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Booking deposits & no-show fees

A booking deposit — also called a card guarantee — secures a reservation with the guest’s card. The guest saves a card when they book, but nothing is charged at that moment: the card is only charged if the guest doesn’t show up or cancels too late. When everything goes as planned, the guarantee is released without any charge.

This is the tool for protecting the tables that cost you the most to lose — Friday and Saturday dinners, holidays, big tables — without asking guests for a payment upfront.

How a card guarantee works

Section titled “How a card guarantee works”

Four things can happen to a deposit, and only two of them involve money moving.

Nothing charged at booking

The guest enters their card while booking and the card is stored securely with your payment provider. The reservation is confirmed as soon as the card is saved.

Free cancellation

Until the free-cancel window you choose (for example 24 hours before the booking), the guest can cancel or move their reservation from their booking management page with no charge — the guarantee is simply released.

No-show or late cancel

If the guest doesn’t arrive, or cancels after the free window, the fee is charged automatically to the saved card — either the full deposit or a fixed fee you configure.

Visit happens

When the party is seated and served — or you complete the booking in the CRM — the guarantee is released and the card is never charged.

The guest always sees the policy before confirming: the booking form shows a notice such as “A card guarantee of €20.00 is required. Free cancellation until 24 hours before your booking.” When deposits are on, the email address becomes a required field — it’s how the guest receives the link to manage or cancel their booking.

The booking form with the card-guarantee notice showing the amount and the free-cancellation window
The card-guarantee notice on the public booking form — amount and free-cancel window come straight from your settings.

Setting it up

Section titled “Setting it up”
  1. Open Web Page in the left menu and go to the Prenotazioni tab.
  2. In the Settings card, find the Booking deposits section and turn on Require card guarantee.
  3. Set the Amount (EUR) and choose the Amount mode:
    • Fixed per booking — the same guarantee for every reservation, whatever the party size (for example €20).
    • Per cover (× party size) — the amount is multiplied by the number of guests (for example €10 per person: a table of four leaves a €40 guarantee).
  4. Set the Free cancel window (hours) — how many hours before the booking time a guest can still cancel free of charge. 24 is a common choice.
  5. Choose the No-show fee:
    • Full deposit amount — the whole guarantee is charged.
    • Fixed fee — a smaller amount (never more than the deposit) is charged instead.
  6. Save the changes.
The Booking deposits settings section with the card guarantee toggle, amount, amount mode, free cancel window and no-show fee options
The Booking deposits section under Web Page ▸ Prenotazioni.

Following deposits on a booking

Section titled “Following deposits on a booking”

Every booking that carries a guarantee shows a Deposit / card guarantee panel on its detail page, with the amount, the saved card (brand and last four digits) and the current status.

The Deposit / card guarantee panel on a booking showing the amount, the saved card and the action buttons
The Deposit / card guarantee panel on a booking detail shows the status and the available actions.

The main statuses you’ll see:

  • Awaiting card — the guest started booking but hasn’t saved a card yet.
  • Guaranteed — the card is saved and the booking is protected. Nothing has been charged.
  • Charged — a no-show or late-cancel fee was collected.
  • Charge failed — the bank declined the charge or needs the guest to authenticate it. You can retry from the panel, and the guest can also complete the authentication from their booking management page.
  • Released — the guarantee was closed with no charge (the visit happened, or the guest cancelled in time).
  • Waived — your team deliberately dropped the guarantee.

From the panel you can act directly on the deposit:

  • Charge now — collect the fee manually (for example when a guest calls to cancel late).
  • Release — close the guarantee without charging.
  • Waive — drop the guarantee entirely, including when no card was ever saved.
  • Refund — give back a fee that was already charged.
  • Confirm without card — an override for when the guest can’t provide a card at all (phone bookings, card problems). The booking is confirmed and the open guarantee is waived.

When you mark a booking as No Show, or when a guest cancels after the free window, the fee charge is queued automatically — you don’t need to press anything. If the payment provider needs the guest to authenticate the charge, the booking stays flagged as Charge failed until it is retried (by you, or by the guest from their management page).

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