Serene
Serene

Refund and cancellation policy

What happens to your money when a booking is cancelled, moved, missed, or not accepted.

Last updated

In short

  • Each salon sets its own cancellation window, late-cancellation fee and no-show fee. The booking app shows the fees before you book (WhatsApp does not yet), and your booking keeps the window and fee percentages it was made with.
  • A cancellation or no-show fee is only ever kept out of money you have already paid; it is never charged on top. If you paid nothing, a cancellation or a no-show costs you nothing. Moving a booking never costs a fee, but once you have paid toward it, you cannot move it yourself inside the cancellation window if the salon charges a late-cancellation fee; contact the salon (see If you reschedule).
  • A refund goes back the way you paid: the part you paid by card goes back to that card, and your bank may take up to 10 days to show it; the rest goes to your Serene wallet straight away. If the card cannot take the refund, that part goes to your wallet instead.
  • If the salon cancels or rejects your booking, you get back the deposit or full price you paid for it with no fee taken.

The salon's cancellation terms

  • Cancellation window. The time before your appointment within which cancelling counts as late, for example 24 hours. Inside it, a booking you have paid toward can no longer be moved in the booking app or on WhatsApp if the salon charges a late-cancellation fee (see If you reschedule). A salon that has not set one lets you cancel free at any time before the start.
  • Late-cancellation fee. A percentage of your deposit, not of the full price.
  • No-show fee. A percentage of your deposit.
  • Your booking keeps the window and fee percentages it was made with, even if the salon changes them later. If the booking's price changes, for example because the salon adds a service, the fees change in proportion.
  • If cancelling would cost a late-cancellation fee, the booking app tells you before you cancel how much you will get back.

If you cancel

  • Before the cancellation window: you get back the deposit or the full price you paid for the booking.
  • Inside the window: you get back what you paid, minus the salon's late-cancellation fee.
  • Once your appointment has started, or the salon has marked you as arrived: you can no longer cancel it yourself. Ask the salon: it can complete the booking, cancel it and refund what you paid in full, or mark it as a no-show.
  • If you paid nothing, cancelling before the start costs nothing.
  • The refund is made the moment you cancel: the part you paid by card goes back to that card (your bank may take up to 10 days to show it), and the rest is added to your wallet. The booking app's notifications tell you the amount and where it went, and so does e-mail if you gave an address. If you made the booking on WhatsApp, WhatsApp tells you too, if you have messaged Serene there in the last 24 hours and have not turned those messages off; otherwise check the booking app.

If you reschedule

  • You can move a booking that has not ended, until the salon marks you as arrived, within the salon's booking limits shown in the app.
  • Inside the cancellation window, or after the start time, you cannot move a booking you have already paid something toward in the booking app or on WhatsApp, if the salon charges a late-cancellation fee on it: contact the salon, which can still move it. The app and WhatsApp show the salon's phone number when the salon has given one. Paid toward the booking means a deposit or any part of its price, paid online or recorded by the salon as paid at the salon, once that payment has gone through. If you have paid nothing toward the booking, or the salon charges no late-cancellation fee on it, you can move it yourself as usual. Moving a booking never costs a fee.
  • At a salon that confirms bookings by hand, moving a booking the salon has already accepted sends the salon a request, and your booking keeps its time until the salon accepts the new one. A booking the salon has not accepted yet still moves straight away and has to be accepted: if the salon does not accept it before the new start time, it is rejected, and the deposit or price you paid is refunded in full.
  • The salon has to answer your request before the earliest of these: 23 hours after you made it, two hours before your booking's current time, and two hours before the time you asked for. The booking app and WhatsApp show you that deadline. If the salon accepts, your booking moves to the new time. If it declines, accepts another booking for that time with the same staff member first, or has not answered by the deadline, nothing changes and you keep your booking at its time. If the salon changes your booking's time or staff member itself while your request waits, your request is closed.
  • You can withdraw a request until the salon answers it or the deadline passes, and while it waits you cannot ask for another time. The booking app and WhatsApp offer only new times at least 2 hours 45 minutes away, and offer no request once the booking is less than 2 hours 45 minutes away, or once five requests have been made for it, whatever became of them; contact the salon, which can still move it.

If you do not show up

  • The salon can mark a booking as a no-show from its start time.
  • The salon keeps its no-show fee, a percentage of your deposit, and the rest of what you paid is refunded the way you paid: to your card for a card payment (your bank may take up to 10 days to show it), otherwise to your wallet. If you paid nothing, there is no charge.
  • The salon can choose to waive the fee.

If the salon cancels or rejects your booking

  • You get back the deposit or full price you paid for the booking with no fee taken.
  • If more than a short time, set by Serene, has passed since the salon confirmed your booking, a salon that cancels it has to give a reason. The booking app's notifications show it to you, and so does e-mail if you gave an address; WhatsApp does not show it yet.
  • A booking request the salon does not accept before the start time is rejected automatically and refunded in full.
  • If the salon accepts another booking for the same time and staff member, your booking request is rejected and refunded in full. A request to move a booking you already have is declined instead, and your booking keeps its time.

Where refunds go

  • When a booking is refunded, the part you paid by card goes back to that card through our payment provider, and your bank may take up to 10 days to show it. The rest of a refund is added to your Serene wallet at once. You can use the wallet in the booking app for future bookings and fees, and the balance has no expiry date.
  • If you booked on WhatsApp and paid by card through the payment link, the refund goes back to that card. Any part of a refund that goes to a wallet goes to the wallet of the Serene account under your WhatsApp number: sign in to the booking app with the same number to see and use it.
  • Refund to your card. A refund of a card payment goes back to the card by itself. If one went to your wallet instead and is still there (for example a refund made before refunds went back to cards, or one the card could not take), you can ask for it to go back to the card: message us on WhatsApp at +966 50 163 3399 with your booking reference. We take the amount out of your wallet and refund your card through our payment provider; how long it then takes to reach your card depends on your bank. Money you paid from your wallet is refunded to your wallet.
  • If money you paid reaches a booking after it was cancelled, rejected or marked as a no-show, or you paid more than was owed, it is not always returned automatically. Message us and we will return it: to the card it was paid with where we can, otherwise to your wallet.
  • If a card payment you made in the booking app does not reach a booking (for example because the app closed before it finished), it is returned to your Serene wallet automatically about 6 hours after you paid, and the app tells you. It can then no longer be used for that booking: pay for the booking again from your wallet or by card.
  • A refund can never be more than what was actually paid for that booking.

Refunds from Serene

Serene can also refund you, in full or in part, for example after a complaint. These refunds go back the way you paid too: the part you paid by card to that card (your bank may take up to 10 days to show it), the rest to your wallet.

Something not right?

If you think you paid for something you did not get, or a refund is missing, message us on WhatsApp at +966 50 163 3399 with your booking reference. We will look into it and reply.

Changes to this policy

We will update this policy as Serene changes, and change the date at the top of this page. A change never alters the cancellation window and fees that applied to a booking when you made it, except in your favour.

Change record

  • 2026-11-01: If you make a booking on WhatsApp from now on, WhatsApp also tells you when a refund for it is made, how much and where it went, if you have messaged Serene there in the last 24 hours. Type "stop" in the chat to turn those messages off, and "resume" to turn them back on.
  • 2026-10-30: STC Pay is no longer offered as a way to pay. A payment made with it earlier is still refunded to your wallet.
  • 2026-10-29: A refund of a booking you paid by card now goes back to that card by itself; your bank may take up to 10 days to show it. The rest of a refund still goes to your Serene wallet. Until now every refund went to your wallet first, and you could ask for one to go back to the card.
  • 2026-10-20: At a salon that confirms bookings by hand, moving a booking the salon has already accepted is now a request: your booking keeps its time until the salon accepts the new one, and if the salon declines or does not answer in time, nothing changes. Until now such a move happened at once, and the booking then had to be accepted again or was rejected and refunded. A booking can no longer be moved in the booking app or on WhatsApp once the salon has marked you as arrived.
  • 2026-10-15: Moving a booking no longer costs a fee. Instead, once you have paid toward a booking, you cannot move it yourself in the booking app or on WhatsApp inside the salon's cancellation window, or after its start time, if the salon charges a late-cancellation fee on it: contact the salon, which can still move it. Late-cancellation and no-show fees are unchanged.
  • 2026-10-12: Once your appointment has started, or the salon has marked you as arrived, you can no longer cancel it yourself; ask the salon. When you cancel, e-mail also tells you the refund amount if you gave an address. A card payment you made in the booking app that does not reach a booking is returned to your Serene wallet automatically about 6 hours after you paid.
  • 2026-10-08: A late move costs nothing if you have paid nothing toward the booking, and a fee you paid to move a booking is refunded to your wallet automatically when the salon rejects or cancels it. This applies to bookings already made too, because it is only ever in your favour.
  • 2026-10-05: First published.