Hostal - Help me send deposit
 

Well, I finally got through by telephone to the hostal in Sevilla where I stayed about 30 years ago. It's Hostal Monreal in the Barrio de Santa Cruz and I really found it to be an experience (mostly good, some not so much!) I was there in July in a small room just off the roof, no fan, no air conditioning! Anyway, I stumbled through this morning's phone conversation in Spanish reasonably well, but hit one thing I need help with. I need to send a deposit, I caught the word Correo, which I know is the mail. What is the typical way to send money for a deposit? Thanks for your help, I really want to stay in this place!

Apparently they do not accept credit card payments, which would protect you should anything happen between now and then. You can wire the funds to their bank account, but if you plan on sending the payment through the mail, it has to be a certified check, in euros.

If you don't have an account set up with a wire transfer service like XE.com, then sending a payment either way will be expensive since you'll have to go through your bank.

Hi K,

Some folks have reported good results with offering to send a check for the equivalent amount in Euro + about 10E for bank fees, and then paying the deposit in cash on arrival.

You then get your check back.

This is the cheapest and easiest way.

((I))

Well, I didn't get a bank account number and I couldn't find the words to ask the form the deposit needed to take. I guess I need to call back and get clarification! If I could just send a normal check from here, that would be perfect. I will be in Sevilla about 5 days before we will actually be staying there, so worse case scenario I could take my chances and stroll in with the cash at that time. If the mail takes as long as it used to, we'd probably beat any letter. We'll be there on March 19 and the reservation doesn't start until the 24th. Should I just take my chances?

By the way, thanks a lot for the help. I have gotten some great ideas from this site, and am already planning my trip report for when I return.

I am quite certain they aren't going to accept your regular check. They'd have to get it converted to euros (which would cost them a fair price), then deposit it (for which they also pay a fee). Not to mention you just can't write a check in a currency other than the one of the country you have the checking account in.

Wire transfers are expensive, and there's a fee to send them and a fee to receive them.

Go to your bank (or a bank that offers this service) and purchase an international draft in euros. Mail the draft to them. A draft should cost you $5-$10. Be prepared to be charged by the hostal for whatever fee their bank charges for them to deposit the draft into their Spanish bank. Of course, they may not deposit it, just hold onto it as a security deposit.

I just had to send a deposit in pounds myself. One of the banks we deal with didn't even have bank drafts available in pounds or even euros. We were able to get a draft from another bank we deal with for $30.00. A wire transfer would also have cost us $30.00, but there would also have been a charge on the other end. We could have perhaps opened an account at a bank that charged less, but it wasn't worth the trouble to us. I have seen suggestions here, to get a travellers check in euros, sign it, and then mail it to the recipient. At first this sounds risky, but the travellers check is insured as long as you keep your paperwork. AAA in our area no longer offers travellers checks in euros, and the one place I found that did was inconvienient. You might want to try this if the hostel is willing to accept them, and it is convienient for you to get them. Have you asked whether they take paypal? I wish you luck! pp

Hello Kimeryl, my son-in-law has sent money from the US to Rome via the US Post Office. He said he found that was the least expensive way but I do not know if it was done in Euros or US dollars and sadly I can't contact him right now to ask him. But you might check with your PO if you have time to find out what the details are for sending money to Spain.