No-show cost calculator
What are empty chairs costing you?
Four numbers from your own week. No industry averages, no guesses: just what the gaps in your calendar add up to over a year.
Your year, on paper
- Missed appointments
- 144
- Share of your bookings
- 10%
- Hours with nobody in the chair
- 108
- Income that walked
- $8,640
- Per month
- $720
If you got some back
- Win back 1 in 4
- $2,160
- Win back half
- $4,320
Three messages worth sending
Most missed appointments are forgotten, not malicious. These are yours to copy and edit.
When they book
You’re booked for [service] on [day] at [time]. Reply C to confirm. If anything changes, tell me as early as you can so I can offer the spot to someone else.
The day before
See you tomorrow at [time] for [service]. Reply YES to confirm or MOVE if you need a different time.
After a miss
I had you down for [time] today and missed you. No hard feelings. Want me to find you another slot this week?
How the numbers are worked out
- Missed appointments a year = missed per week × weeks you work.
- Income that walked = missed appointments × average price. It ignores tips, retail and any slot you managed to refill, so adjust the weekly number down if you usually fill some.
- Hours = missed appointments × minutes each, divided by 60.
- Win back rows show a quarter and a half of the loss. They are what-ifs, not promises: only your own before-and-after numbers can tell you what a reminder or a deposit recovers.
Fewer loose ends in your booking texts
Turn “can I book Tuesday at 2?” into a calendar entry.
BookingSolved is an iPhone app for people who take bookings by message. Paste a client’s request or share a screenshot, and it finds the service, date, time and duration, checks your Apple Calendar and prepares the appointment.
Nothing changes in your Calendar until you approve it, and an editable confirmation is ready in a Friendly, Professional or Concise tone. You send every reply yourself.
Get BookingSolved on the App StoreFree to download; see the App Store listing for current pricing. Requires iOS 18 or later. Details checked against the App Store listing on November 10, 2026.
Publisher disclosure: Honest Little Apps publishes both BookingSolved and this page. This is not an independent review. This page is a separate web companion, not a feature of the app. BookingSolved prepares bookings and replies; this page does not claim it reduces no-shows by any amount.
Questions
How do you calculate the cost of no-shows?
Multiply the appointments you lose in a typical week by your average price, then by the weeks you work in a year. Three missed appointments a week at $60, over 48 weeks, is $8,640.
What counts as a no-show?
For this calculator, count anyone who did not turn up plus anyone who cancelled too late for you to refill the slot. If you usually refill some late cancellations, leave those out.
What is a normal no-show rate?
It varies widely by trade, price and how far ahead people book, so this page does not quote an average. Your own rate is what matters: missed appointments divided by total bookings. Track it for a month before and after any change.
How can I reduce no-shows without annoying clients?
Confirm at booking, remind the day before with an easy way to move the appointment, and follow up kindly after a miss. A clear late-cancellation policy, stated when they book, helps too.
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