This article is about automatic cancellation when underbooked: how to give one class session or event its own rule, or take it out of automatic cancellation. The Hours before start field in this setting is the time when Zenamu checks the minimum number of people. It isn't a cancellation deadline for clients and doesn't change how late clients can cancel their own booking. To set that, see Cancellation deadline and cancellation fees for class and appointment bookings.
Global settings cover most situations, but sometimes you need an exception. A workshop you want to run even if just one person signs up. Or a class where the global minimum isn't strict enough and you want a higher bar. So for any class session or event, you can override the global rule, or take the session out of automatic cancellation entirely. This article explains how.
Where to find the settings
The setting sits on every class session, event, and class template, in the Advanced booking settings section — open it when you create or edit a class session or event. Look for Automatic cancellation when underbooked. There you'll find a choice with three options.
Automatic cancellation when underbooked is available on the current Expert and Ultimate plans and during the trial. On other plans, including superseded plans shown with a year such as Expert 2024, the options are disabled and show Not available in your plan.
The three options
Use global settings (default) — the session follows your studio's global settings. Right below the option you can see what that means for this session, for example "min. 3 of 5 people (50%), 24 h in advance". If global cancellation is off, you'll see a note that the session won't be cancelled automatically.
Custom settings for this session — you enter exact values just for this session: Minimum number of people and Hours before start. Here you set a specific number of people, not a percentage.
Do not cancel this session automatically — the session is never cancelled automatically, even while global cancellation is running. Handy for events you want to run no matter what.
What does "Hours before start" mean?
Hours before start is the moment Zenamu counts the bookings for this class session or event. If fewer people than the Minimum number of people are booked at that moment, the session is cancelled automatically. For example, 24 means the check runs 24 hours before the session starts.
Hours before start doesn't limit when clients can cancel. How late clients can cancel their own booking is set only in the studio-wide Cancellation deadline under Settings › Bookings and rules › Booking cancellation › Sessions. There's no cancellation deadline for a single class session.
Custom settings work independently of the global ones
A session's own rule applies regardless of the global toggle:
A custom minimum on a specific session applies even when global automatic cancellation is off.
And when global cancellation is running, you take a specific session out of it with Do not cancel this session automatically.
So the global settings and the session-level settings don't clash — the session always wins.
How many people you can set
With custom settings, you enter the minimum as an exact number of people. The lowest value is 1, the highest is the session's capacity. You can't enter a number higher than the capacity — Zenamu warns you that "The minimum must not exceed the session capacity".
Class templates
When you save custom settings on a class template, they're pre-filled for every new class session you create from that template. So you set it once instead of dealing with it for each class. You can still change it on a specific session whenever you need to.
When the check time has already passed
If you turn on a custom rule for a session and the check time has already passed in the meantime (say you set the check for 24 hours ahead, but only 20 hours are left before the start), Zenamu lets you know the check will run right after you save. The session is evaluated straight away, not at some later point.
What happens after a cancellation
When automatic cancellation cancels a session, everyone who booked gets a refund and a notification. For exactly how refunds work with each payment method, see the article on payments and refunds for automatic cancellation.