What a deposit is for
A deposit is a payment in advance that secures the booking. People who have paid for a table remember it, and if they can't make it, they let you know. That makes it a direct tool against no-shows, especially for large bookings and on nights when every table counts
In Omakasia you can ask for a deposit per person or as a fixed amount per booking. You can set it across the board or only for some booking types, from the party size you choose and with a cap per booking. No booking is ever charged more than €500. And the amount is set by the booking, not the guest: nobody can pay €1 towards a €20 deposit
Example · Casa Marlen, a made-up venue in Barcelona, asks for €10 per person from 6 guests, capped at €100. A booking for 4 pays no deposit. A booking for 8 pays €80. A booking for 12 pays the cap, €100
Why your gateway takes it
Omakasia doesn't collect the deposit. Your own payment gateway does: MONEI, Stripe or Mollie. You connect your account with the provider once, in Backoffice › The venue › Payments, and from then on every deposit lands straight in your account. The money never passes through Omakasia
That has three practical consequences. First, Omakasia takes no commission for collecting the deposit, or per booking or per guest. The only fee is your payment provider's, which each provider sets and you sign up to. The Payments screen links to each provider's pricing page so you can check before you choose
Second, the only thing between your guest and your account is your payment provider, under the contract you signed. No middleman holds your money or makes decisions about it. Third, payment happens on the provider's own page: Omakasia doesn't store your guest's card
One more rule worth knowing. Only one gateway can be connected at a time, and until you connect one, no booking with a deposit can be made online. Which makes sense: without an account of yours to pay into, there's nowhere for that money to go
An unpaid table doesn't stay blocked
Asking for a deposit carries a risk: someone starts a booking, closes their phone and leaves the table held without paying. Omakasia solves this with a time limit. While payment is outstanding, the table is held for 15 minutes. If the deposit isn't paid, the table is released and offered to another guest
So the deposit protects your night without costing you tables. Guests who want to come pay from their phone there and then. Those who don't leave room for someone else
Refunds are your call too
The deposit is refunded through the same gateway it was paid with, in full or in part, never more than was paid and never twice. You can do it by hand from the booking's details with the Refund the deposit button, or let it refund automatically when a guest cancels in time, if you switch that option on. The guest gets an email with the amount refunded
You decide how late a guest can cancel and still get the money back. And the deposit doesn't have to be the same for everything: a group dinner and a table for two are different things, so each booking type can follow the general deposit, ask for nothing or ask for its own
If the gateway doesn't accept a refund, the booking stays as it was and the error shows in the booking's details
Ask for it where it hurts
Deposits are set by booking type or across the board, not by day or by guest. The useful question is which bookings hurt most when they fall through: large groups, the chef's counter, a tasting menu with produce bought in for that night. That's where a deposit makes complete sense. For a table for two on a Tuesday, perhaps not
Deposits, the gateway connection and refunds all come with Omakasia Bookings, at €20 a month, with Marketing included and no commission per booking, per guest or for taking the deposit. See how it works on the Bookings page
Venues and people in the examples are made up
See Bookings