What can guests pay when they book? (What guests pay)

One page for deposits, full payments, a card to hold and pre-order money — which one a booking is asked for, what a booking would pay, and one set of cancellation and refund rules.

Settings → Payments and deposits → What guests pay (/dashboard/settings/what-guests-pay) is the one page for everything a booking can be asked to pay — a deposit, the full price, a card to hold for a no-show fee, and money for dishes chosen while booking — and for when money comes back. It replaced the separate Deposits, Pay in full and No-show protection pages: old links and bookmarks open the right section here. Pre-orders keeps its own page for who is invited, the dishes and the kitchen screens; only its money is set here. Owners and Admins can open it, and any money taken goes straight to your own Stripe account (connect Stripe first).

The page reads top to bottom in the order a payment is decided, with one save bar for all of it.

Setting up payments, step by step

The quickest way to start is Set up payments, at the top of the page. It opens a window that asks one thing at a time — Which payments (Pay in full, A deposit, A card to hold) → Who pays (the smallest party each one asks) → How much (per person or per booking, and whether a card is required) → Online or at the venue (for a deposit: Online only, At the venue only or Both — the guest picks) → Money back (Full refund, Partial refund or No refunds, and the cut-off) — then a Review that says in plain words what each booking will pay and what guests get back, before you click Save payments. Every section below stays for fine-tuning: party-size tiers, day-and-time rules, special dates, trusted regulars and more.

A payment your plan doesn't include, or one that needs Stripe when Stripe isn't connected, can't be switched on in the window; one already on can always be switched off. Without Stripe, a deposit can only be paid at your venue — the window asks you to choose At the venue only or Both before it saves. The owner can click Connect Stripe on the Which payments step: your answers are kept, Stripe's own sign-up opens, and when you finish you're back in the window on the same step.

Which payment a booking is asked for

Only one payment is taken per booking. The first section, Which payment a booking is asked for, lists the order, each step with what it does for you right now:

• Dishes paid for while booking — pre-order money (*Available on Pro plan and above*).
• Pay in full (*Available on Pro plan and above*).
• Deposit (*Available on Plus plan and above*).
• Card to hold — a saved card for a no-show fee (*Available on Plus plan and above*).
• Nothing to pay.

The first of these that applies to a booking is what it's asked for, and everything below it is skipped. Which wins: "Dishes paid for while booking beat pay in full; pay in full beats a deposit; a deposit beats a card to hold." So a booking that pays in full is never also asked for a deposit or a card, and a booking that pays a deposit is never asked to save a card. Within each one, "A special date beats your day-and-time rules, which beat your everyday rules." And a special date's own deposit beats your everyday pay in full: with pay in full for parties of 8 or more every day and Christmas Day's own deposit, a party of 8 on Christmas Day pays the deposit (give the date its own Pay in full to change that). The same goes for a special date's own card to hold: it replaces your everyday deposit and pay in full that day, so a party of 6 on Christmas Day saves a card instead of paying your everyday deposit (unless the date sets its own deposit or pay in full, which come first).

Where payments apply: your booking page and website widget ask for the payment — online, or at your venue when Paying at the venue (below) lets guests pay there. When a booking your team adds needs one, nothing is taken automatically: you're offered a payment link to send, Paid in person (money already taken, recorded with your name) or They'll pay at the venue by a date (where paying at the venue is allowed), and your team's bookings are never asked for a card. Walk-ins and the waitlist are never asked to pay. See How do payment plans and paying at the venue work?

What a booking pays

What a booking pays is a live example. Pick a Date, a Time, a Party size and Online or Your team, and it says what that booking would be asked for, and why — for example "This booking pays a £20.00 deposit when it's made." It uses the same reckoning as your booking page, and your settings as they are on the page, unsaved changes included, so you can see what a change would do before you save it. It also says when a special date has its own refund cut-off, when a booking would wait for your approval, and when a party is too big to book online (a group's request pays nothing).

To check every booking rule, not just the money, use Try a booking on Booking rules at a glance — see How do I check which rules apply to a booking?

The four payments

Each has its own section; switch on the ones you want. The page groups them under small headings — Full payment, Deposits, Card to hold and, further down, Refunds (the cancellation rules and when a deposit is kept). Deposits and full payments can be set Per person (the default — 4 guests × £5 = £20) or Per booking (one amount, whatever the party size); the no-show fee is Per booking (the default) or Per guest. Amounts you set before this choice existed keep their meaning. In Tiered deposits by party size and Tiered amounts by party size, the amount column is headed Per person or Per booking to match.

• Deposit — Require deposits, the amount, a Minimum party size and Tiered deposits by party size. Deposit: when you ask for one narrows it to Days and times and lists Event deposits (a date's own deposit, set on Special dates). See How do I take booking deposits? and How do I take deposits only on busy days or special dates?
• Pay in full — Require full payment, the amount, a Minimum party size and Tiered amounts by party size, with its own day and time rules and dates. See How do pay-in-full bookings work?
• Card to hold — Enable no-show protection, Card required to complete booking, the No-show fee, a Minimum party size and the Safety delay before charging. Under More options, Days and times asks for a card only when you choose (say Friday and Saturday dinner), and Special dates can hold a card with their own fee — or hold none that day. The section's own Which wins: line: "Pay in full beats a deposit; a deposit beats a card to hold." See How do I charge no-show fees?
• Paying at the venue — Let guests pay at the venue (Online only, the default; At the venue only; or Both — the guest picks), Pay at the venue by (days after booking, default 7) and How to pay at the venue (a short line guests see). A deposit — and, on a date that asks for it, the rest of the payment — can then be paid at your venue in cash or by card; your team records it with Mark paid in person. Without Stripe, turning it on is what lets you ask for a deposit at all. Available on Plus plan and above. See How do payment plans and paying at the venue work?
• Pre-order money — How is a pre-order paid?: Paid at the venue, The pre-order total is the payment, or Deposit, then pay for the food online. Who is invited, and until when, stays on Pre-orders. See How do I set up pre-orders?

A date with its own deposit, full payment or pre-orders is set on Settings → Bookings → Special dates, with everything else about that date; the lists on this page show what's set, with a link there. A special date's own payment applies on its date even when that payment's switch is off. See How do I set what guests pay and pre-order on a special date?

Cancellations and refunds

One set of rules covers every payment taken at booking — deposits, full payments, pre-order money and paid extras. The Cancellations and refunds section shows what happens when a guest cancels, as three steps: until when they can cancel or change online, what they get back, and what happens after that. Its rows:

• Cancelling and changing online — your cancellation deadline, shown here with a Change link to its home on When people can book.
• Cancellation policy — No refunds, Full refund or Partial refund, with the Refund percentage for a partial one.
• Refund cut-off — how long before the booking a guest must cancel to get money back (default 24 hours; 0 = right up to the booking time).
• Your guest cancellation terms — the sentences guests agree to, rebuilt from these settings.
• Also charge for late cancellations — the no-show fee for a guest with a saved card who cancels inside your cancellation deadline.

A special date can have its own refund cut-off (its Money back if they cancel, on Special dates), and bookings made for that date keep it. After a paid booking is moved, the refund deadline counts back from whichever is earlier — the booking time that was paid for or the new time — so a move can never stretch the deadline (moving a booking later leaves it where it was; moving it earlier brings it forward). The one exception to the policy: when a party paying in full per person gets smaller, the difference is always refunded. Confirmation and reminder emails only promise a free cancellation when a cancellation really is free. See When do guests get their deposit back?

Where the money goes closes the page: your Stripe connection, and refunds, which always happen in ResoFlow on the booking itself.

If your plan changes

A payment your plan doesn't include isn't charged to guests — its section waits under More options with a padlock. One left switched on after a plan change stays at the top of its section with a working Switch off, and rules you already have stay listed so you can remove them; they work again if you upgrade. Switching a payment off always works, on every plan.

Related: Where are my booking rules? (Booking rules at a glance) · What does the guest see when paying a deposit or saving a card? · What's different about Christmas Day? (Special dates)