· 5 min read
Writing a Cancellation and Refund Policy for Your Club
A clear cancellation and refund policy protects your club's budget and keeps members happy. Here is what to include, with a simple template you can adapt.
Every club eventually gets the message: “Something came up, can I get my money back?” Without a written policy, every answer is a judgment call, and judgment calls feel unfair to whoever gets the no. A short, public cancellation and refund policy makes these conversations easy and protects the money you have already spent on the venue.
Why a policy matters
- Your gym rental is usually paid whether people show up or not.
- Late cancellations leave spots empty that a waitlisted player would have taken.
- A clear rule lets you say no without it feeling personal.
Pick a cancellation cutoff
The cutoff is how far ahead of the start time a member can cancel and still get value back. Common choices are 24 hours, 48 hours, or 7 days. Shorter cutoffs suit weekly drop-ins; longer cutoffs suit tournaments, trips, and events where you pay costs up front. For some events, such as a final tournament with prizes already bought, no cancellations is a reasonable rule as long as you say so clearly.
Store credit or cash back?
Store credit is the friendliest option for regular sessions. The member keeps the full value, uses it next time, and you avoid sending small refunds. Cash refunds make sense for one-off events or when the club cancels. HostMyClub lets you set a cancellation rule on each event and automatically returns paid fees as store credit when members cancel in time.
When the club cancels
If you cancel a session because of a gym closure, weather, or not enough players, members should get their full value back, either as credit or a refund, whichever they prefer. Say this in your policy. It builds trust that you are not keeping money for sessions that did not happen.
A simple template
- You can cancel your registration up to 24 hours before the session starts.
- If you cancel in time, any amount you paid is returned as store credit for future sessions.
- Cancellations after the cutoff, and no-shows, are not refunded.
- If we cancel a session, you get the full amount back as store credit or a refund.
- Guests follow the same rules as the member who registered them.
Make it visible
Put the policy on your club page and show the cutoff on every event, next to the Register button. Members who see the rule before they pay rarely argue with it later.