PJTravels

I have been told that for some lodgings I may be required to wire cash to hold a booking. Is this a standard practice in Argentina? I understand that some small places are cash only once we are there, but I have never heard of needing to wire cash. The thought makes me a bit quesy, but this will be my first trip to South America.

Capetien

Hi PJ!

You wouldn't catch me wiring cash for casual accommodations.

Let me put this in a larger context. We traveled extensively in Argentina in February 2009 and again February 2010, and never once have we come close to being shut out for a room.

We traveled in our own rental car and either showed up in town with no reservations, or telephoned a hotel from the road once we knew where we were going to be. The worst that ever happened was that if our first choice turned out to be booked, the host would suggest a competitor down the road.

We found that there seemed no point in going to elaborate lengths to pre-book a room along the way.

If yours is a special case, such as a popular resort where you may be settling in for several days, and you don't want to accept substitutes, you might pay a deposit. Otherwise, assuming you'll be getting in during daylight, I wouldn't be afraid of making the reservation without sending the cash, or of calling up a competitor who will settle for a credit card number. Or do as we did: call from the road or just show up in town.

There's too many things that can go wrong go wrong with sending cash.

Happy travels, and let me know if I can help further!

David

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teach2travel

You do need to put down a deposit if you are renting an apartment, but if it is a hotel, no. Some travel agents also require a deposit if they are making extensive arrangements for you.

dtwkc

The apartment I booked in Peru indicated that we'd have to wire cash (Western Union) to hold the reservation, but they never followed up on it, and we arrived and actually completed our stay before making any payment (which was cash), all without incident. I had a similar reaction to yours, but I suppose it may be typical to South America. I did pay for one of our hotels with paypal in advance, which I felt safer about. Again, no problems. Hope it all works well for you

crellston

We spent 3 months in Argentina and satyed in loads of differrent places all over the country. The only place we were asked to pay a deposit in advance was for an apartment in BA which was fair enough as we were there for 1 month.
In small places cash payment is the norm but I would be very wary of paying cash in advance unless through a reputable 3rd party booking site. Depending upon wahat sort of palces you are intending to stay at, we found the following sites to be excellent:
www.hostelworld.com
www.hostelbookers.com
www.hihostel.com

from memory I think some, if not all of these required a 10% online deposit up front. NB they are not just for dorm rooms but some v. nice private rooms as well.

qwovadis

Have see the clueless lose tens of thousands of dollars

wiring cash to SA if you do that you are at their mercy

and there are lots of scammers just do not do it.

lots of reputable folks that take CC/Paypal

You can always do a merchant reversal and get

your money back...

www.booking.com

www.hotelscombined.com

www.expedia.com

for hotels

www.hostelbookers.com

for hostels...

www.saexplorers.org for apartment services that take

CC/Paypal

www.insuremytrip.com always wise...

PJTravels

Thank you all for your responses and experience. I'm not a babe in the woods and of course this seemed extreme to me. A local TA who comes highly recommended said that wiring cash might be required for some small places. I will just not stay in those places.

yestravel

I just recently wired cash via Western Union to a place in Argentina. It came recommended to me and had outstanding reveiws on TA. I was not worried about losing the money and it wasn't that much anyway. I would not wire a lot of money to any one place and I would check out any place that I wired money to. We're doing our 4th trip to SA and most places have taken a credit card # or paypal. Never had any problems. I used to wing it for most of the days while on vacation looking for accommodations as we went along. However, I have found over the years, that it can take more time than I wish to spend, so I do tend to book in advance generally. When doing a trip such as Crellston did, I can understand not booking in advance, but I have never had the luxury of that amount of time that he was fortunate enough to have.

MarnieWDC

My experience parallels exactly that of yestravel. If you are traveling out of season, yet with lots of alternative accommodations, and have plenty of time - it can be a fun part of the adventure to check out and then select a place to stay at each stop. Otherwise, you might prefer to spend your time being there. In Italy, we once had to change the town we wanted to stay in as there was 'no room at the Inn.'

We recently wired money to Bariloche and received a confirmation of receipt from the Inn there. And we have made Bank-to-Bank transfers, Credit Card and Pay/Pal deposits for apartment rentals in BsAs. But we have always dealt with reliable Agencies, and I do agree with Quovadis regarding checking out the company/agency or individual with whom you are dealing.

Have a wonderful adventure in Argentina,

~MarnieWDC

owlwoman

We wired money to our TA in Buenos Aires for all three of our trips with no problems....they needed the cash for the discounts they receive at many of the hotels we stayed at.