LARP — Cancellation & Refund Policy
Last updated: September 22, 2026 · Cancellation terms in effect since: September 16, 2026
This Policy explains what happens when a Session is cancelled or someone doesn't show up, and how refunds work. It's part of the Terms of Service. The refundable security deposit and damage claims are covered separately in the Damage, Holds & Disputes Policy. All money moves through Stripe; your payment settles into LARP's Stripe account and refunds are issued from there back to your original payment method — see ToS §7.2.
1. Quick summary
| Situation | Creator outcome | Owner outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Creator cancels at least 24 hours before start | Full refund of the session price and the security deposit | No payout |
| Creator cancels less than 24 hours before start (once the Owner has accepted), or doesn't show up | In-app cancellation is not available — contact support; handled case-by-case | Handled case-by-case |
| Creator finishes early once the Session has started | The Session ends; the unused time is not refunded (§2.5) | Paid for the full booked time |
| Owner never answers a paid request | Booking cancelled automatically and refunded in full — session price and security deposit | No payout; the booking is lost |
| Owner cancels before the Session starts | Full refund of the session price and the security deposit | No payout for the cancelled Session |
| Owner ends the Session early, for an Owner-side reason | Prorated refund of the unused time (§3B.3) | Paid for the time used |
| Owner ends the Session early and reports a problem with the Creator | Money is held and reviewed before anything moves (§3B.4) | Payout held pending the review |
| Session can't safely proceed (weather, emergency, events outside anyone's control) | Reschedule if both of you agree; otherwise the Owner ends the Session and §3B.3 applies | Same — agree a reschedule, or end the Session |
2. Creator cancellations
2.1 Free cancellation window. If you cancel at least 24 hours before the Session start time, you receive a full refund of the session price and the refundable security deposit.
2.2 Inside 24 hours. If the Session starts in less than 24 hours and the Owner has already accepted your booking, it can no longer be cancelled in-app. A paid request the Owner has not yet accepted can still be cancelled in-app at any time for a full refund. Contact support at admin@larp.global — we handle these situations case-by-case.
2.3 After start / no-show. The same applies once the Session start time has passed, including if you don't show up: contact support at admin@larp.global and we will review the situation case-by-case.
2.5 Finishing early. Once a Session has started you can end it yourself — the "I'm finished" action in the app. The Session ends there, the Owner is paid for the full booked time, and the unused time is not refunded. Use it only when you have what you came for.
2.4 How to cancel. While you are outside the 24-hour window, cancel in-app from your booking; the time of cancellation is when you submit it in-app. Inside the window, contact support instead.
3. Owner cancellations
3.1 If an Owner cancels before the Session starts — at any time, for any reason — the Creator receives a full refund of the session price and the security deposit.
3.3 Once the Session has started an Owner cannot cancel it. They can end it early, and §3B governs what happens to the money.
3.2 Owner no-show. If the Owner doesn't appear, or the Car or location materially differs from the Listing such that the Session can't proceed, contact support at admin@larp.global; we will review the situation and process refunds consistent with this Policy. The Owner (or their representative) must be present for the entire Session — it's a core rule of the platform.
3A. When an Owner never answers
3A.1 You are not left waiting indefinitely. A booking request is paid for at the moment you book, and the Owner then has to accept it. If the Owner never answers, LARP cancels the booking automatically and refunds you in full — the Session price and the security deposit. You do not need to chase it and you do not need to contact support.
3A.2 How long the Owner gets. The deadline tightens as the Session approaches, because an unanswered request close to the start time is worth less to you: roughly 24 hours to answer when the Session is far off, 12 hours when it is nearer, and 6 hours when it is close — and never later than the Session's own start time. Whichever comes first applies.
3A.3 What you are told. Both sides are notified when this happens: you are told the booking was cancelled and refunded, and the Owner is told they lost the booking by not responding. Refunds return to your original payment method through Stripe and your bank may take a few days to show them (§6).
3B. Ending a Session early
3B.1 Who can end it. Once a Session has started, the Owner can end it early. The Creator can also finish early (§2.5). Nobody else can end a Session.
3B.2 Two paths. What happens to the money depends on the reason the Owner gives:
- Owner-side reasons — the Owner needs to stop, changes their mind, there is a problem with the Car, or conditions outside anyone's control (weather, an emergency). The refund in §3B.3 is calculated and issued automatically.
- Reasons that report a problem with the Creator — the Creator left, broke the Session rules, or the Owner felt unsafe. Nothing moves automatically: the Creator's refund and the Owner's payout are both held and reviewed under §3B.4.
3B.3 The prorated refund. You are refunded for the time you did not get, counted from the minute the Session ends:
Refund = (unused minutes ÷ booked minutes) × (the Owner's share + LARP's service fee)
There is no minimum and no cut-off — the calculation runs from the first minute. Two things are never refunded on an early end, and we say so plainly: card processing, because the card networks keep it even when a payment is refunded, and the location fee where one was charged, because the Owner has already made the journey. Any paid overtime you did not use is refunded on the same basis.
Worked example. A 60-minute Session at $180 all-in breaks down as $149.00 to the Owner, $22.43 LARP service fee and $8.57 card processing. If the Owner ends it at minute 30, you are refunded $85.72; the Owner earns $74.50 and LARP keeps $11.21 of its fee plus the $8.57 processing.
3B.4 When the Owner reports a problem with you. The Owner must give a reason and a written account of what happened. Then:
- You are told straight away what was reported and what it means for your money.
- You have 72 hours to respond in the app. Both of you can add evidence until that window closes.
- We decide within 5 business days of the window closing or of your response, whichever comes first, on the standard of more likely than not, on the evidence both of you provide.
- Both of you are told the outcome in writing, with reasons. Either of you can appeal once, within 7 days; a different person decides the appeal. The money moves once that 7-day window closes, or once an appeal is decided.
- If the report is upheld, the Owner is paid in full — the Session and any overtime already purchased — and nothing is refunded to you. If it is not upheld, or no fault is established, the Session is treated as an ordinary early end under §3B.3.
3B.5 If we do not decide in time. If you respond within your 72 hours and we miss our own deadline, the money resolves to the ordinary §3B.3 outcome — our delay never decides the matter against you. If you do not respond at all, the hold is released to the Owner, who is paid in full for the Session and any overtime already purchased — unless we had suspended your account, in which case your silence is not held against you and the §3B.3 outcome applies. No hold lasts longer than 14 days without a written decision; if we reach that point, the §3B.3 outcome applies. A decision reached because a deadline passed is a written decision like any other, and can be appealed the same way.
3B.6 Safety is handled separately. If an Owner reports feeling unsafe, that goes to our safety process as well as this one. A money decision is not a safety decision and neither waits for the other.
3B.7 Your deposit is not affected. The refundable security deposit follows §6.2 whatever happens above, unless a damage claim is filed.
4. No-shows and late arrivals
4.1 If the other party hasn't arrived at the scheduled start time, message them in-app first. If the Session can't go ahead, contact support at admin@larp.global — no-show situations are handled case-by-case under this Policy.
4.2 Late arrivals and extensions. Owners are not required to extend a Session because a Creator arrived late; any extension is at the Owner's discretion. An extension the Owner approves is charged separately, during the Session, at the rate set out in the Fees & Pricing Policy — it is not part of the payment taken at booking.
5. Weather, safety, and events outside anyone's control
Judging the conditions is for the two of you: check the forecast and the site before the Session, and if it can't safely proceed because of weather, an emergency, a government order or another event outside your reasonable control, don't proceed — safety comes first, and never continue an unsafe shoot.
If you both agree to move the Session, contact support at admin@larp.global and we will help you reschedule. If you do not agree, the Owner ends the Session and the prorated refund in §3B.3 applies, exactly as it would for any other Owner-side reason.
6. How refunds work
6.1 Mechanics. Refunds are issued to your original payment method through Stripe. Once a refund is issued, the time it takes to appear depends on your bank. LARP instructs Stripe to refund; the money returns from LARP's Stripe account to your card or wallet.
6.2 The security deposit. The refundable security deposit (2× the session price, minimum $200, maximum $2,000) is charged with the session price in a single payment and is refunded — it is not a pre-authorization that lapses. On a cancellation that refunds the booking, the deposit is refunded with it. Otherwise it is refunded automatically within about 6 hours of the Session completing — the Owner has the first 5 hours after completion to open a damage claim, and an open claim pauses the refund until it resolves and its 7-day appeal window closes. A Session is marked complete about 30 minutes after its booked time runs out (counted from when it actually started, if it started late) even if the Owner does not close it out — unless it never started, was stopped for safety, or is part of an early end still being settled, which wait for our team. In the rare case that none of this happens, the deposit is refunded no later than 8 days after the booking date. See per the Damage, Holds & Disputes Policy.
6.3 Disputes. If you disagree with a cancellation or refund outcome, see the dispute process in the Damage, Holds & Disputes Policy. Please use it before initiating a card chargeback.
7. Changes
We may update this Policy; the version in effect when you booked governs that booking. We'll post the new "Last updated" date.