Avana cuts salon no-shows with deposits at booking, automatic reminders and clear cancellation rules, all in every plan. If someone still doesn't turn up, their next booking shows you they stayed away before.
Each step does a different job. Together they make sure the client comes, or cancels early enough for someone else to take the slot.
Each no-show is an hour you kept free and can't sell again. Avana's protections work before the appointment, when they still make a difference.
Turn on a deposit for your balayage or full set and leave short services alone. That's where an empty chair hurts most.
Every client with an email address gets a reminder automatically, four hours before by default. If you have text credit, a text goes out the day before too.
Mark a no-show and every future appointment for that client carries a red label with the count. You don't have to remember it yourself.
Avana's no-show protection works at three moments: at booking, before the appointment and when someone doesn't come. You set each one up once.
In your payment settings, choose a deposit up front as a fixed amount or a percentage of the price, then switch it on or off for each service.
Choose when the reminder email goes out: four hours, or one, two or three days before. With text credit, the client also gets a text the day before.
Open the appointment and mark it as a no-show. The client isn't sent anything, and every later booking shows how many times they didn't come.
How it usually goes in a salon without a system, and how it goes with Avana.
| Without a system | With Avana | |
|---|---|---|
| A client forgets | You message everyone yourself the night before | The reminder goes out by itself |
| The long appointment | You hope they turn up | A deposit is already in |
| Explaining your rules | Again for every client, on the phone | Clients read them while booking |
| Someone cancels in time | You ring round your regulars | Your waitlist gets an email (Business Plus) |
| Someone stays away | You try to remember | A red label at their next booking |
| The same client books again | You don't like to say anything | They pay up front again, if you choose that |
Three parts of Avana that plug into your no-show rules.
A reminder two days ahead gives the client a chance to cancel. The free slot then goes straight to whoever is waiting for that day, in Avana Business Plus.
Under income you missed, your reports count how often someone didn't come without a word, with a button straight to your payment settings. Reports are part of Avana Business Plus.
Turn on no-show invoicing in your invoice settings and choose a percentage. Avana creates the invoice, and you send it to the client yourself.
All in your settings, all in every plan. Texts come out of your text credit.
You can't block a client in Avana. You can choose to take deposits from new clients only: a no-show doesn't count as a visit, so anyone who stayed away pays up front again next time.
With a few small hurdles that reinforce each other: a deposit at booking, a reminder in good time and clear cancellation rules. Avana covers all three in every plan. If someone cancels in time, the waitlist in Avana Business Plus fills the slot again, and anyone who stays away anyway is flagged at their next booking.
No. The amount you set for late cancellations and no-shows appears in your terms and in the booking confirmation, but Avana doesn't charge it on its own. What you can count on is what the client paid up front as a deposit, which stays with you after a no-show.
No, blocking a client isn't possible. What you can do is take deposits from new clients only: a no-show doesn't count as a visit, so anyone who stayed away pays up front again next time. Every booking from that client also shows a red label with their number of no-shows.
No. Marking a no-show in Avana sets the appointment to not attended and nothing is sent to the client. It's final and can't be undone, so only mark it once you're sure they aren't coming. If they turned up late, just leave the appointment as it is.
A reminder should go early enough that the client can still cancel in time afterwards. By default the reminder email goes four hours before, and you can also choose one, two or three days. If clients can cancel for free up to 24 hours before, two days is the better choice, and Avana warns you if your reminder would arrive after the cancellation window.
No. Avana's waitlist is triggered when an appointment is cancelled or deleted. With a no-show the time has already passed, so there's nothing left to fill. The waitlist is part of Avana Business Plus and Avana Business Max.
Yes. In Avana's invoice settings, turn on no-show invoicing and choose what percentage of the price goes on the invoice. Avana creates it, and you send it to the client yourself. There's more about this on invoices.
Yes. Deposits, reminder emails, your cancellation rules and marking no-shows are all in every plan, including Avana Business at £15.99 a month. Text reminders come out of your text credit. The waitlist and reports are part of Avana Business Plus.
When a client pays online, a small service fee is part of the price they see from the very first screen: 3% of the booking, at least £1.49 and at most £2.29. You pay nothing on your takings, because Avana charges no commission. That small amount from the client is what lets us pay you out in full, so the whole treatment price stays with you.
Question not answered here? Send it to us and a real person at Avana will answer it.
Avana is a salon booking system with everything you need to cut down no-shows. You can take a deposit when a client books, as a fixed amount or a percentage of the price, switched on per service. Clients get a reminder email at the time you choose, from four hours to three days before, and with text credit a text as well. Your cancellation rules are shown while booking and in the confirmation. If someone still doesn't come, you mark the appointment as a no-show: the client isn't notified, and their next booking carries a red label with the count. Blocking a client isn't possible, but with deposits for new clients only, anyone who stayed away pays up front next time. It's all included in every plan. For a solo salon, Avana Business costs £15.99 a month, VAT included, which is £0.53 a day.
A no-show at your salon costs more than the price of that one appointment. You kept the time free, maybe turned someone else away, and sat waiting for an hour. If you work alone, you feel it straight away. Most no-shows happen because someone forgot or didn't think it was worth cancelling, and that's where a small hurdle at booking and a nudge just before help most. Avana puts both in one place: a deposit, a reminder email and clear cancellation rules.
What you set up works wherever the client books: on your booking page, in the widget on your website and through the QR code at your front desk. With text credit, clients also get a text the day before, which is harder to miss than an email. When someone cancels in time, Business Plus passes the slot straight to your waitlist.
If someone stays away anyway, you mark the appointment as a no-show. The client record shows how often it has happened, and with deposits for new clients only, that client pays up front next time. If you want to charge something, Avana can create an invoice for part of the price, and your reports show what no-shows cost you. All of this is in every plan apart from the waitlist and reports; prices are on the pricing page.
No-show protection is everything you do to make sure a client who booked actually comes, or cancels in good time. A no-show is someone who doesn't turn up and doesn't let you know. Every appointment-based business gets them, but they hurt most when you work alone and offer long services: a colourist with a two-hour colour, a lash artist doing a full set, a massage therapist with a full hour booked. That time can't be sold at the last minute.
In Avana you can take a deposit at booking, from everyone or only from new clients. The client gets a reminder email beforehand, four hours ahead by default. Your cancellation policy says how late a free cancellation is allowed. When you mark an appointment as not attended, every future booking from that client shows a red label with the count, and because a no-show doesn't count as a visit, that client pays up front again next time.
Big enough that the client notices it, and not so big that they give up halfway through booking. Think of a fixed £10 to £25, or a share of the price for long services. A fixed amount is easy to explain; a percentage grows with your prices, so a £140 balayage gets a bigger deposit than a fringe trim.
In Avana you choose a fixed amount or a percentage of the price in your payment settings. A fixed amount is never more than the service itself, and a percentage is worked out on the service plus add-ons, after any discount. You switch the deposit on or off for each service, so a quick brow tidy can stay free while your full lash set has a deposit. Start with your longest services, because that's where an empty chair costs the most.
Record it first, and then ask that client to pay up front. You can always have a word, but without a record you won't remember after a few months whether it was twice or five times. A deposit is also a clearer arrangement than a warning.
In Avana you open the appointment and mark it as a no-show. It then shows as not attended, the client isn't sent anything, and every future booking from them carries a red label with the count. If you take deposits from new clients only, that client pays up front again next time while your regulars carry on paying at the salon. Blocking isn't possible, but with that setting it's rarely needed. To charge for the missed appointment, turn on no-show invoicing in your invoice settings.
A text gets noticed, an email has room for detail. A text pops up on the client's screen even when their inbox is overflowing. An email can carry your address, the time and how long they still have to cancel. For most salons the combination works best: an email well ahead and a text just before.
In Avana every client with an email address gets a reminder email automatically, four hours ahead by default. With text credit, a text goes out the day before as well. If you send the email two or three days ahead, the client gets the email first and the text the day before. If you choose four hours or one day, they get only the text, so two messages don't land at once. Make a phone number required in your booking rules, or there's nowhere to send the text.
Work it out once for your own salon and you'll know what a deposit is worth. Take a £55 gel manicure with nail art that falls through once a week: that's over £200 a month. A three-hour balayage left empty once a month costs half a day of takings. And on top of that, you couldn't give that time to anyone else.
In Avana you don't have to keep track yourself. The reports in Business Plus show, under income you missed, how often someone didn't come without a word and how often a booking was cancelled less than 24 hours ahead, with buttons to your payment settings and your waitlist. Avana values each gap against what you earned per booked hour in that period. If it turns out to be a handful of no-shows a month, a deposit on your longest services is often enough.
Keep it short, put it where the client is already looking, and use numbers rather than paragraphs. A line like "Free to cancel up to 24 hours before, after that £15" is clearer than three paragraphs of terms on your website. Above all, the client should read it before the booking is confirmed.
In Avana you set it up under cancelling and rescheduling. You choose how late a free cancellation is allowed, what a late cancellation or no-show costs and whether clients may reschedule themselves. Clients read those rules while booking, on your booking page and in the confirmation and reminder. After your deadline they can no longer cancel online and are shown who to call instead. The amount you mention isn't charged automatically, which is what the deposit is for. More on this under cancellation policy.
Every plan includes VAT, takes no commission on your bookings and can be cancelled any month. Try Avana free for 7 days, no card needed.
£0.53 a day, and no commission on your revenue.
Start free£0.97 a day. One extra appointment a month covers it.
Start free£1.87 a day, with Avana Academy included.
Start freeAll prices include VAT. Move to another plan and you only pay the difference.
On the same bill as your plan, and you can stop any month.
Link your Instagram once. From then on, an assistant answers client messages with your own prices and free times, and clients can book right there in the chat.
Sell your own course to people who want to learn your craft. You record the lessons once, the practical day sits in your calendar and certificates go out on their own.
Text reminders for clients who never open their email. You buy texts in bundles, the credits never expire and there is no extra subscription.
See every feature on one page or read what Avana does for your kind of salon.
Create your booking page, set your hours and share your link. Avana is free for the first 7 days.
Set up your booking page