Booking policies

Booking policies allow you to take deposits from parties to reduce the likelihood of no-shows.

• Create a booking policy
• Add a booking policy to a booking schedule
• Take a deposit on a manual booking
• Deposits on remote bookings
• Cancelling and editing bookings
• How to handle deposits on the final bill

Create a booking policy

1. Click Settings in the sidebar and select ‘Booking availability’
   
   
2. Select the Policies tab at the top of the screen
   
   
3. Click ‘Add a policy’
   
   
4. Configure your policy:

• Enter a deposit amount and select whether it’s applied per Head or Booking
  • Per Head applies the deposit amount to each cover in the party
  • Per Booking applies the deposit as a flat amount on the whole booking
    
    
• Enter a cancellation window. This is how far ahead of the booking date the party can cancel without incurring a fee. Enter the number of units and select a time frame (minutes, hours, days or weeks)

Then, click Next

5. Review the message the party will see when they place a booking. This message is automatically generated based on the policy terms selected in step 4.
   
   You can also add a secondary policy message if there are any additional terms.
   
   When done, click Save
   
   

The policy is listed under the Policy tab and can now be applied to booking schedules.

Edit or delete the policy at any time, or click ‘Add a policy’ to add additional booking policies.

Add a booking policy to a booking schedule

1. Click Settings in the sidebar and select ‘Booking availability’
   
   
2. Click the three-dot menu  next to your booking schedule and select ‘Edit booking policies’
   
   

3. In the pop-up, click ‘Add a policy’
   
   
4. Select a policy from the dropdown menu and select the party sizes to apply the policy to
   
   
5. Repeat steps 7 & 8 if different policies apply to different party sizes
   
   
6. Click ‘Save’ when you’re finished
   
   

Any booking schedule with at least one booking policy attached to it will be marked ‘Deposit.’

Take a deposit on a manual booking

When manually entering a booking, if the party size, date and time matches a booking

policy Dojo will show it in the Add Party menu:

1. Check ‘Apply policy to the booking’ to enforce the deposit. Leave it empty it if you don’t want to charge the customer
   
   
2. If the policy is applied, you must inform the customer of the policy’s details and that you’ll need to take their card details. Once they have agreed to both the terms of the policy, check ‘The customer agrees to the policy’ and click ‘Continue to payment’
   
   
3. One the next page, enter the customer’s payment details, then click ‘Confirm payment’
   
   
4. When the payment is successful, click ‘Done’ to complete the booking
   
   

The customer will receive an email confirming the booking and deposit payment, as well as a separate email receipt. 

Deposits on remote bookings

If a customer makes a booking from the Dojo app, or your restaurant’s web link, the booking policy, any secondary policy message, and the deposit amount will be shown to the customer. 

They check a box to confirm they accept the policy details, then enter their payment details on the next page to complete the booking.

Cancelling and editing bookings

If a party cancels:

• Within the cancellation window - they will be fully refunded
• Outside the cancellation window - they will be charged for the full deposit amount
  • The customer will be asked to confirm the cancellation first
    
    

If a party edits their booking:

• Within the cancellation window - they will be partially refunded if the party size becomes smaller, or charged for an additional deposit if the party size becomes larger
• Outside the cancellation window - they will be unable to edit their booking. They can contact you to see if changes to their booking are possible within the Dojo Bookings RMS

Reviewing deposits on the Dojo business app

Deposits taken through Dojo bookings appear in the Dojo business app on the transactions list as Online checkout transactions.

Set transaction filters to quickly see deposits taken on specific days.

How a deposit affects a party’s final bill

If a party has paid a deposit, their entry on the Parties list will display a money icon . Click the party’s name to see the full details of the deposit in the Party details panel.

We recommend adding a ‘deposit’ as a button on your restaurant’s POS till and applying this to a party as soon as they are seated. This means the deposit is reflected on their final bill.