Policies for class cancellations, waitlists, and no-shows are managed under Business Settings (Global Settings) or Location Settings.

To access policies from Business Settings follow these steps:

To access policies from Locations follow these steps:

In Walla, class settings like waitlists, late cancellations, and no-shows are managed either at the global (business) level or the location level, depending on your setup.

❗️Note: Policies apply to all class types. They cannot be customized per class or plan.

Managing waitlists and no-shows helps keep your classes running smoothly and ensures fairness for all clients.

In this section, we'll cover how waitlists behave, when clients are automatically refunded, and how no-shows are tracked — including what happens if a client is moved into class after the late cancellation window has closed.

Here’s everything you need to know:

You can manage your waitlist rules under Business Settings → Classes/Enrollments → Waitlist & Cancellation.

Here, you’ll control how soon before class clients can add themselves to a waitlist by entering a time under "When does the waitlist close?".

👇 Check out this example to understand how the booking and waitlist windows interact:

Refunds are processed based on the original payment method, regardless of your Refund Settings.

If a client is automatically added to a class from the waitlist after the late cancel window has passed and then cancels their booking, they will still be charged a late cancellation fee based on your policy settings.

✅ You can manually waive the late cancel fee up to 24 hours after the class ends if needed.

Here’s how booking, waitlist movement, and staff actions behave depending on whether the booking window or waitlist lock window has passed:

If staff attempts to add a client after the waitlist has locked❗ They will see an error message: ​"Client is not eligible to book [Class Name]. Reason: Waitlist has closed."

Unlimited Plans (including unlimited intro offers):
Clients with unlimited plans are never deducted a session because they have unlimited access.

Penalty fees apply if you have set them up.

Limited Plans, Drop-Ins, Guest Passes, and Comp Passes:
You can decide whether a client loses or does not lose the session, fee, or credits used to pay for class.

If the client booked using a drop-in and "will not lose" is selected, the drop-in will either be refunded to the account balance or refunded back to the original payment method — depending on your Class Cancellation Policy and No-Show Refund Policy settings.

Drop-ins that are returned do not get returned as a "pass" for future booking.

If a drop-in is booked from a waitlist and the client doesn’t make it into class, it will always be refunded to the original payment method — not to account balance.

ClassPass and GymPass bookings are managed separately from Walla.
Late cancellation and no-show fees for these clients are not charged through Walla — they are handled according to the fee policies you have set directly within the ClassPass and GymPass platforms.

🔔 Important:
You cannot edit or cancel ClassPass bookings through Walla.
Any changes to these bookings must be managed by the client directly through ClassPass.

Managing how cancellations and no-shows are handled is an important part of your class policies.

You can control when cancellations are considered late, whether fees are charged, and how sessions are deducted or returned.

You can also set separate late cancellation and no-show fees for Unlimited Plans and Limited/Drop-in bookings, giving you flexibility based on the client’s plan type.

You can control how many hours before class a client must cancel to avoid a late cancellation.

If a client cancels after this window, it is treated as a late cancellation.

You can also choose to charge a late cancel fee and set different fee amounts based on the client’s plan type.

The late cancellation policy does not apply to clients on the waitlist.

If a client cancels a waitlist booking, their session is automatically refunded to their original payment method, even if your Refund Policy is set to refund to Account Balance.

If you charge a late cancellation fee or deduct a session, you have up to 24 hours after the class ends to adjust it.

Clients are considered no-shows if they are not checked into class.
A client is officially marked as a no-show 24 hours after the class ends.
If they are checked in during that 24-hour window, they will not be marked as a no-show.

You can charge a no-show fee or deduct a session for no-shows.
You also have up to 24 hours after class to remove the fee or return the session if needed.
You can make these adjustments from the Late Cancellations & Client No-Shows tab inside the class roster.

Clients can cancel their waitlist booking at any time.

Unlimited Plans (including unlimited intro offers):
Clients with unlimited plans are never deducted a session because they have unlimited access. Penalty fees apply if you have set them up.

Limited Plans, Drop-Ins, Guest Passes, and Comp Passes:
You can decide whether a client loses or does not lose the session, fee, or credits used to pay for class.

If the client booked using a drop-in and "will not lose" is selected, the drop-in will either be refunded to the account balance or refunded back to the original payment method — depending on your Class Cancellation Policy and No-Show Refund Policy settings.

Drop-ins that are returned do not get returned as a "pass" for future booking.

If a drop-in is booked from a waitlist and the client doesn’t make it into class, it will always be refunded to the original payment method — not to account balance.

ClassPass and GymPass bookings are managed separately from Walla.
Late cancellation and no-show fees for these clients are not charged through Walla — they are handled according to the fee policies you have set directly within the ClassPass and GymPass platforms.

If you do not want to charge a fee for no-shows or late cancellations, set the penalty amount to $0.00.

If you do want to charge a fee, simply enter the amount you want to charge.

Penalty fees are charged 24 hours after class ends.

ClassPass and GymPass bookings:
Clients booking through ClassPass or GymPass are not charged late cancellation or no-show fees through Walla.

They are charged based on the policies you have entered in those external platforms.

Guest Bookings:
If a guest no-shows or late cancels, the main client who booked the guest will be charged the fee.

Livestream Bookings:
The late cancellation policy always applies to livestream classes.
If a client does not click the booking link to join the livestream, they will not be automatically checked into class.

If they copy and paste the Zoom meeting ID instead of using the link, they also will not be auto-checked in — and could be charged a no-show fee.
To avoid this, always manually check in livestream clients if needed.

The Refund Policy setting only applies to drop-in bookings.

When a client cancels a class through the widget or at the front desk, you can choose whether the refund goes back to their original payment method or to their account balance.

Currently, there is no option to deny a refund — a refund will always be issued in one of these two ways.

If you select Original Payment Method, the client will be refunded back to the payment method they used to purchase the drop-in.

If you select Account Balance, the refund will go to the client’s internal balance in your system, which they can use for future purchases in-studio, through the widget, or in the Walla App.

Clients' account balances and full balance details can be found under the Overview tab in their profile.

If a refund to the original payment method is selected but the client does not have a credit card on file or if there is a problem with the card, the system will refund the amount to the client’s account balance instead.

🔎 Note: Stripe transaction fees are not refunded — Stripe keeps the original processing fee when a refund is issued.

When a spot opens, waitlisted clients are automatically added to class as long as it is outside of the Waitlist Close window.

You will need to have the waitlist Transactional notifications enabled in order for clients to be informed when they are removed from a waitlist, are added to a waitlist, or when they are moved from the waitlist into a class.

Clients are not sent an email when their spot on the waitlist changes. However, their position number on the waitlist when viewing their schedule will change.

Waitlist bookings appear under the client Bookings tab under the client profile. When a client is removed from the waitlist or if they cancel their waitlist spot, the cancellations is not listed under the client Bookings tab in their profile.

The client will be charged the late cancelation fee even though they were added after the late cancel window and they may not have enough time to make the class. You can always cancel the penalty up to 24 hours after the class so they will not incur a fee or lose a session.

Waitlist close determines how long before class clients can add themselves or be added to the waitlist by staff.

If a client is on the waitlist roster and a spot opens up after the waitlist window has closed, the client can cancel their waitlist booking and book themselves into the open spot as long as it is outside of the booking close window.

A staff member can cancel the client's booking and book the client into the open spot on the roster at anytime, regardless of the booking close window.

As of August 2024, clients are no longer automatically removed from the waitlist by the system.

This is most likely due to the client not having a credit card on file, their credit card failed, or they paid with an alternative payment method such as cash, a gift card, or an account balance. If a client does not have a credit card on file or if their credit card fails when the system attempts to charge their card for the fee, their account balance will be charged. Clients who have negative account balances will appear under the Account Balance report. Negative account balances will also appear at the bottom of the client profile and can be paid directly from the clients profile.

Notifications are sent to the client 12 hours after class if you have the notifications enabled under Transactional Notifications. Notifying the client before they are charged gives the client a chance to reach out to you before they are charged or if the client needs to put funds on their credit card they can do so. If the penalties are stopped less than 12 hours after the class, the client will not receive the notification. If you deduct a pass and/or charge a fee, you have the send your client the Cancellations Sent when a client cancels outside of the cancellation window Transactional Notification. When a guest pass incurs a fee or if the guest pass will be deducted the client who booked the guest will be sent the Cancellations: Sent when a guest cancels outside of the cancellation window notification if you have the notification enabled.

The penalty is charged 24 hours after the start of class. This allows you to stop the penalty if the penalty applies. Clients are sent an email and/or text message 12 hours after their missed class notifying them of their missed class. You can remove the penalty fee or return the session directly from the class roster up to 24 hours after the class. If more than 24 hours has passes, you can return the fee or session back to the client form their profile.

If a client does not have a stored credit card on file their account balance will be charged. If the client already has a positive account balance the positive balance apply to the fee. If the client does not have a positive account balance, when the fee is charged their account balance will be negative. There is not a setting that requires clients to store a payment method on file when booking. Clients can book without storing a credit card.

If a client’s credit card fails when the system attempts to charge the card for the fee the fee will be converted to a negative account balance. Since the system converts the failed payment to an account balance the failed payment does not appear under financial reports or under their transactions tab. Currently, the client is not sent a failed transaction email when their credit card declines the no-show/late cancel charge attempt.

When a waitlist booking is made with a drop-in and the client is not added to the class, the system will refund the client back to the client's original payment method. This is not a setting that can be customized or changed, it is system functionality.

Currently, you can only restrict who has access to view the No Show/Late Cancel report, but there is no specific permission to control who can edit or stop penalty fees or return sessions.

You will see a refund for the drop-in under the Transactions Tab. If you do not see a refund for the drop-in then they did not lose their payment for the drop-in.