Empty tables held for reservations that may or may not show put even the best service plans at risk. Flexible booking policies for reservations, including the option to charge a fee for no-shows or last minute cancellations allow you to decide whether or not to charge guests who cancel.
Skip To:
- Getting Started (prerequisites)
- Setting Up Policies
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Getting Started
Set up a Stripe account to enable accepting and charging of guest credit cards.
- You can the account from the Engage Dashboard > Settings > Restaurants > Edit Restaurant.
Setting up Policies
- Set the cancellation policy per reservation type in Host → Reservation Availability and click the gear icon next to the reservation type you're configuring.
- Be sure to check the 'Require cancellation fee for this reservation type'
- Set the deadline and cancellation fee
Note: When a cancellation policy is set for a specific reservation type, a credit card is required to complete the booking. Cards will only be stored but not charged unless eligible for the cancellation policy.
Flexible Booking Policies
- A paid cancellation policy can be enforced per reservation type
- Cancellation deadline
- Rolling window - cannot cancel more than x hours before the reservation time
- Specific time - number of days before and time of day after which guests cannon cancel
- Cancellation fee
- Flat fee - single charge for the reservation
- Per person - fee amount times number of guests in the reservation
Note: If a guest cancels their reservation via text (e.g. 'text 3 to cancel') AFTER the cancellation policy window kicks in, the cancellation fee will be automatically approved.
Guest-facing Reservation Form:
Dashboard Reservation Booking Modal:
iPad 'Create Party':
iPad Cover Flow booking:
The ability to approve or waive the cancellation fee: