Does a client's request change the booking?

No. A request changes nothing until you approve it. You get an email and an in-app notification, and you approve or deny it from the booking.

What does a client see when they ask to cancel?

Your cancellation policy, word for word — the hunt type's policy, or your default — then what it means for their deposit. They must tick a box saying they've read it before the request will send, and Hunt Outfitter keeps a record of exactly what they were shown and when.

What if the client bought cancellation protection?

They are told the terms of their protection apply, not that their deposit is forfeited.

Does approving a cancellation refund the deposit?

No. Approving cancels the booking, voids outstanding invoices and emails the client. Any refund is yours to make. You can also put the booking on hold instead, which keeps the deposit toward a future hunt.

Yes. It's on by default on Solo, Pro, Business and Elite, and a switch in Settings hides the buttons from your clients' portal.

September 24, 2026

Client Change Requests: Cancel, New Dates, Companions

Plans change. A hunter blows out a knee in August, a work trip lands on opening week, a partner decides they’d like to come along and read by the wood stove. Until now, every one of those conversations started the same way: a text to the outfitter, or a call to the office, and a scramble to find the booking, check what was paid and remember what the contract said. Hunt Outfitter now gives your clients a proper way to ask, from their own portal: request to cancel, request new dates, or add a companion. You get the request with everything you need to answer it, and you decide.

Three requests, one place to ask

On the client portal, the card for a hunter’s upcoming hunt now has a Need to change something? row with three buttons:

Request to cancel — shows your cancellation policy first (more on that below), then sends the request.
Request new dates — the hunter picks the dates they’d like instead and can add a note.
Add a companion — for a non-hunting guest: name, email and phone if they have them, and dietary needs, which feed straight into your camp meal planning. If the booking has a companion fee, the dialog shows it; otherwise it tells the client you’ll confirm any fee. Another hunter is a different conversation, and the dialog says so.

A request is exactly that — a request. Nothing about the booking changes when a client sends one. They see it listed under the buttons as waiting on you, and they can withdraw it while it’s pending. There’s only ever one open request of each kind per booking, so a nervous hunter can’t send you five cancellation requests in an afternoon.

Cancelling shows your policy first

This is the part outfitters asked for, and the part that matters most. When a hunter clicks Request to cancel, they don’t get a blank “are you sure?” box. They get your cancellation policy, word for word — the policy on that hunt type, or your outfit’s default if the hunt type doesn’t have its own. If you haven’t written one into Hunt Outfitter, they’re pointed to the agreement they signed with you instead, with a link to it when it’s on file.

Below the policy, they see what it means for them in plain terms. If they’ve paid a deposit, they’re told that cancelling may mean it’s forfeited under those terms. If no deposit has been paid, it says so. And if they bought your cancellation protection, they’re never told they’re forfeiting anything — they’re told the terms of their protection apply, which is what they paid for.

Then they have to tick a box saying they’ve read the policy before the request will send. That isn’t just a disabled button that a determined person could get around; Hunt Outfitter refuses a cancellation request without it. And it keeps a record: the exact policy text the hunter was shown, when they acknowledged it, and whether they had cancellation protection at the time. That record is written by Hunt Outfitter from the booking itself, not from anything the hunter’s browser sends.

The reason is simple. Nearly every outfitter’s terms say a deposit is non-refundable, and nearly every deposit dispute starts with “nobody told me.” Your contract already told them. This makes sure they read it again at the moment it matters, and gives you the receipt. (If you’re still settling on what your deposit terms should be, our guide to taking deposits for guided hunts is a good place to start.)

What lands on your side

The moment a request is sent, owners and admins get an email and a notification in the app, linking straight to the booking. Guides don’t — they can’t act on it, and their inbox is busy enough in season. The request also shows up in your dashboard’s action items (“Cancellation requested — client name”) and stays there until you answer it. There’s no dismiss button on purpose: the only way to clear it is to deal with it.

On the booking itself, a Client requests card shows what was asked, the client’s message, the dates or companion details they asked for — and for a cancellation, the policy they acknowledged and when, how much deposit has been paid to date, and whether they had cancellation protection. Everything you’d otherwise go digging for before calling them back.

You decide, and approving does the work

Approving a request runs the same steps you’d take on the booking page yourself — no separate, half-finished version of them — and before you confirm, the dialog tells you exactly what will happen.

Cancel: the booking is cancelled, its outstanding invoices are voided, and the client is emailed. Hunt Outfitter doesn’t refund anything; if you choose to refund, that’s yours to do. Or choose Put on hold instead, for the injured hunter you want back next year: the slot is freed, payment reminders stop and the deposit is kept toward a future hunt.
New dates: the hunt moves, open payment due dates move with it, the guide rotation follows, and the client is emailed. If the dates don’t work — outside the season, or they clash with something — you’re told why, the request stays open, and you can move the hunt to different dates yourself or mark it handled with a note.
Companion: approving marks it handled and links you to the booking’s edit form, with the companion’s details kept on the card to copy across. You add the companion there — the one place that recalculates the total, tax and any cancellation-protection price correctly.

If you’ve connected Google Calendar, a cancelled or held hunt disappears from everyone’s calendar within the hour, and a moved one moves. The dialog says that too.

Or deny it. A denial needs a note, and the client gets that note by email and in their portal — so “we can’t move you to the second week, but the first week of November is open” reaches them in your words.

Turning it on

Client change requests are included on the Solo, Pro, Business and Elite plans, and they’re on by default. If you’d rather keep taking changes by phone, there’s a Client Change Requests switch in Settings that hides the buttons from your clients’ portal. It’s worth writing your cancellation policy into your hunt types while you’re there, if you haven’t already: it’s what your hunters will read, word for word, before they ask to cancel.

The phone will still ring — some conversations should be conversations. But the hunter who wants to move a week, or bring a partner to camp, or who needs to cancel and knows what that costs, can now tell you in a way that arrives with the booking attached and the paperwork already done. See pricing for plan details, or start free.

Start free on the Starter plan — or try a paid plan free for 14 days.