs out gives the client room to move it.
5. If you change it, say so. In writing, with the date from which it applies, and the same for everyone.

How to organise the diary, reminders and the booking page is covered in online diary and bookings for personal trainers.

Clients who do not show up

Someone who fails to turn up without warning leaves you a lost slot and, in addition, a doubt: has something happened or are they drifting away? Deal with it in two stages.

The same day

Write to them briefly, without reproach and asking: “I didn't see you at the session, is everything OK?” If they had a problem, you will know; if they forgot, you will know that too. Apply the policy as written, without adding lectures, and make a note that they did not come.

When it keeps happening

One absence is an oversight; several are a signal. Before applying the rule more harshly, have the conversation: the time may no longer suit them, their situation may have changed or they may be thinking of stopping. Changing their schedule can save the relationship; insisting only on the rule perhaps will not. The signals that warn you before someone leaves are covered in how to retain clients as a personal trainer.

How Entrenify helps (and what it does not do)

Entrenify (in Spanish) gives you the pieces to make the policy workable, but it does not apply it for you:

• Appointment statuses. Each appointment can be pending, confirmed, done, cancelled, rescheduled or “No asistió” (no-show), so there is a record of who cancelled and who did not come.
• Reminders. On each appointment with a client you can turn on reminders, which go out by email and by push notification. When you mark the appointment as cancelled, done or “No asistió”, the reminders still to be sent are removed.
• Cancelling without an account. Whoever books from your public page receives an email confirmation with a link to cancel, without needing an account. The link works while the appointment is pending, confirmed or rescheduled; it does not check your notice period, so you apply the rule. If someone cancels this way, the appointment appears as cancelled in your diary and you get a notification.
• Free slot. A cancelled appointment frees up the slot in your diary and on your booking page.
• When you cancel. If you cancel the appointment of a client with an active account, they receive a notification in their app.
• Messages. The chat comes with suggested message templates, including one for when someone misses a session, and you can save your own.
• The policy, in their app. You can upload your policy as a document to the client's record, share it so they see it in their app and ask them to sign it.

What it does not do: Entrenify does not charge penalties or anything else to your clients, because it is not a payment gateway; if your policy deducts or charges a session, you record it yourself. It does not send notifications by WhatsApp or SMS.

There are two plans: Esencial, €22 a month + VAT (Spanish IVA), for up to 20 active clients; and Pro, €32 a month + VAT, with no client limit, with a public website of your own and automations.