Month to month or locked in? What to check in a restaurant booking contract.

The four questions

Public reviews of booking platforms keep returning to four problems: a contract longer than the operator understood, an automatic renewal they missed, a price that changed, and a fee they were not told about. Each has a plain question you can ask before you sign.

• How long is the term, and is there a minimum? Ask for the number of months, and whether a monthly price is available without one.
• Does it renew automatically, and what notice do I have to give, by when, and to whom? A notice period that starts before you can reasonably know whether to leave is the trap to look for.
• What is the price today, in writing, and how much warning do I get before it changes? Can I leave if it does?
• What do I pay on top: per cover, per booking, per diner from your own network, for SMS, for each add-on, or for setup?

If a salesperson makes a promise about any of these, ask for it in the contract itself. A verbal promise is the one thing reviewers most often say they could not enforce.

The trial clock

Several reviewers describe a free period that started a clock they did not know was running: they were told they could cancel within it, but nobody said when it began or when it ended. Ask three things. On what date does the free period start? On what date does it end? What exactly do I have to do, and where, to stop the first charge?

In Gaplessly there is no trial clock on the plan. Venue Starter is free up to 35 bookings a month, and a card is charged only for a month that goes past that. Add-ons do have a trial, and switching one off during it ends it straight away at no cost. A first paid subscription can be refunded in full for any reason within 14 days.

Sales promises against the contract

The pattern in public reviews is a conversation that went one way and a document that said another: a cheaper package used to make the comparison and a higher one in the contract, a "cancel any time" that turned out to be a minimum term, a free period that came with a fee to end early. You can catch all of it without a lawyer: get the package name, the price and the term written in the document you sign, and read the cancellation clause before the signature, not after.

• Ask for the plan name and the monthly price on the same page as the signature.
• Ask where the cancellation clause is, and read it.
• Ask what happens to your booking page and your data the day you leave.
• If the answer to any of these is "we will send it after", treat that as a no.

What happens to bookings and deposits when you leave

Two things matter most when you leave: your future bookings, and the deposits already taken for them.

In Gaplessly, cancelling stops the next renewal, keeps your plan working to the end of the period you have paid for, and then moves the business to the Free plan with all its data. Closing the account is different: it ends any paid plan straight away, takes your booking page offline, cancels your upcoming bookings and emails their guests. So cancel first, let the paid period run out, and close the account only if you mean to. Exporting your bookings is part of the core service our terms promise to keep.

Deposits and no-show fees are paid by your guests to you, through your own Stripe account connected to ours, so you are the merchant of record and the money does not sit with us. We take no commission on those payments. Refunds on them are your decision, and disputes are between you, your customer and Stripe.

Our own answers to the four questions

• Term: paid plans are billed monthly or yearly and renew automatically until you cancel. You can cancel at any time from the dashboard, with no exit fee. A monthly plan has no minimum. A yearly plan runs to the end of its year and is refunded part way only in the cases our refund policy lists, with a full refund within 14 days of a renewal.
• Notice: there is no notice period to give. Cancelling stops the next renewal, and a yearly plan gets a reminder email before it renews.
• Price changes: we email at least 30 days before a change applies to you. A change never applies to a period you have already paid for, you can cancel before it takes effect, and on a yearly plan the unused months are refunded.
• Fees on top: no commission and no fee per cover or per booking, on any plan. You pay your plan's published price, plus any add-on you choose. Card fees on deposits and no-show fees are Stripe's, charged to your Stripe account.

The venue ladder is published: Venue Growth and Venue Pro include deposits and no-show fees, and Venue Starter is free up to 35 bookings a month, then A$49 excl. GST for that month.

A checklist you can send to any vendor

• What is the minimum term, in months? Is there a monthly option with none?
• Does it renew automatically? What notice must I give, by what date, and how?
• What is the price today and what notice do I get before it changes? Can I leave if it does?
• Is there any fee per cover, per booking or per diner, including diners I already had?
• What do I pay for SMS, setup, add-ons and extra venues?
• When does any free period start and end, and what stops the first charge?
• What happens to my future bookings, my deposits and my guest list when I leave?
• Will you put all of this in the contract I sign?