I'm trying to make a reservation with Villas Nicolas, but they want full payment up front with either a cashiers check, certified check, or wire transfer to their bank account. I'm a little hesitant to do this. There is a travel agent web site that will let me prepay with a credit card, but they want an extra $10 per night. I'm wondering if it is safe to send the money to Villa Nicolas' bank or if I should just spend an extra $15 per night and stay at Hotel California. What would you do???

ttt

Hello,
I would normally say no, but they have been around a long time, and I think your money is safe. I would however try to get a discount for putting the cash up front. point out that if you use the travel agency they will get a commision, and unless you recieve a discount, tell her that is the way you are going to go. Agencies get a quite a bit more commision here than in most places, so use that to get a discount.

We prepaid at Villas Nicolas, and had no problem whatsoever. They will confirm by email if you wish. Based on our experience, I would recommend to go for it. Great price, nice hotel, beautiful vistas, and good location.
By the way, this is not uncommon practice in CR. Of the 6 places we stayed in Jan, I had to make a downpayment on 3 of them.

Thanks for the info. After much e-mailing back and forth with them, we have decided to go ahead and send them the money. Worse case scenario, we'll be out $226.98, which really isn't risking that much in the grand sceam of things.

LA Fadeaway,
I called the villas nicolas and my apologies. I guess we fell w/in the 3 week period so we could use a credit card. I was surprised to hear that the cashiers check was their original policy for all reservations made outside of 3 weeks- I guess since we were late in reserving that was not given as an option. But we really enjoyed our stay and the location (gift shop w/internet/ restaurants w/in walking distance/ and the monkeys overhead) was really quite amazing!! (= Plus depending on how you want to get to MA the bus picks you up right next door between villas nicolas and Hotel Si Como No. I hope you have a great time!!

Okay, that makes sense! We just sent them the check so hopefully all will be well.

ttt for Khak323

Because hotels here are small (80% have less than 30 rooms) they require payment upfront to secure the reservations (with such little inventory, they cannot be "holding" rooms for customers that cancel). As well, hotels here pay the same commissions to agencies as other countries and technically, hotels are not supposed to give lower rates than what they post (and they rarely will - again, small inventory).