I have decided that the best way to curtail last minute cancellations from clients who have pre-booked is to go ahead and charge clients more for booking me at the last minute when I'm touring from home. But on the flipside, giving lower rates (but not cheap) to those who book in advance AND pay a deposit of say, 25%.
I had a client do a very silly thing today. My flight landed in his city, but I had a choice of either renting a vehicle to my final destination or staying here for 1 day to make extra money. I notified him of this 3 days prior. We met once before in my home city. I even check to confirm with him this morning and told him if he doesn't feel he can make it, please let me know else I can continue on to my destination rather than get a room. He says yes, let's meet at 8 pm. I actually had him and 1 other client who inquired, so felt I had some fallback. This guy texts me the minute after I send him my hotel info and gives some bozo excuse about his mother calling saying his grandmother is being rushed to the hospital. Mind you, this is some 9 hours PRIOR to our appointment. As if he's so concerned about his ailing grandmother's current condition that he has to cancel the appointment. The madam is probably already deceased for all I know. Lying sack of shit...
So just wondering ladies, for the rest of my career I feel I need to charge all out of town clients exorbitant amount higher for last minute appointments to FORCE them to book ahead and pay a deposit. Because I cannot afford to be flaked on when I'm spending my money to go on these trips. It happens on every single trip and I'm just so tired of it. I can't take it anymore, we have to start getting clients to start pre-paying for cheaper rates just like the rental car companies are doing.
An example is, if I normally charge $200/hr for a pre-booked appt, I'll also ask for 25% deposit which is $50 included. But a Last minute appointment will be $250/hr. How does that sound? I'm actually mentioned this today to 2 clients already and will not be continuing on to my next destination without putting this plan into play. This year alone, I've requested and received more deposits than previous years. But now I feel I have to ask for them regardless and everytime or have them risk paying $50-100 more for the appointment. Or perhaps I could just not see ANY clients out of town unless they pay a deposit. The ones who pay will see me, the ones who don't probably won't see me anyway.