One ladder, all year. Tighten peak on the service rather than the date, and move money forward, instead of writing a second policy that depends on the date, which your booking form cannot enforce.
This is the part most boarding operators find out late. Petboost has one Change & Cancellation Notice Period and one Cancellation Fee Percentage on the business, and a service can override both with its own. Nothing reads the date: there is no date-aware ladder, no per-customer variation, and no separate Christmas rule. If your written policy says 48 hours in winter and 30 days at Christmas and one Stay service takes both, the software is enforcing one of those and you are chasing the other by hand in December, the month you have least time to chase anything.
Set the one policy for the booking you cannot afford to lose
Because the business default covers every service that does not set its own, set it for the stay that hurts rather than for the average booking. For boarding that usually means a longer notice period than a grooming-only business would pick, and a fee percentage that reflects a run standing empty rather than a table standing empty.
The fee is a percentage of the appointment cost, from 0% to 100% in 5% increments. On a $100 booking with a 50% fee, $50 is charged and $50 is refunded or never taken. The usual positions are 0% for free cancellations, 25% to discourage casual ones, 50% as the common industry setting, and 100% for a strict policy. Change and cancellation policy covers the fields and the states a fee can land in.
For boarding, the notice period does more work than the percentage. A fortnight in the Christmas window given up on 18 December cannot be refilled at any fee. Given up on 20 November it probably can.
Then tighten peak with money rather than words
The deposit is set per service as well, so a peak Stay service can carry a much heavier one while ordinary boarding stays light.
That is the real ladder:
- Off-peak Stay service: light deposit or none, on the business notice period and fee.
- Peak Stay service on the same rooms: 50% deposit or Pre-pay in Full, on the same notice period and fee or a longer notice period of its own.
The owner booking 27 December is asked for more up front. The owner booking 14 February is not. Your policy text does not change, and nothing needs enforcing by hand.
Know what that still costs you. When a peak booking is cancelled late, Petboost keeps your fee percentage of the deposit already paid, refunds the rest, and does not charge the unpaid remainder. A 50% fee on a 50% deposit protects a quarter of the stay. Pre-pay in Full is the setting that protects all of it.
Give the peak Stay service its own policy
The business default on Settings > Policies & Paperwork covers every other service, and the peak Stay service overrides it on its own tab.
- Open Services, then Manage on the peak Stay service and Manage Service.
- On Policies & Paperwork, under Change & Cancellation Policy, leave Allow changes & cancellations on.
- Set Cancellation Fee Percentage.
- Under Notice Period, choose Set Custom Duration and enter the longer notice.
- Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.
A booking that carries more than one service takes the larger fee and the longer notice of the services on it.
Show the policy before the booking, not after the cancellation
A policy the owner meets for the first time during a refund conversation is not a policy, it is an argument. Put it where they have to pass it: the booking form, the confirmation, and the pre-appointment message.
Keep Allow changes and cancellations on. Turning it off routes every change through you, which feels like control until a December Saturday. With it on, the owner cancels themselves and the fee applies exactly as configured.
The reminder SMS does useful work here if you have it. With Confirmation Reply (Y/N) turned on, an owner who replies N to cancel with less notice than your period allows is asked again: Y to cancel and pay the fee, or N to keep the booking. Some come back N. It is one of the few places where the policy does the selling for you. That feature needs an active dedicated number, which is part of the Communications Booster. Without one, reminder texts still go out but the replies do not reach Petboost, and the same conversation happens on the phone.
What to say the first time you charge one
Short, factual, no apology and no lecture:
"Hi Sarah, sorry Kiwi cannot come for the 22nd. That is inside our 14-day notice for December stays, so the $180 cancellation fee applies and the rest of the deposit has been refunded. If your plans change again before Friday we can move the dates instead and the fee comes off."
Keep the offer to move dates in. Un-cancel opens a new booking pre-filled from the cancelled one, carrying the customer and pets, services and add-ons, team member, room, date and time, notes and attachments, so rebooking them into a different week is a minute of work rather than a fresh entry. The original cancelled record stays where it is. Un-cancel and appointment recovery covers what carries across.
Before you act: cancellation fees and refunds are commercial terms between you and your customer, and this is general information rather than legal advice. Check your own terms and your obligations under Australian consumer law before you change them.