Here's a question for you: We have booked a hotel that wants to be paid in cash or travelers checks, not a credit card. This would amount to more Euros than we could get on a daily basis from the ATM and I know the exchange rates given at hotels for USD are routinely less favorable than the going rate. How would you handle this problem? Is there a way to get travelers checks in Euros in the US at a decent exchange rate? Joanne

How much money are you talking about? Since it is a hotel I assume you pay upon check out. If so you should have plenty of time to amass enough cash. And/or you can have your bank raise your daily limit. I have mine raised to $1000 if I am needing a lot of cash at one time. Then you can lower it back down if you want when you get home . . . .

I apologise if this isn't too helpful, but I'd be a little wary of a hotel that wants to be paid in cash.

It's the first time I've heard of such a request and it wouldn't fill me with confidence if I were in you shoes. It could be worth checking to see if others have had the same request from the hotel. Which hotel is it, out of interest?

Lots of small hotels, pensions, B&B don't accept credit cards. Most do - but it is not at all unusual to have to pay cash . . . . .

The inn is in Venice, is called Ca'Angeli and seems to have a stellar reputation. Perhaps the answer is to have our limit raised as it will be about $400 a night, more than we have ever paid for a hotel room anywhere!

Hi J,

You want to

1. raise your daily limit.
2. have an ATM card for you and your spouse

This way you get 2x the daily limit.

3. If you open another account and do the above, you get 4x the daily limit.

ATM machines usually limit you to about 250E/transaction, so be prepared to repeat the process a few times if you need 1000E at once.

Enjoy your visit.

Thanks for the info janisj.

Not having stayed in many B&Bs/pensions (more of a hotel man myself), I wasn't aware of this.

However I still find it a big ask to have guests carrying what could easily amount to thousands of euros in cash around with them...

It must be a lovely place joannecam, so I hope you sort your money troubles and enjoy venice. I know I did!

If you are determined to stay in this establishment then I agree with trying to find some reasonable way to meet the "requirements."

I agree with Janis about establishments not accepting credit cards which means they are also avoiding the fees that come with accepting them.

As to the carrying large amounts of cash. It can certainly be done with discretion and with little, if any danger, of it being lost or stolen if you are careful. Is there any reason carrying it cannot be divided between two people?

If you are going to use an ATM to obtain the cash a lot might depend on how far away from the hotel the nearest working ATM is.

Both Italy hotels I booked for Sept mentioned a discount if paying in cash.

In theory you can get Euro travelers checks from your bank in the US before you go. I say in theory because our bank kept telling us they would be in tomorrow for 3 weeks, and we finally left without them.

The Euro travelers checks are worthless unless you're using them for something like your hotel, which was what we wanted them for. We wound up just hitting the ATMs a lot. It was worth the inconvenience to get the discount for cash.

Two of the B&B's we're staying in (Rome and Florence) want cash, paid up front. This saves them fees and from having to pay taxes, which, I imagine, is why many small places offer a discount for paying cash if they even offer a choice.

I had my limit on my business account raised to $1,000 a day. I also have my personla account and my husband has a separate account. We'll hit the ATM at the airport when we arrive and do as many transactions as it takes to get the money we need to pay when we arrive. Then we have 5 days to amass enough to pay in full when we get to Florence.

We leave tomorrow!!!

If you're comfortable with an advance payment of all--or a major portion--of what your bill will be, you could open an account with www.xe.com/fx and have a bank draft sent directly to the hotel.

I use my account to send money to relatives in Europe and to book lodging when the owner requires payment for the first night in advance to reserve the room and only accepts cash.

For security reasons, it takes a little time and effort to set up an account, but the transaction itself goes smoothly and quickly. XE takes money from my checking account by electronic transfer and sends a bank draft by mail directly to the place of my choice in Europe. The exchange rate is only a tiny bit above whatever the "official" rate is for the day the transaction is processed. For faster service, XE will do a wire transfer, but it will cost more.

Sure, you can get TCs in euro in the US, but not at what I suspect you call a decent exchange rate. You don't have to wait for them at AAA, you get them immediately, but I think their rate is around 7 pct markup on that.

I knew small cheap places would do that, but I don't think there's any excuse for a hotel charging what must be around 300 euro a night to have such requirements. I wouldn't stay in such a place myself -- which I know is nothing to do with the question, but if you are going to spend so much money on hotels, I wouldn't think the euro TC exchange rate would bother you.

&quot;<i>You don't have to wait for them at AAA, you get them immediately</i>&quot;

It may depend on where you live - but in CA, AAA has quit offering TCs over the counter. They must be ordered on line or by an 800m number.

that should be an 800 number . . .