At the time of a booking, we will collect the customers card information and confirm that  the card is valid (including the security code on the back).  We DO NOT actually place a hold on the card.  The reason is because banks only honor a hold for 7 days but many appointments book further that 7 days out so a hold really isn't practical.  We also DO NOT actually charge a deposit at the time of the booking. The reason is because if you charge a deposit, then your tips will decrease when they actually come in.  

So what we do is collect the card info and validate a good card. If a customer is a NO SHOW, you can tap the appointment and tap "$NO SHOW".  We will then create a Clover order for the customer and charge the hold amount to their card. We will also send the customer a text receipt.  There is a slight risk that the customer charge will not process for several reasons: (a) the card may have been cancelled (b) the customer may have provided a valid card but that card isn't, for whatever reason, accepted by your bank (c) the card may be overdrawn on it's credit limit.