Setting deposit rules

How rules work

A booking is checked against your Deposit rules. If one matches, the guest is asked for a card. If none matches, they book as normal.

That is why deposits are not an on/off decision for the venue — with no rules, turning them on changes nothing at all.

The fields

• Protection type — a prepaid booking deposit, or a saved card for a no-show fee.
• Amount per guest ($) — per head, not per booking. $20 on a table of six is $120.
• Applies to party size (optional) — the most useful one. Leave the rest empty and you have “large parties only”.
• Shift name (optional) — matches the shift by name, so Dinner can differ from Lunch.
• Specific date (optional) — for New Year's Eve and Mother's Day.
• Cancellation window (hours) — how long before the booking a guest can still cancel without losing it.

Leave a field empty and it simply does not narrow the rule. A rule with everything empty applies to every booking, which is worth realising before you save it.

Your terms

Terms & cancellation policy (shown to the guest before paying) is exactly what it says — the guest reads it at the moment they are deciding to hand over a card.

Write what actually happens, in your own words: how much, whether it comes off the bill, and by when they can cancel. It is both the fairest thing to do and the thing you will point at when someone disputes a charge.