Set Up Card Guarantee Rules

Card guarantees let you hold a guest's card on file without taking payment at booking. If a guest cancels late or does not show up, your team can choose whether to charge the saved card.

Card Guarantees vs Deposits#

• Deposits — Paid upfront at booking and shown on the reservation for your team to deduct from the bill.
• Card guarantees — No charge at booking. A card is saved securely and fees are only charged if staff choose to apply them later.

Creating Rules#

1. 1

   Click Add guarantee rule

   Open the card guarantee rule form.

2. 2

   Choose when it applies

   Set weekly recurring days, a date range or a specific date, plus optional time window and party size threshold.

3. 3

   Set your fees

   Add a late-cancellation fee, a no-show fee, or both. Set each to 0 to disable that fee type.

4. 4

   Choose fee type

   Per guest multiplies by party size; per booking uses a flat amount.

5. 5

   Save

   Activate the rule with the switch if you want it live immediately.

Rule Conditions#

Card guarantee rules can match bookings by:

• Schedule — Weekly recurring, date range or specific date
• Time window — e.g. Friday and Saturday evenings
• Party size — e.g. groups of 3 or more

When multiple rules could apply, the most specific rule wins: Specific Date, then Date Range, then Weekly Recurring.

Late Cancellation Cutoff#

The late-cancellation fee only applies when staff cancel a booking after your Guest Edit/Cancellation Cutoff. This cutoff is set in Settings → Reservation Policies and is snapshotted onto each booking when it is made.

How It Works for Guests#

When a booking matches an active card guarantee rule, the guest completes a secure Stripe card-save step before the reservation is confirmed. No payment is taken at this stage.

• Online widget bookings — The guest saves their card in the booking flow.
• Staff-created bookings — Generate a Save-card link from the reservation (copy, open, email or QR) so the guest can save their card separately.

Charging Fees#

Fees are never charged automatically. Your team decides whether to charge when updating the reservation:

• Cancel reservation — If a saved card is on file and the cancellation is after the cutoff, you can charge the late-cancellation fee or release the card without charging.
• Mark as no-show — If a no-show fee is configured, you can charge it or choose not to charge.

If a charge fails, open the reservation details to retry the charge or mark the fee as not charged. The guest is emailed when a fee is successfully charged.