Purpose / Use case
No-shows and late cancellations/ changes are a persistent challenge for hospitality venues, impacting revenue and operational efficiency.
Munu Booking offers 3 payment-related strategies to approach this:
No-Show Fee ( Credit Card Guarantee)
Definition: Customer provides a credit card, but is only charged if they fail to show up or cancel late.
Key distinction: No money is taken upfront; it's a deterrent rather than a pre-payment.
The no-show fee is the least intrusive way for your guests, that still ensures effective deterrence with market-proven results. In this method, guests are asked to provide a valid credit card during the booking process. The payment is then authenticated, but no money reserved on the guest’s account yet. If guests fail to complete theis process, the booking is cancelled again after 15min. If the guest does not show up, you can deduct a the communicated fee. Its available on REST API.
Typical use cases:
- High-demand time slots or premium restaurants to reduce no-shows.
- Peak hours: Popular time slots with high demand (e.g., Friday night dinner, New years.)
- Small-capacity venues: Where every table matters financially.
- Last-minute bookings: Where there's little time to fill a cancelled spot.
- High no-show risk segments: First-time customers or areas with high cancellation culture.
Pre-Paid
Definition: A fixed amount is paid in advance to confirm the booking. No refund. Pre-payment locks the revenue and is connected to an article.
Key Distinction: Payment is mandatory and collected before the visit.
A pre-paid booking is always linked to an article in Munu Cloud. This article can represent a food item, menu package, or a service/admission fee. Guests must pay upfront by credit card, and if the payment is not completed, the booking is automatically cancelled after 15 minutes. Funds are captured immediately, but the revenue is only recognized on the day of the reservation. The pre-payment is treated as a separate transaction and is not adjusted based on what the guests consume at the table.
Use cases: Special events, prix fixe menus, or full payment for small venues.
- Event nights: e.g. Wine tastings, New Year’s Eve set menus.
- Ticketed dining: Where seating is limited and food is pre-planned.
- Special dining: Chef’s table or tasting menus where preparation is costly.
Deposit
- Definition: A fixed amount is paid in advance but deducted from the final bill or refunded.
Key distinction: Payment counts toward consumption or is returned if conditions are met.
A deposit payment works similarly to a gift card. The amount is captured at the time of booking, but remains available for the guest to use during their visit. When the table is closed in the POS, the deposit can be applied directly to the bill, reducing the amount the guest needs to pay on site. Revenue is only recognized once the table is closed. If the guest does not show up, the venue can manually deduct the full deposit in Munu Cloud.
- Use case: Group bookings or busy periods where financial commitment is needed.
- Group bookings: Birthdays, corporate events (reduces last-minute cancellation).
- Custom setups: Venues needing special arrangements or inventory planning.
- Seasonal high demand: Holidays where every booking has high opportunity cost.
- Flexible commitment: Allows cancellation under certain terms while holding intent
Description
- Fully integrated into Munu Booking – no extra systems, screens, or manual bookkeeping needed.
- Payments are captured automatically during the booking flow.
- Flexible setup: choose between No-show fee, Pre-payment, or Deposit depending on your business needs.
- Automatic cancellation if payment or card verification is not completed within 15 minutes.
- Revenue handling follows accounting standards:
- No-show fee → charged only if guest fails to arrive.
- Pre-payment → recognized on day of reservation.
- Deposit → applied to final bill in POS.
- Seamless connection to Munu POS and Munu Cloud articles.
- Designed to reduce cancellations, secure revenue, and improve operational efficiency.
- Currently, payments can only be added using self-service ( online) booking or using API
How-to configure
Once Munu has completed the initial setup, an additional tab will appear in the scenario configuration: Advanced Confirmation Method. Payments are always configured at the Scenario level in your booking setup. For more details on scenario settings, see the Scenario User Manual.
To configure payment:
- Select the payment type you want to use (No-show Fee, Pre-paid, or Deposit).
- Define the amount guests must pay.
- Choose whether the amount applies per reservation or per guest.
- For Pre-paid bookings, select the corresponding article (must be created as an open price article in Munu Cloud beforehand).
How to use
A booking that has applied a payment option, will show with status “Confirmed” in the booking app. Additionally, the credit card symbol indicates a payment related to this booking.
In booking details in the Booking App and on POS, the the transaction shows as “Verified.”
Deducting amounts
All orders and payment transactions are visible in article reports and dashboard widgets.
No-show Fee ( Credit card guarantee)
- Potential no-shows are highlighted in yellow in your bookings list.
- To confirm a no-show:
- Change the booking status using the status buttons, or
- Double-click the reservation and update the status.
- A confirmation popup will appear, allowing you to specify the amount to capture (cannot exceed the amount communicated to the guest).
- If marked incorrectly, the status can be adjusted during the same business day.
- At the end of the defined business day, the chosen amount will be captured from the guest’s credit card.
Pre-Paid transactions
- All pre-paid transactions are listed on the Orders page in Munu Cloud.
- The amount is automatically recognized as revenue on the day of the reservation.
- Works similarly to a webshop order in pending status.
Deposit
- All deposit transactions are listed in the Giftcard/Deposit report under Reports → Accounting.
- When the guest arrives, seat them as usual and process orders in POS (add items, park order, etc.).
- On payment, a popup will appear asking if the deposit should be applied to the bill.
- Apply the deposit amount to the transaction when completing the guest’s payment.
❗Important: Split payments on POS are blocked for transactions that include the deposit.
If the guest does not show up, you can manually deduct the deposit:
- Go to Reports → Giftcard/Deposit.
- Locate the associated deposit payment and click on the ID.
- Select Manual transaction.
- Enter the amount as
XXXto deduct it from the deposit balance.
❗Full or partial refunds must be handled manually in your accounting system. Refunds cannot be processed through POS or Munu Cloud.