Each Rate Type has a reservation deposit setting. Because the deposit is configured per rate type, your business can have multiple deposit policies. In ThinkReservations, the Deposits setting is where you control how much of a reservation prepayment is charged at the time of booking. The deposit or prepayment charge is applied to the balance owed for the reservation.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- How to Edit your Deposit Policy
- Important Notes
- Deposit Type
- Take Full Deposit if Number of Nights Less Than or Equal to
- Take Full Deposit if Lead Time is Less Than or Equal to
- Include taxes with deposit
- Include items with deposit
- Example Deposit Setting
How to Edit your (ThinkReservations) Deposit Policy
- Navigate to Settings > Rate Types to review your rate types
- Choose the rate type you need to modify by selecting it. Each rate type has its own deposit settings.
- Scroll down to the Deposits section of the rate type.
- Adjust your deposit settings as you see fit. Set how you would like to charge to hold the room. See further below for detailed explanations of each setting.
- Click the Save button on the bottom right of the rate type to commit your changes.
Make sure to update any written policies you may have, such as those in the Terms & Conditions found in Business Settings, your Email Templates, your Print Templates, and your own website.
If you are looking to change the deposit policy with an OTA like Booking.com, make sure that the policy with that OTA matches the policy of the connected OTA rate if the guest's card is to be charged at the time of booking by your business.
Important Notes:
- ThinkReservations cannot control the deposit policy of OTAs.
- The deposit is only charged automatically for online reservations that have a valid credit card at time of booking.
- Don't expect a deposit to be charged for OTA net-rate bookings from Airbnb and ExpediaCollect.
- The deposit is charged per booking.
- Automatic deposit charges will have a note of "deposit" on the payment. You will see this note in the reservation and payment reports.
- Changes to the deposit settings only impact future bookings.
- If you would like the system to automatically charge the remaining balance X days before a guest arrives, see our article on Automatic Balance Charge (Advanced Deposits) here to learn about this separate feature.
Deposit Type
Specify the normal amount, if any, to be charged as a prepayment for reservations that book on this rate type. This is a required field for Rate Types. The options are:
- No Deposit - No prepayment will be charged
- Number of Nights - The deposit charged will equal the number of nights specified
- Flat Fee - The deposit charged will be uniform among bookings on this rate type
- Percent - The deposit charged will be a percentage of the subtotal - unless you indicate that taxes and/or items should be included with the deposit.
- Per person - The deposit charged is a flat fee charged per person. The number of people is calculated based on the specified number of guests in the party when the booker secures their reservation.
Number of Nights Deposit
When the deposit type is "Number of Nights", the below option allows you to indicate the number of nights. You can select 1 to 200. If you have guests that book less than the number indicated, the system will charge for all nights actually booked.
Flat Fee
If your deposit type is "Flat fee," the below option allows you to specify the fee amount. Do not enter a dollar sign; simply enter the amount the fee needs to be for guests that book this rate. Taxes are not charged on deposits for the flat fee.
Percent Deposit
When you select "Percent" as the deposit type, the below field allows you to specify the percentage to be charged. The percentage is based on the room subtotal - unless the boxes are checked to include items or taxes with the deposit. Do not enter a percentage symbol, only the amount of the percentage.
Per Person Fee
When the deposit type is "Per person," the below field allows you to specify the fee amount. Do not enter a dollar sign. The fee is charged per adult and child, based on the number of guests in the party as specified by the guest when booking. Taxes are not charged on the deposit for the per person fee.
Take Full Deposit if Number of Nights Less Than or Equal to
This option is a deposit exception. If you specify the number of nights, guests that book this rate type will be charged a full deposit on reservations that are less than or equal to the number specified. For example. If you specify "1 night", then a booking for 2 or more nights will be charged the deposit policy as specified above. However, if a guest is only booking 1 night, then they will be charged a full deposit.
Take Full Deposit if Lead Time is Less Than or Equal to
This option is also a deposit exception. If you specify the number of days, guests that book that far out in advance or sooner will be charged a full deposit. The lead time is the number of days they are booking. For example, if you specify "14 days", guests that book last-minute within 14 days of their arrival date will be charged the full deposit. This is typically used in conjunction with a property's cancellation policy.
Include taxes with deposit
Check this box if you would like taxes to be considered when charging the deposit. For example, if you have a 50% deposit and have this box checked, the deposit amount will also include 50% of the applicable taxes as well. The system will not tax a flat fee. If you specify a Flat Fee, or the Per person options, taxes will not be included with the deposit charge. However, if you specify a flat fee, and you also include items with the deposit (see below) then the item's taxes will be applied to the deposit.
Include items with deposit
Check this box if you would like items added at the time of booking to be considered when charging the deposit. This applies to items included in the rate type and upsell items and packages added by the guest. It also includes items added by the guest using the upsell portal, purchased by the guest after they booked their reservation.
Example Deposit Setting
Let's review one of the most common deposit strategies. It might read out like this:
There is a 50% deposit taken at the time of booking for two or more nights. If you stay one night, there is a full deposit. Reservations booked within one week are non-refundable, and as such, reservations booked within one week require a full deposit.
It would look like the below image in the rate type:
For more on rate types, see here: Manage Your Rate Types