Giving credit card details to Hotels for reservation
 

My question is, most hotels need Credit Card details for booking a room. Although they say that they will not charge, untill arrival. Is it ok to share these details

Also, if we share the CC details, then is it ok to share by email

You will not be able to book the hotel without giving them CC details. I have always done this by mail, and have not had a problem. Alternative would be to call them and read out your CC details, but that might not be practical.

If you are concerned about email, send partial info in two separate emails, using two different email addresses if you have them. Your credit card company is likely responsible if there is any fraudulent use. Alway wise to keep a close eye on your credit card balance online, and alert them immediately if there is anything suspicious.

The real danger is in using Western Union or bank transfer to someone you do not know, as this is where the scam artists can take your money for accommodation that does not actually exist.

You are at no risk with the hotel, which is not going anywhere with your money. The only risk is if your computer connection is hacked in the process, which is really quite unlikely.

If you don't trust your email, send the details by fax.

You need to provide a CC if you want your hotel reservation to be guaranteed. Providing it by email is not recommended and sending info by two separate emails is not very secure. If you can book it online, either through the hotels own website or through an agent such as hotels.com, Expedia, Travelocity etc, this will be a more secure way way to part with your CC information.

Odin is right. Email isn't particularly secure, but it is also rarely intercepted. I wouldn't use two emails, that just doubles the issue and increases the probability that the hotel will print your email to have the info readily accessible. Hotel website, booking engine, or fax are preferable. The vast majority of hacks aren't as convoluted as stealing emails, they use people's own actions to gain access.

I do like Odin : everything via booking.com or hotels.com

In case of problems, I have found them more helfpful than the hotel.

My rules are therefore : never book with a third party for flights, always book via third party for hotel.

Understand this. Hacking of credit cards is a byproduct of 21st century life. But do bear in mind (especially if you're from the USA but true in other countries too)you have zero liability for fraud on credit card accounts so why worry? Yes, sending two separate e-mails is more secure but a bigger, to a degree, pain. You can always call in the cc details if you are paranoid about e mail. But is it worth it? Well only you can decide. If your credit card is hacked, it can easily be resolved so, at least in my opinion, why worry?

I use the same rules as PARISWAT.

Giving the hotel your credit card info is a standard business practice. We do it for clients a dozen or more times each month, either through their booking service, or directly to the hotels front desk or management group. You can send your CC info using a secure PDF, but it's a waste of time in most cases.

If you have Visa, MC or Amex, you are protected. They will replace your card if anything goes wrong.

I do not know what the situation is where the OP is located but in Italy there are many banks etc which offer "carte ricaricabili" or debit cards which can be loaded with whatever amout you want up to a certain limit - generally 3000 or 5000 Euros but sometimes higher.

The great advantage of these cards is that you only put on them what you need so that if someone hacks into them, one way or another, your loss is limited to what remains on the card. In addition, many such cards can be linked to your phone so that you receive an SMS for every transaction above a certain amount - usually 200 Euros - as well as an SMS when anyone has tried to use the card - for whatever the amount - when the information provided was nor complete or erroneous.

If your card has been hacked in any way you can cancel it and immediately get a replacement. As I said, it is not limited to banks. Paypal issues such cards in Italy.

Do such cards exist in America or elsewhere?

I don't understand why you wouldn't give it to them if you intend to give it to them when you stay there. I always use some secure booking site, although I have in the past (before so many hotels had online-booking sections), a few times. I did break it up in two parts once, but sometimes didn't because I really don't think there is any measurable risk of someone intercepting your email and finding your credit card number to use it, out of all the zillions of emails in the world being transmitted. Someone would have to read every email, also. When I put it in the email, I don't write it in a way that it could be automatically intercepted as being a CC number, either.

There isn't any risk, anyway, as noted as you aren't liable.

Christina and others

you may not be liable but if you need to replace your card this is always a pain especially if it happens when you are travelling.

also to follow up from my previous posting the most recent rechargeable cards also have an IBAN number so you can reload them by a bank transfer.

See whether the hotel has a web site that accepts credit cards; that's the most secure way.

"Do such cards exist in America" Yes, but why would anyone with an American or Canadian bank based CC have need of one?

Credit Cards, as well as ATM/debit cards, issued by American and Canadian based banks and credit unions, and foreign based banks doing business in North America, are protected by law. If your card is compromised, you are not responsible for any loss, and the card (Amex, VISA & MC) can be replaced within 48 hours in most cases.

Yes it's OK (usually required) to give the hotel your credit card information. If you feel email is not secure for this (1) use their website if possible, (2) send a FAX, (3) call them.

I want to add a warning here... yes if there is fraudulent use then the banks are supposed to help you but... two years ago in Venice our bank in Australia blocked our card because of fraudulent use (good on them for seeing it early) but the solution was for them to post us another card to our home address - not much help and we were lucky we travel with two cards.
Then last year we had another card hacked and 'someone' used it for purchases in Turkey. It took us 4 months of fighting with that bank to get our money back and it was only when I went to the ombudsman and threatened legal action that it came through.
Anyway I would never send CC details through emails and only use hotels' secure payment sites or third part booking agents like booking.com. In the case where a hotel has asked for these details I have explained the situation and in most cases the hotel owner has accepted it and just asked us to confirm regularly so they know we are definitely coming.

Thank you all for your feedback

We all have talked about the FRAUDS that may happen if someone gets hold of your CC details, but

One more thing that can happen is that the HOTEL itself may cheat and charge the card(before the time comes, although their policy is to Receive cash on arrival.

Any experience on this or suggestions

I have always been favouring Booking.com, but i see that while booking for ITALY AND PARIS , the hotel gives better discounts & prices & supplementary things and finally turns out cheaper if you book Directly through the hotel

Another question i have is

I have observed that the HOTELS & BOOKING.COM both will check the card and if credit card details are wrong they say it cannot be PROCESSED

But if they process it, then wouldn't the card be charged immediately ?

Asimm, you worry too much. If the hotel fraudulently charges your card, take it up with the CC company who will refund you. If hotels routinely did this, they would go out of business. If you give your card nr to secure a booking and it is charged immediately; again, you inform your CC company to reverse the charge.

You do need to regularly check you CC charges; but you probably do this anyway, since you are so worried about fraud.

In this day and age you cannot book hotels or flights without giving your CC nr.

I use HRS.com and seldom need to give the credit card. It is one of my criteria in picking a hotel. Maybe this works as I seldom stay in large cities in Germany where a credit card is more likely to be demanded.

The businesses that falsely accept a fake card do bear the loss rather than I; but, it can be a hassle going back and changing the card number for those few firms that I allow to keep it on record. Someone already mentioned there are times that it is difficult to be without one while it is being replaced. Plus the card is sometimes (e.g., airline reservations) considered proof of identity.

My card data got compromised in the Target and Home Depot security breakdowns. That hassle has strengthened my intention to be more careful about how often and when I use the card.

<<But if they process it, then wouldn't the card be charged immediately ?>> It would only be charged if the rate is a prepaid or non refundable rate. For other rates, you will be charged when you check out. If you no show or cancel too late, you will also be charged according to the hotel's cancellation policy.

<<I use HRS.com and seldom need to give the credit card. It is one of my criteria in picking a hotel.>> In this case the room is presumably only held until 6pm. If you arrive after this time, you won't have a room.

Sometimes, hotels and booking agencies do a pre authorization on a credit card to check its validity. No money actually comes out of the account on the pre authorization and it is lifted after a certain amount of time although it temporarily is applied against your credit limit. Other booking agencies do charge you up front but will, depending on the policy of the hotel on a particular reservation refund the money if you are within the allowable cancellation period of the hotel. It does vary greatly as to specific policies. Generally when you book directly with a hotel or through the chain's web site if applicable for refundable reservations your card is not actually charged till you check out. This indeed varies from hotel to hotel, from booking agent to booking agent, from chain to chain.

I don't understand why people think a fax is secure. How can you be sure that it won't be printed out and left lying around? How can you be sure that it will be shredded before being thrown away? Who is it that checks the fax machine?

When you use a credit card, the underpaid desk clerk doesn't have access to your credit card number. I would much rather use a credit card on a reputable booking site than send a fax, or furnish a credit card number by phone or email, or use an one of the anonymous booking services often used by small hotels.

Hotels need some guarantee that the customer will turn up. So they expect some sort of reservation. The reservation also helps you guarantee you have a room when you arrive. So the system works both ways.
Like others have said use an online portal if you do not like the idea of send your details by unsecured emails. Apart from a phone you could also fax the details most hotels still have faxes.

I do not know what the situation is where the OP is located but in Italy there are many banks etc which offer "carte ricaricabili" or debit cards which can be loaded with whatever amout you want up to a certain limit - generally 3000 or 5000 Euros but sometimes higher.>>

they exist in the UK, nochblad, but here they are reckoned to be poor value with bad exchange rates and, with some of them, punitive conditions when you want to cash it in.

I don't see the problem with using either the facility provided by booking.com [which I have used for years with no problems] or the on-line booking system provided by most hotels for their individual booking system [ditto].

I mean this in all due respect to anybody who disagrees and I am certainly not looking for any sort of contentious argument or anything like that. There are certain technological advances we all should enjoy living in the 21st century (and of course there will be more to come). One of them is the total flexibility our credit cards, computers and booking agents give us to make hotel reservations leaving a credit card to guarantee the reservation. Using a credit card at any time can involve a small, very small, amount of risk in terms of having one's card hacked. You simply can't lay awake at night worrying about that possibility. I know there are some who go to all sorts of lengths and say ot to use credit cards for that reason (or even although not applicable to hotels not to use credit cards for small purchases). My philosophy is if it happens it happens. Please understand, credit card fraud in a reality of life today but it is not identity theft and in almost all cases easy to resolve. You tell the credit card company which charges are not yours, they remove them from the account, send you a card with a new number and life returns to normal. Yes it is inconvenient to have to change your automatic billers and I curse to the high heavens whenever that happens. And if your card is compromised while travelling, the solution is dirt simple. Take 2 or 3 different cards. To me, it's simply not worth laying awake at night worrying about it and changing the way I make hotel reservations, theatre reservations, eat in restaurants, pay hotel bills and all sorts of things like that.

Once upon a time people travelled with a Letter of Credit. Those times are gone.

Send the hotel your credit card details.

In an email.

Live dangerously!

>>Live dangerously!<<

Frankly, the bad guys can somehow get your CC number and try to use it without ever having physically laid eyes on your card or number previously. Haven't we all received a phone call from a company asking whether or not we made a purchase? It happens. If emailing the hotel with your card number is the only way to make a reservation, so be it.

Take extra cards with you on your trip. Save the old card so you can show the card you made your reservation with.

There's always the option of sending an actual piece of paper through the mail with your c/c details. That's called a letter, and it's how things used to be done.

<the HOTEL itself may cheat and charge the card(before the time comes, although their policy is to Receive cash on arrival.>
This is a total misunderstanding. The hotel in question may well charge a deposit to the credit card--this is normal, not a cheat. If you cancel within the free cancellation period, whatever that may be, the charge will be refunded. But unless you work out some sort of cash only arrangement in advance--good luck with that--your card will be charged.

Btw, I agree with xyz's last post 100%.

>>Live dangerously!<<
try using travellers cheques :-)

Pariswat and xyz have it down.

I personally have always worried more about fax transmission. The cleaning team in the hotel can just walk by and pick that puppy up without anyone noticing, especially because of time zone differences.

I did use to worry about cc in an email; now, it's not MY problem; it's my cc company problem.

As far as sharing cc info and worrying about it,I have a funny story. My dear aged mother recently REFUSED to share her one and only card with me. She had been falling a lot, and my sister and I were worried to death. She had finally agreed to a senior fall alert system ONLY IF SHE PAID FOR IT, but she did not know how to order it. So I said, "I can set this up online in two secs, but I will need your credit card."

Her reply? "I don't like to give that number out." This is to her totally trustworthy daughter who pays for her phone, her cable, her mobile, etc.

I said, "Ok, I'll pay for it." I hung up and was just about to proceed and she called me back and said, "Is the credit card the only way?"

Yeaaah, in 2015, yeaaah. GET OVER IT!

Meanwhile, on any form on any type of visit we go to, she fills in her SS# without one pause.

Yes, I always bring a Sharpie.

rebeirasacra:
>>Live dangerously!<<
try using travellers cheques :-) >>

Of course, you may die of starvation before you find somebody to cash those travelers checks.

annhig - my posting was a bit of a teaser.

Italy is behind the curve in many things but way ahead on carte ricaricabili and also, for example, the payment of autostrada tolls via the Telepass system.

You mention that other countries have bad exchange rates and punitive conditions. This can be obviated in part by getting a card in Euros to start with. As for punitive conditions, this is a problem with the country you are from - UK?

However, as I said, if you load the card with what is required to undertake the transaction you do not lose more than what is loaded on the card. Maybe CC offer protection but it is a huge hassle sorting things out when you are travelling as many have already said.

It is possible, in Italy, to have multiple cards from the same provider so if there are problems with one you can transfer funds to another.

I'm surprised that using a masking service hasn't been mentioned yet. I hesitated to do so because, well, technological advances are not always generally accepted here. Or, to put it more baldly, no one is interested. But here goes.

There are free masking services that allow you to store your card once and enter it in a disguised form on any website you wish. Here is an explanation from one such service, Abine:
https://www.abine.com/maskme/features/cards/

I use this and it works. It does not eliminate risk, but storing my card information in one place that is explicitly devoted to protecting it seems safer to me than entering it with multiple merchants who do not devote themselves to safeguarding it. YMMV.

Google "credit card masking" for more information.

This is very useful, too, when on a less-than-secure network, although in that case you should be using a VPN anyway.

You mention that other countries have bad exchange rates and punitive conditions. This can be obviated in part by getting a card in Euros to start with. As for punitive conditions, this is a problem with the country you are from - UK>>

yes, as I said, nochblad, these cards have a very bad reputation in the UK, I can't speak for anywhere else. Although they are indeed available in €, there is a particular problem with some cards is that if you want to cash them in [eg if you have a significant amount in € left on them] the exchange rates/charges are excessive. Some providers have time limits on them and still have the nerve to impose these punitive conditions.

personally I've never had a problem with any merchant having my C/C no; I think that one is far more likely to have a problem with villains hacking your bank account or other personal details. I hope I'm not tempting fate!

annhig - unfortunately if you are in the UK you are multiply abused by the banks, airlines and others.

you have probably read of newspaper reports where the cost of trips to Disneyworld in Paris and elsewhere are far higher if booked on the UK sites rather than in France or Germany.

Recently I had to book a Ryanair flight from Kos to Milan and the price was substantially lower on the Italian site in comparison with the Engish (UK/Ireland) site.

I got a "carta ricaricabile" from my Italian bank a few years ago. Maybe I have the wrong bank, but in my little town it's the one that nearly everyone uses and the only one that's not foundering. (Maybe Nochblad has heard of the problems of the Banca delle Marche.)

I wanted this card in order to be able to buy on the internet from smaller vendors with whom I had no experience, and also to use for my automatic Skype refills, because I really don't trust Skype's security procedures.

My first surprise was that I had to pay a substantial fee to get the card. (In the US, you can buy them in a supermarket for a very small fee.) After all, you're in effect lending money to the bank. You put, let's say, €1000 euro on the card, paying it up front to the bank, and they give it back to you in dribs and drabs. It seems to me it should be almost free.

My next surprise was the unbelievable quantity of paperwork I had to sign in order to take possession of the card. After having been asked to sign a great many times, I started to count, and there were still around 20 more signatures required.

Using the card online entailed more security measures than my regular credit card. My notion was that since I put a limited amount of money on the card, it should be usable easily. Instead the Italian idea seems to be that this is the kind of card likely to be used by crooks and tax evaders, so it should be wrapped even tighter in security than a normal card.

Whenever I used it online, I had to use that odious Verified by Visa system. When I forgot my password, I had to <i> call their office during business hours </i> to change my password.

Sometimes the card worked for the automatic Skype payments and sometimes it didn't. I never could understand why, but one of the times it didn't work was extremely inconvenient for me.

After a while, I decided I didn't want the card after all. But there was still money on it, which I thought I should get back. It turned out there was a hefty fee to cancel the card and have my own money back!

Anyway, how should a tourist get a carta ricaricabile with euros on it? My bank won't give one to anyone who doesn't have an account with the bank. I also checked the Post Office bank, at the time I was considering dropping the card, and they also won't give it to anyone who doesn't have a postal account. Even if you find a bank that will give you a carta ricaricabile without an account, currency will have to be exchanged to get the euros on the card, and banks don't usually give good exchange rates.