Taveler's checks
 

I reserved a room for 14 days in London. I had to send traveler's checks in pounds sterling for the first night. I obtained the checks through AAA. I notice that many hotels , esp B&Bs either do not accept credit cards or charge a 2% fee. So I thought maybe it would be good to get traveler's checks which I can pay for with my credit card. Do establishments generally charge a fee for using Traveler's Checks? With the exchange rate as it is I'll need to visit ATMs a lot to get cash to pay for hotel rooms.

Hi nolwood,

If your hotel accepts TC's without charging you a fee for depositing them and you get your TC's for free, it's OK.

I have had establishments in London charge extra for cashing TC's even when I have bought something from them.

You can ask your bank to raise the limit on your daily wihtdrawls.

Firstly, a little spelling would not go amiss. To mispell one word is misfortune, but two is carelessness.

Hotels always charge commission on currency and traveller's cheques, and never offer favourable rates. I find traveller's cheques cumbersome, uneccassary things - use credit cards, or better still carry cash, as I always do. Change up before you go say a couple of thousand dollars, maybe more seeing as you are here for a fortnight - pay for everything in cash - this way you know exactly how much it costs as it's all bought at one rate.

Enjoy London, as much as you can.

First of all - don't carry lots of cash. That is not a good idea of course since it is the only non-insured method. The others, TCs, ATM, Credits cards are all insured.

As for how to pay when credit cards are not accepted - the two things I do when faced w/ this are:

1) get a temporary increase in your daily ATM limit. My bank does this for me every time I travel outside the States. Then when I get back home I have them reduce it back to my normal limit.

2) I often rent a flat from an agency that gives a discount for cash. I talk to them and they almost always let me take 2 or 3 days to pay -- allowing me to hit an ATM for a couple of days and amass enough cash to pay the week's rent.

Well, m_kingdom, since you made yourself the spelling sheriff, try "unnecessary".
Don't get TCs- use an ATM

Dear M_K,

I ran Nolwood's post and my own through my Word spellchecker.

I found one misspelling between us.

What was the other one?

Yes, Perhaps we shouldn't be quite so worried about spelling...especially because in most cases it's probably a typo.

Thanks to all of you for your advise...I'll have to tell my companion that he was right and I was wrong about T.C.s. Doesn't bother me much, though.

Uh oh, nolwood

Another one slipped through. You now have two errors on one thread.

Be careful. :)

DARN!!!!!!!

I don't mean to quibble about how you choose to pay, but I'm a little surprised at the suggestion that you might get travelers checks in pounds to save the 2% fee for using a credit card. The last time I checked at AAA, they charged nearly 5% on the exchange rate for buying TCs in pounds. No, there is no fee as such, but the rate is 5% worse than if you were charging on a credit card. So what you're likely to be saving is really actually costing you about 3% more than if you charged on your credit card at the hotel.

I think Patrick is correct -- the AAA near me charges even more than 5 pct markup (I think about 7 pct). So if that's the reason you are doing it (to avoid a two pct fee for credit card usage), don't. Of course, if they don't take CCs that's another story.

Also, be sure to check fees for getting TCs with a credit card. I have never done that, but I think that might be considered a cash advance. I remember some rules about that, which is why I always pay for TCs with a check. I believe TCs are considered cash, not a product, when you pay for them with a CC.

Good advice from Patrick and Christina

Will you know before you leave which hotels or B&B's you will be staying at and their policies?

As for a 2% credit card service fee I personally wouldn't let that bother me. But if they do not accept credit cards, that's a different situation to plan for.

I love it when the spelling Nazis misspell. Traveller?s? Count your l?s. Carelessness indeed! That makes two.

Bill

Bill, travelers is correct with one or two ls. Two are British.

I think (hope?) M_K was making a joke -

traveler's checks (US)

vs

traveller's cheques (British)

I think M_K thinks that Americans also spell traveler like we do in the UK (ie, traveller). He thinks he is a know all but he doesn't seem to have been to a lot of the places he comments on - he is only good for reviews of posh hotels.

It is funny that people are more worried about spelling rather than answering the question. Spelling may vary from English speaking countries, but stupidity is universal. I would think ATM/Credit Card would still be the best bet. They tend to offer the most competitive rates and you can increase your daily limit pre-trip if necessary.

Let's just hope the person doesn't have the unfortunate luck to run into La Kingdom...who, to me, epitomizes the absolute worst in condescension.

Traveler or traveller, taveler still seems unfamiliar.

Sadly the Americans have bastardised (or would you say bastardized) the English language. After all "Taveler's checks" could lead to ambiguity - is it things a traveller should check before they travel, or a form of finance?