wsm211

I made a reservation via the internet for a hotel requiring a 20% deposit. I accepted this and sent my cc#. In their emailed response ro me they sent their bank's information requesting I forward my payment directly to the account. I have never heard of this before. I was wondering if it was normal.

TexasAggie

Haven't heard of it, but it doesn't sound too unreasonable.
What hotel? Also, what city and country?

sandi

Be prepared for your bank to charge your for wiring funds to another country. My bank charges $30 for international wires.

Ann1

I have heard of this many times. I will never do it. Once they have your money, that's it. At least if you hold the room with a cc, you can deal with the cc company if you have a problem. They can give you a horrible room or the hotel can be filthy and you have no recourse. They will probably also want you to pay your bill in cash which is ok if you know ahead. I suggest choosing another hotel.

Wayne

I've encountered this situation several times. Sandi is probably right; it will cost a bunch (I've paid $15 to $35 for the transfer) but some hotels still want to handle the deposits this way. It isn't typical, but it's normal. You will have to go to your bank with the information provided to you, arrange for the transfer of funds, and the bank will then make the wire transfer. In my experience, when a hotel asks for you to do this, you have no alternative. Good luck.

Patrick

In the past year I had two hotels (actually apartments, both in Italy) request wire transfers. I emailed both and said that was very difficult and expensive to do in my small town. I offered either giving them a credit card number or sending them euro travelers checks as a deposit. One emailed back and said they'd take my CC number after all, and not charge it, which is what they did. The other emailed back and said not to worry about a deposit, I could pay on arrival.

LarryJ

I once sent a deposit by wire to reserve an apartment. My bank charged a fee, the bank in France charged a fee, there was the usual currency exchange rate (lousy) to deal with and in the end my deposit of 220 euros cost me $55. Never again. I would never in this life send a wire deposit for a hotel. That is unreasonable. Find another hotel; there are too many hotels glad to take your credit card as a guarantee to bet ripped off like that.

Larry J

caroline_edinburgh

I was asked to do this just recently. In this case it was for a very small place - really just a beach restaurant with rooms (in Italy) - and I assumed they don't take credit cards. It was easy to do but cost me £30; although I imagine that doing it directly bank-bank probably gave me a better exchange rate than some methods of payment.

clevelandbrown

This site asserts that they can provide such services for less than the banks. I haven't used it yet, but others have praised it here.

http://www.xe.com/ucc/

wsm211

Thanks for the input. I will inquire with the hotel if they are willing to accept an alternative.

nini

It is certainly a lot easier to just give a CC# to guarantee the room even if you will have to pay cash when you get there. I have never wired money--not yet anyway. We were asked to pay one night lodging in advance in London on last trip--in pounds--so we had to go out of our way to a certain bank and of course there was an extra fee but probably under $20. We learned this little trick the hard way. Upon checking out of our hotel in Amsterdam a bill was presented to us for more than the agreed on amount. We had a train to catch immediately so my husband did not want to dig through to find the copy that was faxed to us. From that time on we have every copy sent by each hotel totally accessable. If there is an discrepancy with the bill we have it at hand. I really don't think a reputable hotel would pull this trick and I could never recommend the place in Amsterdam.