A late cancellation is a client calling off an appointment too close to its start for the business to fill the time with someone else. Where the line sits is the business's choice: 24 hours is common for short services, and 48 hours for long colour, lash sets and anything that needs product ordered. A cancellation outside the window is simply a cancellation. Inside it, the cancellation fee or deposit rule applies.
Two details settle most arguments. First, what counts as notice: a call, a text, a voicemail, a social media message, an email at midnight. Say which, and accept all the reasonable ones. Second, when notice is measured from: the moment the message was sent, not the moment you read it.
In practice
A hair salon's rule is 48 hours for colour. A client books a $220 colour for Saturday at 10 am and texts at 7 pm on Thursday to cancel. That is 39 hours' notice, so it is a late cancellation and her $50 deposit is kept under the rule. The salon offers the Saturday slot to its waitlist that evening and fills it by 9 pm. Because the loss was covered, the owner moves the deposit to the client's next booking instead of keeping it, and tells her why.
Track late cancellations separately from no-shows. A client who cancels late twice in a season is telling you something different from one who never turns up.
In Glow Line
When a client rings to cancel and you cannot pick up, the assistant takes the message and the text reaches you straight away. Glow Line keeps when each call started and ended, so the time the notice was given is on record. See call summaries.