How restaurant deposits and cancellation policies work in Ireland

A restaurant deposit is money you pay when you book, held against your table and taken off your bill on the night. If you cancel early enough, inside the place's free-cancellation window, you get it back; cancel later and you may get part of it back or none. A no-show usually loses the deposit. The policy is set by each place, so the one habit that matters is reading it before you pay.

Deposits feel like a new thing in Ireland, and they are still the exception: most bookings ask for nothing. Here is why they exist, how the common versions work, and how to make sure you never lose one you did not have to.

Why do restaurants ask for a deposit?

Because a table that is booked and then left empty is one of the most expensive things that can happen to a small place.

Think about what goes into a booking for eight on a Saturday. The kitchen orders and preps food for eight. Staff are rostered for a full room. Other people who rang that afternoon were told no. If the eight do not arrive, all of that is lost and none of it can be recovered at nine o'clock. A place with thirty seats can lose a large share of its night to one empty table.

So deposits turn up where that risk is highest:

• Large tables, where one no-show is a big gap.
• Busy nights, typically Friday and Saturday evenings, where the table could easily have gone to somebody else.
• Set menus and tasting menus, where the kitchen buys specifically for you.
• Special dates, such as Christmas parties, New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day and Mother's Day.

The alternative, for many places, is refusing large bookings altogether. A deposit is how they keep saying yes.

What are the common types of deposit?

You will meet three shapes, sometimes at the same place:

1. A flat amount per booking. One figure for the table, whatever the size.
2. An amount per person. The usual approach for groups, so a table of ten pays more than a table of four.
3. A higher deposit at peak times. Some places charge nothing on a Tuesday and ask for one on a Saturday, or ask for more at the busiest hours.

Whatever the shape, the deposit is part of what you will spend anyway. It comes off the bill, so on a normal evening it costs you nothing extra.

What is a card hold?

Instead of taking money up front, some places ask you to save a card against the booking. Nothing is charged when you book. The card is only charged if you do not turn up.

On Mosey the wording makes the difference clear: a paid deposit says the deposit is paid, and a card hold says your card is saved and only charged if you do not show. If you are ever unsure which you agreed to, check the booking before the day rather than your bank statement after it.

When do you get your deposit back?

Each place sets its own terms, and they almost always follow the same pattern:

• Cancel early, get it all back. Every policy has a free-cancellation window, a set number of hours before the booking. Cancel before that point and the deposit is refunded in full.
• Cancel later, maybe get some back. Some places refund part of it if you cancel inside a second, shorter window.
• Cancel very late or do not turn up, and the place keeps it. That covers the cost the deposit was there for.

On Mosey you see the place's terms before you pay, and if you go to cancel late, you are warned that you will lose some or all of it before you confirm. A refund goes back to the card you paid with.

One legal point people sometimes get wrong: the 14-day change-of-mind right that applies to many things bought online does not cover a booking for a set date. It is the same exemption that covers concert tickets and flights. What applies instead is the place's own policy, which is why reading it matters.

Plans changed: how not to lose your deposit

If you cannot make it, you have more options than cancelling and hoping you are inside the window.

• Cancel the moment you know. It is the simplest way to stay inside the free window, and it gives the place time to fill the table.
• Give the booking to a friend. On Mosey you can transfer a booking to somebody else, and they take the table instead. Transferring a restaurant booking to a friend explains how.
• Offer the slot to other diners. You can put your table up for somebody else to claim. If they do, they pay their own deposit and yours comes back in full; if nobody does, the place's normal policy applies. A table can be offered until two hours before its time.
• Split it if it is a group. For a group booking, each guest can pay their own share of the deposit rather than one person fronting it all. See splitting a group booking deposit.

What happens if you are running late?

Being late is not the same as not turning up, as long as you say so. Shortly before your booking, the app gives you the chance to tell the place you are running late. Places hold a table for a grace period they set themselves. After that the table may be released, and a released table can be treated as a no-show, which is where a deposit or a card hold comes into play.

A short message ten minutes before your booking saves the table far more often than an apology at the door.

Does a no-show follow you around?

A little, and fairly. Whether people turn up to their bookings is recorded, and a place looking at a request can see a pattern. One missed booking means nothing. Several can mean a place asks you for a deposit next time, even when it does not ask other people.

Cancelling never counts against you, however late. Only not turning up does. That is the whole incentive: tell the place, and the record stays clean.

A quick checklist before you pay a deposit

1. Is it a deposit or a card hold?
2. How many hours before the booking does the free-cancellation window close?
3. Is there a partial refund after that?
4. Is the amount per person or per table, and does it come off the bill?
5. Who in your group is paying it, and do you want to split it?

The reservations page has more on how booking works on Mosey. Next time a booking asks for a deposit, read the terms on the screen first, and put the cancellation deadline in your calendar.