I need to send Euros to Paris to hold a reservation. I've tried AAA, Western Union, my small bank, and the Post Office, and it seems that no one can get me Euros. I sent an email to an American Express Office to see if they can do it. <BR><BR>Any ideas? I may just go to the airport and try to get them there. What a pain, since Boston Logan is my airport, and I hate going there unless I'm getting on a plane! I only need 26Euros, so this seems so pointless!! Thanks!

monique - where are you? I brought a bunch home with me. I live right outside Worcester....

I've never heard of a hotel requiring Euros being sent.<BR><BR>I'd pick another hotel. There must be hundreds of hotels in Paris that will hold your res with a CC#. Even those that want payment in cash will usually hold the res with a CC#.

My solution would be to go get a Traveler's Cheque in the appropriate number of euro and send that. I've done it for deposits before without problem. Just round off to send more than the required amount and let them hold it as a credit.<BR>I feel safer sending the traveler's check than cash anyway.

You can get them online. Google it. www.oanda.com may be a place, or does it only give conversion rates? <BR>Were you going to send the euro in cash in envelope to Paris? Wouldn't a money order be better? <BR> Some places will take credit card for reservation even tho they want cash when you get there.

Monique - Are you sending cash? Won't they take a credit card to guarantee the reservation? If it is a hotel asking for this I would find something else!

I recently went thru the same thing. My solution was to go to the Amex office and buy Euro travellers checks and send them to the hotel. I was assured by Amex that it was okay to sign both signature lines of the travellers checks. Don't remember the exact fee, but it was reasonable.<BR>Prior to that I had tried to send money via C2it.com, citibank's website. For a $10 fee you can have money sent overseas straight from your credit card, they write a check and mail it to your destination. Unfortunately I had a bad experience, the money was charged from my account but the check never made it to the hotel. I had to do a stop payment which incurred a service charge. Everything originally got reversed and I ended up even, but I might be hesitant to try that again.

Sorry, I meant to say &quot;everything EVENTUALLY got reversed&quot;...

It's a very small, cheap, budget hotel. They don't take credit cards. I would send a traveller's cheque, but it's a really insignificant amount of money - 26Euros; I think the fee is more than this! I think American Express may be able to help me.<BR><BR>Celtricdreams -- thanks for your offer. What town are you in?

I'd still go to AAA and get one 50 euro travlers check which I assume would still be less than the total you will owe them. The exchange rate is not great, but there should be no fee if you are an AAA member (I assume you are since you mentioned it in your original post). No special mailing fee either -- just send it first class. It just means you'll owe them less when you check out.

When we travel, I always just go down to my local Bank of America branch and they order the money for me. Getting it takes anywhere from 2-7 days, but I've never had a problem and have done this for years. You do have to have an account there however.

I bought Euros for my trip through JP Morgan Chase Bank. If you have a branch nearby, you can pick it up!! Just another option. Check their website for details. Good luck!

monique - email me at [email protected] - just put something i'll recognize in the subject line.

I don't know why you couldn't get them at AAA -- I never have, but I know they have some foreign currency, although I suspect the problem may be that they have a minimum purchase, if you won't buy more than 26. <BR><BR>Since you live in or near Boston, there are foreign exchange companies there since it's a large city-- just look in the phone book under &quot;foreign exchange&quot;. Ruesch is down near State St and the Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in near NE Med Center.<BR><BR>I wouldn't cater to such requirements myself, there are plenty of other reasonable hotels, I don't care whether they are family owned or not. I've stayed in small family-owned hotels in Paris and they didn't require such nonsense--they accepted any kind of check in the approximate correct amount, even in US dollars, or travelers checks. In theory, they shouldn't be cashing it, so it shouldn't matter to them that much if it's only for security unless they get a lot of bad business. Once I had to make a one-nights deposit on a room worth about 90 euro and I simply sent a personal check for 100 USD, which was fine with them (I didn't do that without their okay).

We went to our Bank of America and they got me a casher's check in euros made out to the hotel. There was a small fee.

Monique, I know what you are going thru. I booked a place a couple of years ago in Austria, and they did not take credit cards. Wanted 1000 shilling despoit (about $85). I ordered the check from my bank in shillings which cost me about $15 and mailed it to them.<BR><BR>Arrived in Austria, had a great time, but when we checked out of the place, he charged us about $5.00 extra which was the cost his bank charged him to cash our check. What a crock of crap!!!<BR><BR>Lesson learned -- stay at a place that accepts credit cards.

Any bank can get them to you in a relatively short period of time. Your exchange will actually be better over there using the ATM's &amp; your credit card. Certainly take some w/you for the initial taxi, food, etc. There may be a small fee but my bank never charges me.

If you are near Boston, there is a currency window at the American Express Travel Office on the corner of Washington and State in downtown. It is right next to the State T stop on the Orange Line. It was $5 to get Euros without an Amex card and $2 if you had an Amex card the last time I did it. Fleet Bank at Congress and Franklin also has a currency window, but it was $10 to non-Fleet customers the last time I was there.

You have to send Euros to a hotel to hold a reservation? That is very suspect indeed. Choose another hotel. An reputable hotel in France will hold a reservation with a VISA card. In France, most Frenchmen have a &quot;VISA Carte Bleue&quot; which is the VISA debit card. I don't understand how you have to send Euros -- and then be at the hotel's mercy to give you the required receipt. Choose elsewhere. Even a smalltown bank can get Euros for you (for a fee) and usually within a week. Worse case scenario would be at the ATM (in France) or change office (both France and USA) at your airport of departure (if a major city). I find your situation to be unheard of -- you ought to stay elsewhere.

And even if they are as you pointed out a small, budget hotel that doesn't accept credit cards, that too is almost unheard of in France. Why even most boulangeries now take VISA/Carte Bleue. And French law requires the merchant to give you a receipt. You could find a similar place for the same price; this hotel sounds very suspect. They are going to cook their books so they don't have to declare the income from your stay to the French tax authorities and that in and of itself is going to leave you with a lot of headache and littel legal recourse should there be a problem.