When one of your card or deposit rules applies to a booking, your booking page adds a card step after Your Details. Here’s what your guests see, from that step to their confirmation email, so you know what they mean when they ring to ask.
The card step
It looks a little different for a card hold and for a deposit.
- A card hold is headed Card Details and says A card is required to confirm your booking. Deposit Amount shows No charge, with a note that the card will be stored securely and not charged now, but may be charged for a no-show or late cancellation.
- A deposit is headed Payment Details. Deposit Amount shows the total — GBP 40.00 for four guests at £10 a head — with This deposit will be deducted from your final bill underneath. For a per-person deposit, a line above also gives the amount per person.
If you’ve set a no-show charge, an extra line says so, for example A no-show fee of GBP 10.00 per person may apply if you do not attend.
Below that is Stripe’s secure card form. On a phone or browser that has Apple Pay or Google Pay, those are offered first — see Apple Pay and Google Pay on your booking page. The guest then clicks Continue.
Confirming, and the bank’s security check
Nothing is charged or saved on the card step itself. The last step sums up the booking with a Deposit line: the amount, or Card on file (no charge). The guest ticks your terms and clicks Confirm Booking. Only then does the payment go through, while the page shows Processing payment..., even for a card hold.
At this point their bank may ask them to prove it’s really them, with a pop-up asking them to approve it in their banking app or enter a code. This is known as 3D Secure. It can happen even for a card hold with nothing to pay, and it’s the bank’s check, not yours. Once they’ve approved it, the booking is made.
If the bank says no, the guest sees Payment Failed and the reason, such as We couldn’t verify this card with your bank, with Update Card Details to try again or use another card, and Start Over. No booking is made until a card goes through.
After they’ve booked
The page shows Booking Confirmed! with their booking reference, and their confirmation email follows:
- After a deposit, the email shows Deposit Paid with the amount, and repeats that it will be deducted from their final bill.
- After a card hold, it shows Payment Method as Card ending in 4242 securely stored, and says the card may be charged for a no-show or late cancellation.
On your side, the booking arrives in NomNom with a green paid icon for a deposit, or a card icon for a card hold.
Good to know
- Amounts show as GBP. The booking page writes amounts as GBP 40.00 rather than £40.00.
- The wording is fixed. You can’t change what the card step or the email say about the deposit coming off the bill. Put anything extra in your terms — see Adding your booking terms and privacy policy.
- No card step? It only appears when a rule matches the meal, the party size and the day, and Stripe can take payments — see Why wasn’t a guest asked for a card or deposit?.
- Same step everywhere. Your booking link and a booking form on your own website both show it.
- Phone bookings are different. A guest your team books in is sent a link to add a card instead — see Taking a deposit for a booking made over the phone.