Cancellation Policy

Vynue's three cancellation policies — Flexible, Standard and Firm — what each refunds, how the platform fee applies to cancellation compensation, and what happens when a partner cancels.

Every host chooses one of three cancellation policies. It is shown on their listing and again at checkout, and the policy in force is the one locked to your booking at the moment you book — a host who changes their policy afterwards cannot apply it to a booking you already made.

The three policies

Policy	Full refund	75% refund	50% refund	No refund
Flexible	7+ days before	3–7 days before	Within 72 hours	—
Standard	30+ days before	7–30 days before	3–7 days before	Within 72 hours
Firm	60+ days before	30–60 days before	7–30 days before	Within 7 days

Standard is the default for hosts who have not chosen otherwise. Timing is measured to the hour against the event's scheduled start time, not the calendar day.

Percentages apply to the total booking value (subtotal plus platform fee), not to the deposit.

How a refund is actually calculated

Work out the entitlement. The policy percentage above is applied to the total booking value.
Reconcile against what's actually been collected. Unlike a simple refund, this can go either way:
- If you've paid more than your entitlement (e.g. you paid the full balance and then cancel in a partial-refund window), you're refunded the difference.
- If you've paid less than your entitlement requires you to owe (e.g. you've only paid a deposit and cancel in a 50%-refund window where 50% of the total is more than your deposit), you may still owe the remaining cancellation amount under the booking terms — Vynue will attempt to charge your card for the difference. This is not capped at your deposit.
Card processing fees. The payment network does not return its fee when a payment is refunded. On a client-initiated cancellation, that cost is the client's.

A worked example

A $1,200 booking under the Standard policy, cancelled 20 days before the event, with a 25% deposit ($300) already paid:

Entitlement: 75% of $1,200 = $900 refunded, $300 owed as cancellation compensation
$300 has already been collected as the deposit, which exactly matches what's owed — nothing further is charged, nothing is refunded

Cancel the same booking inside 72 hours instead (0% refund under Standard), and the full $1,200 is owed as cancellation compensation. If only the $300 deposit has been collected, Vynue attempts to charge the remaining $900 to your card on file.

Vynue's fee on cancellation compensation

If your cancellation results in cancellation compensation being paid to the partner (i.e. you are not entitled to a full refund), Vynue's applicable Platform Fee — currently 9%, unless a different rate is displayed to you or otherwise agreed — is deducted from that compensation, not from the original booking total. A $500 cancellation compensation amount, for example, nets the partner $455 after a 9% fee, not a fee calculated against the full booking price.

If you're entitled to a full refund, no compensation is paid to the partner and Vynue keeps no fee at all.

Cancelling as a client

You can cancel any booking up until it's marked complete. If the refund is anything less than 100%, you'll be asked to give a written reason before the cancellation goes through — partial and zero refunds are where disputes come from later, and a reason recorded at the time is worth more than one reconstructed afterward.

When a partner or venue cancels

Cancellation by the partner or venue is treated differently, deliberately:

You're refunded 100% of everything you paid — not just the deposit, and regardless of which policy was in effect or how close to the event it is.
The partner or venue bears the card processing fee, not you. It's recorded as a debt against their account and recovered from their next payout.
Vynue may also suggest a replacement partner or venue that's reasonably similar. This is only a suggestion — it's never booked automatically, isn't guaranteed to exist, and you have to actively choose to book it. Your full refund applies either way.
The partner or venue faces account consequences for cancelling — see What happens if I cancel as a Partner?

The asymmetry is the point: you did nothing wrong, so the policy that exists to protect a partner's calendar doesn't apply to you.

Bookings that resolve themselves

No response within 24 hours. If a host doesn't accept a request in time, it expires and the authorisation on your card is released — nothing is charged. (This is separate from the 72-hour post-event completion window; see Payments & Deposits.)
Balance charge fails. If the balance can't be taken seven days before the event and isn't resolved, the host may cancel the booking for non-payment.

Choosing a policy as a host

Flexible attracts more bookings and more late changes — good if your dates are easy to refill.
Standard is the sensible default for most partners.
Firm suits venues and anyone whose date, once held, can't realistically be resold.

You're choosing how much risk to carry versus how many enquiries you convert. Publishing a Firm policy and then refunding generously case by case is the worst of both — clients read the policy before they book, not after.

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