When a guest pays a deposit for their reservation, that money can go straight onto their check once they sit down. This article covers how to open the table from the reservation and how to put the deposit toward the bill.
Before you start: your POS needs to be in Table Service mode, and someone has to mark the reservation Seated in Peblla Table first. That is what makes the table ready to open here. See Peblla Table - Manage a Reservation.
📖 Tutorial
Open the table from the reservation
Once a reservation is marked Seated in Peblla Table, that table shows up in a different color on your Table Service floor layout.
1. Sign in to the POS with your PIN and open Table Service.
2. Tap the highlighted table. Reservation Details opens with the party size, the guest name, the Paid Deposit, the Visit Note and any Guest Tags.
3. Tap [Start Order] to start taking the order.
The Visit Note and Guest Tags are there for your team to read. They are not copied into the order as an order note. If the POS loses its connection after it has already synced the reservation, you can still open the table this way, and getting back online will not open a second order for the same table.
Put the deposit toward the bill
Only orders opened from a reservation have a [Deposit Info] button. Orders opened from a waitlist entry and ordinary orders do not have it.
On the payment page, tap [Deposit Info] and apply the deposit. This does not happen on its own, so you have to tap it. Once it is applied the button reads Deposit $XX.XX, and the check and the receipt show Applied Deposit: -$XX.XX on the line above Total.
When you finish taking payment, the reservation moves to Completed on its own.
What to expect
The order has auto-gratuity | A deposit only covers the food and drink subtotal, so it skips auto-gratuity and other added fees. You will see "Reservation Deposit cannot be applied to Auto-Gratuity." Collect that part as you normally would. |
The deposit is larger than the check | Payment still goes through, and you will see "Unused deposit remains. Refund the remaining balance in Peblla Table." Give the rest back from the reservation in Peblla Table. |
The order already uses Prepaid | A reservation deposit and Prepaid cannot be used on the same order. Tap the second one and the POS will tell you they cannot be combined, so pick whichever fits the order. |
You need to add a discount | Anything that lowers the total after the deposit is on the order will ask you to take the deposit off first. Add discounts first, then apply the deposit. |
You combined orders from several tables | The deposit option is hidden on a combined order and cannot be used. |
You moved the party to another table | That is fine. The deposit stays on the order, and the reservation follows the new table in Peblla Table. |
Refunds and reopened orders
Refunding on the POS gives back what the guest paid on the check, not the deposit. You will see "This refund only applies to the check payment. For reservation deposit refunds, please use Peblla Table." Refund deposits from the reservation itself — see Peblla Table - Deposits.
If you reopen the order and the items are the same, the deposit stays applied for the same amount. If you change the items, the deposit comes off the order and goes back to being available on the reservation, so you can apply it again or refund it.
Where else the deposit shows up
After you apply it on the POS, Reservation Deposit -$XX.XX also appears in the Mobile POS cart and payment page, on the customer-facing display, on your printed receipts, and in the order details your guests see online or at the table.
One thing to watch on the Mobile POS: if you lower the order total below the deposit amount, it will stop you right away and ask you to remove the deposit first.