Refunds, cancellations and no-show fees when nobody is at the front desk

With no front desk, every refund and every no-show has to be settled by a rule that runs without you. The rule has to be shown to the golfer before they pay, or the dispute lands on you.

Sources read and rows checked 2026-10-18.

Put your own numbers through it.Open the free studio calculator

What Stripe documents about refunds

Fact	Source
Stripe says you can cancel a payment before it completes at no cost, or refund after it succeeds, which might incur a fee; Stripe's processing fees from the original transaction are not returned.	Stripe docs: refund and cancel payments (read 2026-10-18)
Stripe says a customer sees a card refund as a credit about 5 to 10 business days later, depending on the bank, and that a refund can fail if the bank cannot process it.	Stripe docs: refund and cancel payments (read 2026-10-18)
Stripe's standard US online card rate is 2.9% + 30¢ per successful domestic card transaction.	Stripe: pricing (read 2026-10-18)
The National Golf Foundation reports that the average simulator session hosts three players and over 40% of groups split the cost, which it says underscores the need for payment systems that handle split payments.	National Golf Foundation: The Golf Simulator Opportunity (white paper, April 2025) (read 2026-10-18)

What OpenTeeSheet does

Fact	Source
You set a cancellation window from 30 minutes up to 7 days (default 30 minutes). A golfer who cancels before it is refunded automatically; inside it the booking is still cancelled, the bay is freed and the door code is revoked, but the prepaid payment is kept. The golfer reads the rule before paying.	OpenTeeSheet behaviour, pinned by automated tests: cancel-policy-realdb.test.ts, cancel-booking.test.ts
A whole-dollar no-show fee is optional and off at $0. The golfer sees the amount and agrees before paying, and their card is saved for it.	OpenTeeSheet behaviour, pinned by automated tests: no-show-fee-realdb.test.ts
The fee is charged only when the door lock's own webhook is live for that venue, the booking held a credential it can report on, the session ended, the grace period passed, and not one door event and no check-in exists. If that signal is unavailable the booking waits for the venue to confirm; it is never a guess.	OpenTeeSheet behaviour, pinned by automated tests: no-show-fee-realdb.test.ts, no-show-fee-unit.test.ts
One charge per booking, ever, at the amount the golfer agreed to. A decline is final and the venue is told; cancelled bookings and attended bookings are never charged. The venue can waive the fee.	OpenTeeSheet behaviour, pinned by automated tests: no-show-fee-realdb.test.ts
Payments run through the venue's own Stripe account, and the platform takes no application fee on any booking.	OpenTeeSheet behaviour, pinned by automated tests: no-application-fee.test.ts

Choosing your window

A longer window protects the bay-hour; a shorter one wins the booking. Nobody publishes a correct number for every town, so try one and read your own cancellation report.
Put the rule where the golfer pays, not only in your terms page.
Use the calculator to see what one empty bay-hour a week costs you over a month.

Run the studio with nobody at the desk

OpenTeeSheet takes the booking, the payment and the door code, with zero commission. $149 a month for up to 4 bays, $249 for unlimited, 14-day free trial, no card to start.

Start your 14-day trial

Sources

Stripe docs: refund and cancel payments, read 2026-10-18
Stripe: pricing, read 2026-10-18
National Golf Foundation: The Golf Simulator Opportunity (white paper, April 2025), read 2026-10-18