This may be a dumb question, but one of the b&amp;bs where I have reservations in May wants a check in euros to holds the reservation...it will cost me as much ($25 bank fee) as she wants as a deposit!!!<BR>Is there anyway to send a deposit (she will not accept a credit card) that is more cost-effective?

Try Citibank's C2it service. Very affordable and reliable. www.c2it.com

One more thing: just remember she will not accept a credit card more than likely for two (2) reasons: 1) the credit card company will take its bite from the room rate; and 2) there will be a paper trail for the IRS equivalent of that country so it'll know she received income. If she takes cash (and many places, especially in Italy, will tell you they'll give you a 10% discount if you pay cash -- making it sound like they are being generous), there is no paper trail. I would be suspect about wiring money to hold a room anywhere. You're in for a long legal headache in the event something goes wrong because, after all, you're at her mercy.

My solution to this problem is to go to AAA if you are a member and get a euro travlers checque in the next largest amount to cover the deposit and send it to her. Not a great rate of exchange to get it but if you are a member there is no fee (or maybe you can get one at your bank for no fee). You only need to send it by regular mail. I've done this several times -- one of the only decent uses I have for traveler's checks.<BR>Note: assuming the amount is a little larger, since they are only in specific denominations, just let them keep that amount to reduce your final bill.

If you plan on taking TCs with you in May, just do the exchange now, and then you don't pay twice.<BR><BR>Or you could wire the money. My bank charges $20 per international wire.

I am not quite sure from your posting what you mean by &quot;wants a check in euros to hold the reservation&quot;<BR><BR>Does she want a deposit, or does she want the check for security reasons (like you give a credit card number)? In other words, is she actually only going to cash the check if you dont show up? <BR><BR>This might be worth enquiring about. If she just wants it as security, I think you can write a personal check in euros - then agree with her now that when you arrive you will just tear it up and pay cash when you get there? You wont get charged (of course!) if the cheque isnt cashed.<BR><BR>If she actually wants a deposit (to cash the cheque) of course this wont work and others have provided a range of good suggestions on how to proceed.<BR><BR>Good luck!<BR>

Does the US Post Office enable you to make International Postal Money Payments? Small Italian hotels and B&amp;B's are quite used to receiving payments through the post office. A fax of the payment order with the post office stamp faxed through is evidence that the payment is on the way.

I would ask myself if the B&amp;B is worth the extra bank fee, or if I should look for an alternative.

I agree with Patrick on this one, that seems the best choice IF they will accept TCs in euros. From reading on this board, I gather some hotels will not. <BR><BR>You can't write a personal check in euros if your bank is in US (or other countries where that isn't the currency), can you? How about zloty or lira? Well, if so, that is news to me.<BR><BR>I don't know what Ann means -- whenever you get TCs in euros, you will pay a fee in the conversion rate which is a percentage of the amount, it doesn't matter when you buy them. Perhaps there are some places that charge an additional flat fee on top of the exchange difference, and then that could be true. I would NOT get TCs in Euros to take to Europe, there's no need to do that.<BR><BR>INterestingly, I just rented at apt. in Paris for this summer and need a very large check in euro so have been checking this out where I live (Wash DC). Surprisingly, AAA has the same exchange rate difference on euro TCs as Travelex (formerly Thomas Cooks) wants for a bank check in euro -- which is huge. I think AAA has raised their rate because I thought they used to only have about a 3-5 pct markup over bank rate and now it's about 8 pct. They are selling euro TCs at $1.16/euro today at my AAA office and Travelex also charges $1.16/euro for a bank check in euro (and Oanda says interbank rate is $1.07 today). Only difference is Travelex has a $15 flat fee for the check regardless of the amount, in addition. However, for that small difference on a large check like I'm getting, I'd rather have a bank check than send signed TCs through the mail.<BR><BR>In short, your $25 bank fee is really a ripoff if a major exchange bureau like Travelex only charges $15 for the check. For only about 25 euro, send the TCs, however.<BR><BR>

One of our lodging choices in Portugal also does not accept credit cards and asked for half of the total amount as a deposit. Our bank also wanted a $25 fee. I finally opted to send a money order in US dollars calculated at the exchange rate on the day I sent it. I chose to send the whole amount (yeah, I know, that could turn out to be a mistake) rather than have to worry about coming up with a large amount of cash at check out. The post office only charged 90 cents for the money order. I figure we can settle any differences regarding their charge to convert the dollars to Euros when we are there. I absolutely refused to pay my bank such a fee--I think their fees on any and everything are outrageous. But I was unable to find any place that charged much less.

To respond to this question from Christina, &lt;You can't write a personal check in euros if your bank is in US (or other countries where that isn't the currency), can you? &gt;, you may not be able to do it in the States, but I certainly can in Canada. When the cheque is cashed, the charge to me would be C$7.50, the same as they would have charged for a euro bank draft. I wouldn’t do this, of course, because there is a local foreign currency exchange that will sell me a euro cheque, drawn on a bank in whichever country I am sending it to, with no service fee and with an exchange rate better than my bank offers. I use this regularly to pay membership fees in the UK and used it last May to place a deposit on a house we rented for a week in France.<BR><BR>I am surprised such services aren’t available in the US.<BR>

&quot;I am surprised such services aren't available in the US&quot;.<BR><BR>So am I. I used to do business with a number of Canadians and was quite used to them giving me personal checks on their Canadian account, but simply writing US Dollars on the amount line and I always got the right amount. But my bank -- the not so little Bank of America--informed me there is no way you can do that on their US accounts, not even writing in CANADIAN DOLLARS, yet alone euros.

When my company receives checks from Canada, regardless of whether it stipulates US or Canadian dollars, our bank treats it as a foreign currency conversion, and charges fees to do so.<BR><BR>There are services in the US where you can get a check in foreign currency. I've used on in Bethesda, Md., several times, so I'm sure there are others.<BR><BR>At most place, you're charged a fee in addition to a percentage of the total amount you convert, which is why I said to convert everything now to avoid being charged twice. Also, some places will give you a better rate on a larger amount.<BR><BR>

For Ron from a fellow Canadian. I need to send money for an apartment in Paris. From what you said, I can buy a cheque in euros from a currency exchange outlet, right? Which company did you deal with? If it saves me from having to take time off work to line up at the bank, I'll go your route.<BR>Hope I hear from you. You can email me direct: [email protected]