Is it sketchy for a hotel to ask...
 

...you to send a personal check to hold the first night? We booked a room at the Hotel Primavera in Rome after reading good comments and reviews (many of them on this forum). They don't take credit cards, so they asked us to send a personal check for the deposit. <BR><BR>Credit cards will refund you if you are cheated or become the victim of fraud. However, bank checking accounts don't have that protection. Not that I think the hotel will commit outright fraud, but I'm a little uncomfortable mailing them a check before setting foot on the continent. Should I be?<BR><BR>Thanks!

Are they asking for a check in US dollars or a currency other than euros? If so, I don't think you have a problem - it will take them some time,and cost them some money, to cash it, so they probably won't unless you don't show up. It costs me about 18 euros to cash a US check at my French bank, so I don't think they'd exercise the option unless in extremis.

Yes, it is a check for US dollars. Thanks--that makes me feel better.

I was asked to send a check in Euro for a budget hotel in Paris last year. $26 a night w/balcony over Place Dauphine! I knew this hotel was wildly popular, and that this was protocal for them. The fee for me to get a check in Euro was $10! Yet it was waived because the teller thought my dog was cute (he was).<BR><BR>Anyway, no problem for me at all. I've heard of this before from other budget hotels.

Since Talia has received her answer, I wonder if someone could indulge me by telling me what ‘sketchy’ means in this context? The only meaning I know, and the only definition given in dictionary.com, is lacking in completeness or incomplete, as in “... details of the plan are sketchy.”

I think that this is far more common in Europe than many of the so-called experts here know. Last year in Italy I had to send EURO TC's as deposit to a couple of convents who didn't except credit cards. In contract, several convents made confirmed reservations for me just on the strength of the fax I sent them. If you have read good things about a particular hotel, I wouldn't think twice about sending a check. Many small hotels have business practices that are entirely different than some people might expect.

Sometimes the word 'sketchy' is used to express a sense of concern over the legitimacy of a particular practice.<BR><BR>MM

Hi Talia. One of the B&amp;B's in Galway we are staying in does not take credit cards. I called to make reservations. They do have a policy of always taking a check to secure the first night. But she told me that since we were calling from the US, she would just take our word that we would arrive. She said it would be too much trouble to deal with a US check. She probably never thought of asking for something in Euro.<BR>

We bookedabout 8 months in davance for 6 nights at La Calcina in Venice. It is a very popular place. We were asked to send 2 nights lodging using personal check. We sent it in US dollars. The deposit was (I think) cashed in advance of our arrival. The amount was credited to our bill. I wasn't crazy about the ideaa but it did work.

Hi Talia. I can personally vouch for the Hotel Primavera in Rome as we stayed there for four nights last April, sending them a personal check as a deposit, just as you were requested to do. When our stay was complete, we paid in cash and received our check back. <BR><BR>We loved our stay there. Great location, about a 1/2 block from the south end of Piazza Navona, and the hotel is in a building with a courtyard that has one of those cool old &quot;iron cage&quot; elevators. The people who run it are a grandmother (I think her name was Sylvia or Sophie or something like that), mother, and son (Michele, as I recall) and we both found the grandmother and son to be especially nice.<BR><BR>Our room (#1, as I recall) fronted on a small, very busy, piazza, but the thick windows kept everything quiet when shut. It certainly wasn't a luxurious room but we didn't expect that for the very reasonable price. The shared bath down the hall was modern and nice.<BR><BR>The breakfast is nothing to get terribly excited about but it is included and served in a pleasant room where you may share tables with someone (we ended up sitting at a table with a wonderful Parisian couple one morning and liked them so much we met them for dinner that night.) <BR><BR>Anyway, you should have no problem with your check and I hope you enjoy your stay there as much as we did.

Requesting a deposit by check is not uncommon among smaller budget hotels in Italy which do not accept credit cards. Sometimes, they won't bother to ask if they know they are likely to be empty during the period requested (e.g. Sardinia after September and before May). Tendering a check also has the effect of limiting your ability to cancel in favor of a different hotel which you may have discovered after making your reservation.

We also had to send a check to a hotel in Venice. No problems occured, it was standard protocol. Also, at some of the smaller, older/Read quaint, less expensive hotels, this is common.

Thanks everyone for your help!! this is just the kind of information that you can only get from fellow travelers...!!<BR>:)