The Deposit: What are the different Types and Benefits?

There are 2 types of reservations for which you should use the deposit.

Booking with consumption on site

When a customer requests a reservation for a group with consumption on site, you will generally block a room or part of your establishment specifically for this customer.

Obviously, if this customer cancels at the last minute or does not honor their reservation, you will lose turnover since you will refuse other reservations to keep the place for this group.

[Tip: I invite you to put reservations that you cannot take on the waiting list. If a cancellation happens, you can always follow up with these customers again and see if they are still interested.]

To avoid unnecessary risks, I strongly recommend that you do not play with fire and ask your customers for a deposit to secure their reservations.

Here are the different choices available to you:

• a deposit per person (for example: €10 per person),
• a deposit for the reservation (for example: €150 for the reservation whether for 10 or 30 people, for space X or Y)
• a deposit depending on the space reserved (for example: €200 to privatize room X or €400 to privatize room Y).

It's up to you to see what seems best suited to the functioning of your establishment.

Dry rental reservation

Many establishments offer dry rentals (“dry” meaning no other services than renting a space) either because it is part of their services or to maximize their income.

Example: a tea room, closed in the evening and on Monday, can rent its establishment to an individual for a birthday one evening or to a company for a meeting on Monday morning.

Only, you are going to leave all or part of your equipment and various belongings. You must therefore have the guarantee that your place will be returned to you in good condition.

To do this, let's take inspiration from car rentals. When you rent a car, you pay the rental fees, post a deposit and do an inventory.

3 simple steps to apply at home and that allow you to have a light mind:

• Privatization fees
• Deposit of a deposit in case of breakage or deterioration
• Status of entry and exit

In addition to fighting no-shows, last-minute cancellations and damage, putting a deposit in addition to a deposit has 2 hidden advantages:

Advantage 1: You will structure your reservation process

You will now set up the reservation management process:

• Receiving the request
• Availability check
• Request the customer to deposit the deposit of the deposit and the acceptance of the CGV/CGR
• Validation of the reservation

These well-defined steps are extremely:
• practical because you know where you are in managing the reservation
AND
• reassuring for the customer who will feel the seriousness with which you manage their request and therefore, by extrapolation, the seriousness of your institution/brand. You make him want to trust you and confirm his reservation with you.

Advantage 2: you will define your General Sales Conditions

To have General Booking or Sales Conditions is I N D I S P E N S A B L E! ! !

Do you want to rent a car and give a deposit without knowing in which cases it will be cashed? No? Neither do your customers.

Do you want to realize that the plane ticket you purchased is in fact not refundable at all — because you didn't see the conditions at the bottom, at the very least,...? No? And guess what, neither do your customers!

They want to know what sauce they will be eaten in and that's completely normal... So we send them these famous General Booking Conditions in a legible way BEFORE they validate their reservation and we even add:
“We consider, upon receipt of your deposit, that you have accepted our terms and conditions without reservation and that your reservation is validated.”

And believe me, you also want your customers to respect the rules that you think are fair in order to continue to make your establishment prosper.

• If the customer accepts your conditions, there is a good chance that the reservation will go well and without a hitch.
• If the customer finds your conditions unacceptable, then maybe it's better not to take their reservation, avoid a lot of problems and save time...

[Warning: If ALL customers find your conditions unacceptable then maybe you should review them.]

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