Overview: What are we talking about?
A deposit is a portion of a reservation paid prior to check-in. This held deposit helps to ensure that an owner will show up for their reservation, and will be applied to the reservation's invoice upon check out as a payment.
This article includes:
- Collecting Deposits on the Business Side of the app
- Allowing Deposits to be Paid From the Customer Portal
- Deposit Emails
- Handling Deposits on Cancelled Reservations
- FAQ
Helpful Hints: Before you begin.
- Deposits are a great way to standardize and require prepayment on reservations. To learn more about setting up required deposits, check out this article.
- Please Note: Gingr prompts the customer to handle the deposit later or pay immediately depending on the email settings as configured in Left-hand Navigation: Admin » System Email. See the "Deposit Emails" section below.
How to: Use the Deposits feature.
Collecting Deposits
Automatically Required Deposits:
If you have setup required deposits or a specific type of reservation for a specified date range, a prompt will appear to pay the deposit when the new reservation is created from the New Reservation Page.
Manually Attached Deposits:
Additionally, deposits can be manually attached to any reservation. This requires the toggle Allow Deposits on Any Reservation to be on from Left-hand Navigation: Admin » Deposits.
To create a deposit on a reservation by percentage follow these steps:
- Create a reservation, and view the Estimate tab.
- Click on the Create Deposit button from the Estimate.
- You will then be prompted to select the percentage of the total that will be paid with this deposit:
- This will create the deposit requirement for the reservation. Upon saving the reservation, you'll be given a prompt to collect the deposit now or handle it later.
- To collect the deposit at that time, click Collect Deposit Now, and enter the customer's payment information.
To create a deposit on a reservation with a custom dollar amount follow these steps:
- Create a reservation, and view the Deposits tab at the bottom
- Enter a custom dollar amount, then save the reservation
- Optionally collect the deposit immediately after or click "I will handle this later"
If a deposit is required, the following automated communications can optionally be sent to the customer. These email toggles control the circumstances under which a customer can pay deposits on the customer portal. If neither the Send New Deposit Email or Send Deposit Accepted Email toggles are on, then customers will NOT be able to pay deposits online.
To view and edit deposit settings navigate to Left-hand Navigation: Admin » System Email. Locate the New Deposit Email template and edit it. Enable the following emails if applicable:
- Send New Deposit Email - When a required deposit is added to a reservation, an email can be automatically sent to the customer, informing them that they must pay a deposit. If this setting is enabled, the customer will receive this email when their reservation is created.
With this setting ON, customers will be able to pay deposits online regardless if the reservation has been accepted. - Send Deposit Accepted Email - If you would prefer that the New Deposit email be sent when a customer's reservation request is accepted, enable this email.
With this setting on, customers will only be able to pay deposits after their reservation has been accepted.
- Daily Deposit Email - If a deposit is unpaid, an optional daily email can be sent to remind the customer to pay the deposit. If this setting is enabled, the customer will receive an email reminder to pay their deposit every day that it goes unpaid. This is a great way to keep unpaid deposits at the top of your customers' inbox.
Note: one of the two previous templates must be toggled on to allow deposit payment. If only this toggle is on then customers cannot pay deposits on the portal.
- Custom Deposit Reminder - Reminders to pay deposits can be sent manually from Left-hand Navigation: Reservations » Deposits. Click on the drop-down to the left of a deposit entry and click Email Reminder. This sends the same deposit template as the previous emails.
Handling Deposits on Cancelled Reservations
When a reservation is cancelled, it is up to your business to decide how to handle the deposit. It can either be refunded or forfeited.
Refunding a Deposit from the Deposits page:
Once a reservation is cancelled, its deposit can be refunded. If you would like to fully refund the paid deposit, follow these steps:
From the Deposit Management Page:
- Navigate to Left-hand Navigation: Reservations » Deposits » Canceled Reservations Pending Resolution.
Choose Refund Deposit from the Action Menu and confirm your action by clicking OK in the pop-up.
When you click OK, a refund will be processed to the original payment method of the deposit. If the deposit was paid with a credit card (and you process cards in Gingr), the customer's credit card will automatically be refunded.
Important! There is no email sent to the customer for this action. You may view and print a receipt.
Forfeiting Deposits:
Looking to consume cancelled reservation deposits as payment or partially refund them? You are in the right spot. Some facilities have deposit policies that require reservations to be cancelled within a certain amount of time to be eligible for a refund on the paid deposit.
For more details on the process of how to forfeit a deposit, please review these steps:
- Navigate to Left-hand Navigation: Reservations » Deposits » Cancelled Reservations Pending Resolution.
- Select Forfeit Deposit and confirm the action by clicking OK.
- Click OK, and the deposit will be marked as forfeited.
- A new invoice with a "forfeit deposit" line item charge will appear on the owner's account with the respective payment.
- Below is an example of how to locate the invoice showing the "forfeit deposit" line item:
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This consumes the collected deposit towards the charge as a payment, which can be viewed on the Revenue by Date report for that day.
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Once the forfeit is complete, the charge can be left as-is, or it can be refunded, such as to store credit
Managing the Deposit from the Invoice:
You can also manage deposits directly from the invoice. If there is a deposit attached to any reservation, it will show at the bottom of the invoice under Reservation Deposit Details. 
Click the Action menu and select either View Reservation, Refund Deposit, or Forfeit Deposit. Please read the above sections for more information on refunding and forfeiting deposits.
Managing the Deposit from the Owner Profile:
- Navigate to the Owner Profile » Deposits Tab.
- Click the drop-down button to the left of the deposit entry in question and then click Refund Deposit or Forfeit Deposit
FAQ: Check it out.
When is a Deposit Consumed?
When a reservation that has an attached deposit is checked out, the paid deposit will be converted to a payment and "consumed" towards the invoice charges for that reservation. This is all done automatically in the checkout process.
How do I handle an overpaid deposit?
Q: We took a 100% deposit on a reservation, but the customer checked out early and the amount paid was more than the final charges. How should we handle that?
A: Sometimes, the deposit amount paid will be greater than the subtotal of your shopping cart. When that happens, you will be presented with 2 options in the cart.
- Credit difference to owner account: Choosing this option will add a line item to purchase store credit for the overpaid amount. At this point, the store credit can be left on the account to use towards a future reservation, or the overpaid amount can be refunded.
- Refund entire deposit: Choosing this option will refund the entire deposit to the customer via the original payment method. The customer will then need to present a new method of payment to complete their invoice.
How do I convert a deposit to store credit?
In order to convert a deposit to store credit, you must first forfeit the deposit. This will create a new invoice on the owner's account with the forfeited deposit line. From there, you can refund the forfeited deposit line directly from the new invoice with the payment method "Store Credit." This will add the store credit to the owner's account. Follow the below steps:
1. Make sure the reservation has been cancelled.
2. To forfeit the deposit, go to Owner profile > Deposits tab.
3. Select “Forfeit” deposit
Important! Do NOT select “Refund”, as the money will go back to their card and you will not be able to access it.
4. Once you have forfeited the deposit, this creates a new invoice on their account with the date of today. Go to that new invoice: Owner profile > Invoices tab.
5. Refund the “Forfeited Deposit” to store credit. Click here to learn more about how to refund.
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