Booking Swiss Hotels via E-mail
 

I wanted to find out if anyone has been successful/unsucessful booking room reservations via e-mail with hotels. I'm a little nervous with the lag in response time for some hotels. I've asked for a confirmation but still no reply.

Tina,<BR><BR>I booked all of our hotels for our trip this May by email. This includes hotels in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France.<BR><BR>They emailed a confirmation and, in one or two cases, additionally mailed confirmation, no problem.<BR><BR>I am taking copies of my request and their confimation with me when I go.<BR><BR>Dick<BR><BR>

Two years ago we booked all our hotels from France to Prague by e-mail. No problems at all. Got instant answers.

Have booked all of our hotels by email. Sometimes there is a time lag, but it could be due to many things. If you don't get a response within a week, I would email the hotel again or phone/fax them.

I'm ging to Europe for 3 weeks this June and have booked all my hotels with e-mail. <BR><BR>As a generalization, I noticed that the smaller hotels (we're talking down to 2 room B&B size) seemed to lag as much as 2 days behind with my request. I wonder if it's because some don't have internet access at "home" and have to rely on internet cafes and libraries? If this is true, then they might only check their e-mail every couple of days.

Tina--There might be one other source of the problem, especially if you are talking specifically about hotels in Switzerland. I don't know when you sent your e-mails, but you may know that many hotels close over the winter months for anywhere from 15 days to 3 months. Perhaps yours is in that category. From my own experience, I have never had problems with making reservations with any hotel by e-mail, including those in France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Hungary, and even Slovenia. Unless you have an extreme urgency (for instance, need to know within the next 30 days) you might want to give them a bit of time or check to see if they are even open. Otherwise, a follow-up by mail might be appropriate. Good luck.

I agree with the person just above, Tina. Many small places close during the winter months (My favorite place in Gerra does). So there may be no one there to reply. Try again; or maybe even snail mail? J.

By e-mail, I 1) find out if a room is available 2) price 3) cancellation policy. Then I fax my credit card number and ask for confirmation by e-mail.

Is it okay to send credit card # over internet/e-mail or is it better to send by fax??

Hi Tina! We are traveling for 19 days in Switz, Austria, Italy and Germany in June. I completed all of my reservations via email and had no problem and many quick responses--amazing. There were a few who took a little longer...some had computer problems, some had to translate my English, and etc. I emailed each twice and in one or two cases, i had to fax. Upon faxing, I received prompt responses. I think it just takes some persistence and patience. They have all confirmed my reservations via email or fax, and I will carry those with me. I faxed some credit card confirmations and emailed some. It was suggested to split the credit card # in two emails. I had very few problems. The Traveler

Thanks for your help. Its good to know that many of you have had minimal problems. I may need to be a little more patient. My first e-mails with credit card info was 2 weeks ago with a 2nd e-mail to each hotel a week ago. Its funny that they responded so quickly the first time when offering me with rates. I'll also take your advice to fax. Thanks again!

Tina: I was told I should never e-mail by credit card number as it is not "secure". That is why I fax my credit card number. Some hotels have a secure e-mail on their web sites (?) but I'm not real sure about this or how to tell if it is secure. Perhaps someone else could address the security of credit card numbers being sent by e-mail. Thanks.<BR>

ttt

I just got back from Suisse and booked all of my hotels via email. I had no problems whatsoever. Have a great trip.<BR><BR>