Two situations trigger a cancellation at Padelya: the host or a joiner cancels manually, or the system auto-cancels an under-filled open match. This article covers both — when each happens, what you still owe the club, and how the host can override an auto-cancel.
Payment happens at the club, not on Padelya. Nothing is charged when you book, so a cancellation never starts an online refund. The scale below is what the club may still ask you for.
When matches auto-cancel
Each club configures two thresholds in their settings:
- Minimum joiners (1 to 4) — the number of confirmed joiners a public match needs by the lead-time window. Below this number, the match is at risk of cancellation.
- Auto-cancel lead time (6h, 12h, 24h, or OFF) — how far ahead of the match start the system checks. OFF disables the feature entirely for the club; under-filled matches stay open until the standard T-2h expiry.
Concretely: if your club is set to "≥ 3 joiners by 24h", the system checks every public match 24 hours before its start. If fewer than 3 joiners are confirmed, the host (you, if you booked it) gets a notification. After a 2-hour grace window, if no one took action, the match is cancelled and nobody owes anything.
"Keep match anyway" override
When the system flags your match as at risk, you receive an in-app notification, a push, and an email. All three carry the same "Keep match anyway" button. Tap it and:
- The auto-cancel cron will skip this match in all future passes.
- The match stays public and joinable until the standard T-2h expiry.
- You can still cancel it manually at any time via the booking page.
You have 2 hours from the moment you receive the notification to decide. After that window, if the joiner count is still below threshold AND you didn't tap "Keep anyway", the system cancels the match.
What you still owe
The cancellation policy your club sets is evaluated at the moment of cancellation. The typical scale is:
- Nothing to pay — when the cancellation happens more than 24 hours before the start.
- Half the price — between 24h and 6h before the start.
- The full price — within 6 hours of the start.
Auto-cancellations use the same scale: if your match auto-cancels at T-24h with a "free up to 24h" rule, nobody owes anything. If a club has a stricter policy and the auto-cancel happens inside its charged window, the club may still ask for its share (though this is rare — auto-cancel windows are usually wider by design).
Nothing to wait for
You paid nothing when you booked, so a cancellation starts no refund, produces no statement line, and there is no bank delay to sit through. If money is due under the policy above, you settle it with the club directly.
Manual cancellation
If you (as the host) decide to cancel a match yourself rather than wait for auto-cancel, open the booking page and tap Cancel. The same scale applies. The cancellation cascade releases every joiner and removes the match from discovery.
If the club cancels (operator-initiated), every joiner sees the amount breakdown before the cancel lands — the operator can read it row by row so they know exactly what each player owes, if anything.
If something looks wrong
If the club charges you something the policy did not announce, talk to the club first — they set and apply the policy. If that goes nowhere, contact support with your booking number (the 8-character ID shown on the booking page) and we'll look at what the policy said at the moment you cancelled.
Last updated: 2026-08-02