The Deposit Schedule system allows you to create advanced, conditional rules to automatically change the deposit required for a booking based on the date, day of the week, and time. This is perfect for setting up special deposit requirements for peak periods, weekends, holidays, or specific events, without having to manually adjust your settings.
You can find the Deposit Schedule settings within each of your Session settings pages. Each session has it’s own rules, but several sessions can share the same deposit type.
Understanding a few key concepts will help you get the most out of this feature.
1. Rules and Conditions
The system works by creating a list of Rules. Each rule links a Deposit Type. You set up your deposit types before setting the schedule.
The conditions you can set are:
Date Range: A specific start and end date.
Days of the Week: Which days the rule applies to (e.g., only Saturdays and Sundays)
Time Range: A specific start and end time.
You can combine these conditions to create very specific rules. If you leave a condition blank, it means the rule applies to all possible options for that condition. For example, leaving the "Days of the Week" empty means the rule can apply to any day.
2. Specificity: The Most Important Rule
If a booking's date and time match the conditions for multiple rules, the system needs to decide which one to use. It does this by applying the most specific rule.
Think of it like this:
A rule for "Saturday" is more specific than a rule for "Any Day".
A rule for "December 24th" is more specific than a rule for "Any day in December".
A rule for "7:00 PM on Saturday, December 24th" is the most specific of all.
The system automatically calculates a "specificity score" for each rule and applies the one with the highest score. The schedule list is automatically sorted with the most specific rules at the top. This allows you to define a rule for lets say ‘School Holidays’ and then inside of that 50 day period you could then have 2 days that run separately. Outside of those two days it would revert to the school holidays, and outside the school holidays it would revert to the default.
3. The Default Rule
You can create one "catch-all" or Default Rule by creating a rule with no conditions set (no date range, no specific days, no time range). This rule will apply whenever no other, more specific rule matches. It's a good idea to have a default rule to ensure a standard deposit is always in place, but it’s not required. You can for example have it so there is no deposits on week days for example.
4. Deposit Type Compatibility
This is a crucial point: All active rules within a single Deposit Schedule must be of a compatible deposit type. This most impacts guest type based deposits and payments.
Guest Type Mismatch: If you use deposits based on Guest Types, all rules must apply to the exact same set of guest types.
If you try to add a rule with an incompatible deposit type, the system will prevent it and the type will not be available in the dropdown list. This ensures a consistent experience for your customers during booking.
The Rule List
This is the main view of your schedule. It shows all the rules you've created, sorted by specificity (most specific first).
* Active Toggle: You can quickly enable or disable any rule using the toggle switch. This is useful for seasonal rules you want to keep configured but don't need right now.
* Edit/Delete: Standard controls to modify or remove a rule.
Adding & Editing a Rule
When you add or edit a rule, you'll see the following fields:
* Title: A name for your own reference (e.g., "Christmas Week Deposit").
Deposit Type: Choose which of your pre-configured deposit types to apply. The list will only show types that are compatible with the rules already in your schedule. If you have a deposit type not showing then it’s likely not compatable.
Priority: A number used to break a tie if two rules have the exact same specificity score. A higher number means higher priority. You will rarely need to use this.
Constraints: This is where you set the conditions (Date Range, Days of Week, Time Range) for the rule.
How do you know if your rules are set up correctly? Use the Deposit Tester!
This tool is located at the top of the schedule page. Simply enter a date and time, and click "Test". The system will tell you exactly which deposit (if any) would be required for a booking at that moment, and which rule it used to make the decision. This is the best way to verify your setup and ensure there are no gaps or overlaps you didn't intend.
