Feature · Reservations
Restaurant deposit system: booking, deposit and final bill on one record
A deposit is only useful if it ends up on the bill. Inservo takes it at booking, holds it against the table, charges it on a no-show and applies it to the final bill, all on one record.
Reservations live now · ePOS March 2027 · Payments May 2027
How a deposit is taken at booking
You set the policy per service: a card hold or a fixed amount per cover, with the notice window that applies. The guest sees the terms before confirming, pays on the booking widget or over a payment link, and the deposit is written onto the reservation itself rather than into a separate card system.
How it is held and shown to the guest
The deposit sits on the booking as a hold or a captured amount. The confirmation and the reminder both show it, so there is no surprise at the door, and the floor sees it on the table card when the party is seated.
What happens on a no-show or late cancellation
The notice window decides the outcome: a full refund, a partial charge or forfeit. If the table is not taken, the charge is captured against the card on the booking with the policy the guest agreed attached to the record. No phone call, no chasing, no dispute about what was shown.
How the deposit is applied to the final bill on the same record
When the party pays, the deposit is already on the bill as a credit. The guest pays the difference, the card machine shows the right figure, and the payout reconciles to one record: booking, deposit, order and payment.
Why this cannot be done when the booking system and the card machine are separate products
A booking system that takes deposits through its own payment add-on and a card machine from a different company never share a record. The deposit lands in one ledger and the bill in another, so someone keys the credit in by hand or refunds it later, and the reconciliation happens at midnight. A card machine that works with a booking system is only possible when the booking, the bill and the payment are the same record.
Questions
Deposits, answered.
Can a card machine apply a booking deposit to the bill?
Only when the card machine and the booking system share the record. In Inservo the deposit is taken on the reservation and the bill is settled on the same record, so the £40 held at booking appears on the bill as a credit and the guest pays the balance at the table. With a separate card machine the deposit has to be keyed in or refunded by hand.
What deposit can a UK restaurant legally keep on a no-show?
This is not legal advice. In the UK a cancellation charge has to be fair and proportionate to the loss the restaurant actually suffers, and the terms must be shown clearly before the guest commits. The Competition and Markets Authority publishes guidance on unfair contract terms under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and that is the place to check. Inservo shows the policy at booking and records the guest’s agreement on the reservation; the amount is yours to set within that guidance.
Does Inservo charge per-cover fees on deposits?
No. There are no per-cover or per-booking fees on any plan. A deposit is processed like any other card payment, at 1.4% + 20p on standard UK cards (1.25% + 20p for pilot restaurants), and nothing else is charged on it.
From the resources
What a restaurant reservation system should actually do in 2026
A buyer’s guide to reservation systems for UK restaurants: deposits, no-show protection, guest records, and why bookings and payments belong together.
Further reading
Further reading
Published guides from Inservo on the same subject.
The real cost of no-shows in 2025 — and how deposits fix it
With £3.4bn in new costs and NICs at 15%, UK restaurants can no longer absorb empty tables. How deposit policies protect revenue without hurting bookings.
OperationsWhat a restaurant reservation system should actually do in 2026
A buyer's guide to reservation systems for UK restaurants: deposits, no-show protection, guest records, and why bookings and payments belong together.
GrowthPop-ups and guest chef nights: low-risk revenue 25% of Britons want
A quarter of UK diners — and 34% of parents — want restaurants to host pop-up events. How to run them without breaking your operation.
Protect the covers you were promised.
See what one system would save, with the deposit, the bill and the payment on one record.