When you cancel an event in Understory you decide two things: which dates the cancellation covers, and what happens to the money your guests have already paid. You can refund them, give them a gift card so they can book another date, or — if your own terms allow it — neither.
Guests and guides are notified by email as soon as you confirm, including your own message.
How to Cancel a Date for an Event
Option 1: Cancel Through Calendar
Click “Calendar” in the navigation bar – View all upcoming events by date.
Click on the event you want to cancel – Event details will appear.
Press the three vertical dots (⋮) – Access more options in the event detail view.
Click “Cancel event” – The cancellation window appears.
Make your choices and confirm – See the two steps below.
Option 2: Cancel Through Experiences
Click “Experiences” in the navigation bar – See your full list of experiences.
Find and select the experience you want to amend – Opens the experience overview.
Click on the specific date you want to cancel – Detailed date page opens.
Press the three vertical dots (⋮) and click “Cancel event” – The cancellation window appears.
Make your choices and confirm – See the two steps below.
You no longer need to check whether a date has bookings before you cancel. There is one Cancel event action for every date, and Understory works out whether the date is simply removed or cancelled with a settlement.
Step 1: Choose what the cancellation covers
If the date belongs to a series of repeating dates, you are asked which dates to take down. Each option tells you how many dates it covers, and how many bookings are affected.
Only this event – just the date you clicked.
Entire series – every date in the series.
Only events without bookings – clears the empty dates and leaves the booked ones running. This option only appears when the series has both kinds — on a series where no dates have bookings, only the two options above are offered.
A single date that is not part of a series skips this step — there is nothing to choose between.
Step 2: Choose what happens to the money
If any of the dates you are cancelling have bookings, click Continue to choose how those guests are settled.
Refund guests – the money goes back to the guest, and lands in their account within 5–10 business days.
Send gift card – each guest gets a gift card matching what they paid, and an email inviting them to book another date. The money stays in your account.
No refunds – guests get nothing back. Only use this if your own terms and legal assessment allow it.
You can also write a reason for cancelling. This is optional, and it goes into the email your guests receive — so write it for them, not for your own records.
Save your choices for next time
If you often cancel for the same reason — bad weather, too few participants — tick Save as default. Your settlement choice and your reason text are filled in for you the next time you cancel an event.
Your defaults for cancelling an event are kept separately from your defaults for cancelling a single booking.
How Cancellation Works
Once you confirm, the dates are taken down and every affected guest and guide gets an email with your message. Dates with no bookings on them are simply removed.
If you chose Send gift card, each guest receives a gift card worth what they paid, along with a clear invitation to pick a new date. The card is marked as issued from a cancellation and is linked back to the original booking, so you can always see where it came from. How long the card stays valid comes from your own gift card settings — see "Gift Card Configurations".
For a step-by-step walkthrough of this, see "Cancel an event and offer guests a gift card instead of a refund".
A guest who would rather have the money than a gift card can ask for it from that email. Understory then refunds the original payment and closes the gift card.
Tips
Use the cancellation message to inform guests about other similar experiences or new available dates. This encourages repeat business.
Send gift card keeps the revenue in your business and gives the guest a one-click path back. For weather-dependent experiences it is usually the better option.
You can move customers to a different event within the same experience if wanted, keeping guests happy and minimizing lost revenue. See "Manage Your Sales".
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