large cash hotel payment
 

I will be staying in a hotel in
Florence that wants payment in cash on arrival. This hotel is highly recommended in Rick Steves and Lonely Planet. On a normal stay this would be no problem. But I will be staying ten days. This will be more than 1,120 Euros. Arriving with this much cash is not simple. ATMs have much lower limits. The only way I can think of is to get the cash at bank in the US before I leave and carry it with me. Of course that means paying pretty steep fees to a bank in the US. Also, most banks around me do not have international currency exchanges. I will need to drive 35 miles to a near by city.. I am also not thrilled about carrying that much cash on me.
Does anyone have some suggestions?

large cash hotel payment
 

On Mon, 9 Feb 2015 07:23:50 -0800 (PST), marc4ucb
wrote:

I will be staying in a hotel in
Florence that wants payment in cash on arrival.

Does anyone have some suggestions?


Try calling or e-mailing the hotel, explaining your problem, and
asking if they would accept three or four payments on successive days
rather than all at once on arrival.


If they say no, if it were me, I would switch to a different hotel.

large cash hotel payment
 

Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
On Mon, 9 Feb 2015 07:23:50 -0800 (PST), marc4ucb
wrote:

I will be staying in a hotel in
Florence that wants payment in cash on arrival.

Does anyone have some suggestions?


Try calling or e-mailing the hotel, explaining your problem, and
asking if they would accept three or four payments on successive days
rather than all at once on arrival.


If they say no, if it were me, I would switch to a different hotel.

I think I'd be inclined to do that from the start! You generally have
to provide your credit card when you register, so they can check its
validity before you move in. Why would they need cash unless they're
trying to avoid paying taxes or something?

large cash hotel payment
 

"marc4ucb" wrote in message
...
I will be staying in a hotel in
Florence that wants payment in cash on arrival. This hotel is highly
recommended in Rick Steves and Lonely Planet. On a normal stay this would
be no problem. But I will be staying ten days. This will be more than
1,120 Euros. Arriving with this much cash is not simple. ATMs have much
lower limits. The only way I can think of is to get the cash at bank in
the US before I leave and carry it with me. Of course that means paying
pretty steep fees to a bank in the US. Also, most banks around me do not
have international currency exchanges. I will need to drive 35 miles to a
near by city. I am also not thrilled about carrying that much cash on me.
Does anyone have some suggestions?

Stay somewhere else.

--
JohnT

large cash hotel payment
 

On Mon, 9 Feb 2015, marc4ucb wrote:

I will be staying in a hotel in Florence that wants payment in cash on
arrival. This hotel is highly recommended in Rick Steves and Lonely
Planet. On a normal stay this would be no problem. But I will be
staying ten days. This will be more than 1,120 Euros.

AFAIK single payments in cash for more than 1000 euros are now illegal
in Italy !

The request sound completely unusual nowadays. I never had to pay in
advance and in cash when travelling for business in business
destinations, an e-mail or phone call was enough for the reservation,
and I could pay via credit card. An exception was a conference in a
resort, where they required either a sizeable fraction of the amount via
bank transfer, or an insurance against cancellation (22 eur) which could
also be paid online. For my 3/4-week vacations, in a family-run place, I
had to supply an advance (for 1-2 days only) only the first year and it
could be paid via bank transfer. Following years I was "known". And
since the total amount is large, I pay with a cheque at check out.

large cash hotel payment
 

This hotel's request is not only unusual, but irregular. In fact, I
have never heard of such a thing. (Certainly not in the past ~15
years.) Of course, I would like to know the name of the hotel so I can
avoid it. (I travel often to Firenze.)

Assuming your continued interest, ask the hotel in advace to accept two
or three nights upon arrival (get that confirmation in writing, with
the name and title of the person who authorized it!) and the next day
obtain the balance due. *Easy enough to accomplish: arrange with your
bank or credit card company - again, in advance - and then go inside
the bank and see the bank manager, not use the ATM outside.

Please be sure to contact Rick Steves. This hotel's request is not one
he would condone. His complete contact info...
Rick Steves' Europe, Inc.
130 4th Ave N
Edmonds, WA 98020-3114 USA
Tel: 425-771-8303
Fax: 425-771-0833
Email:

Whatever you decide, however you proceed, enjoy your trip!



I will be staying in a hotel in Florence that wants payment in cash on
arrival.* This hotel is highly recommended in Rick Steves and Lonely
Planet.* On a normal stay this would be no problem.* But I* will be
staying ten days.* This will be more than 1,120 Euros.* Arriving with
this much cash is not simple.* ATMs have much lower limits.* The only
way I can think of is to get the cash at bank in the US before I leave
and carry it with me. * Of course that means paying pretty steep fees
to a bank in the US.* Also, most banks around me do not have
international currency exchanges.* I will need to drive 35 miles to a
near by city.* I am also not thrilled about carrying that much cash on
me.

Does anyone have some suggestions?

large cash hotel payment
 

On 2015-02-09 15:23:50 +0000, marc4ucb said:

I will be staying in a hotel inFlorence that wants payment in cash on
arrival. This hotel is highly recommended in Rick Steves and Lonely
Planet. On a normal stay this would be no problem. But I will be
staying ten days. This will be more than 1,120 Euros. Arriving with
this much cash is not simple. ATMs have much lower limits. The only
way I can think of is to get the cash at bank in the US before I leave
and carry it with me. Of course that means paying pretty steep fees
to a bank in the US. Also, most banks around me do not have
international currency exchanges. I will need to drive 35 miles to a
near by city. I am also not thrilled about carrying that much cash on
me.
Does anyone have some suggestions?

I'm coming late to the party on this one, so maybe everyone else has gone home.

However, apart from agreeing with all that has been said I would like
to add that changing cash in Italy can be complicated, though it may be
better today than it was 25 years ago when my wife and I wanted to
change a not particularly large amount of dollars (about 50, probably)
into lire. We went to a bank in Cremona thinking it would be a matter
of five minutes, but it took about three hours. The cashier couldn't
understand why people who weren't American and didn't live in the US
would want to change dollars into lire. I didn't think that was any of
his business, but I refrained from saying so. Anyway, this was at
around 11.30 and he said he would need to consiult his superior, so we
should come back after lunch. We hadn't planned to have our lunch in
Cremona, as we had a long way further to go that day, but we did
anyway, and had what were probably the best gnocchi we've ever eaten --
eating in Italy is often a more rewarding experience than visiting
banks.


--
athel

large cash hotel payment
 

On 02-09-2015 11:26, EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:
I think I'd be inclined to do that from the start! You generally have
to provide your credit card when you register, so they can check its
validity before you move in. Why would they need cash unless they're
trying to avoid paying taxes or something?

It's certainly very suspicious, yet it's hard to imagine a hotel of any
size risking unpleasant attention from Guardia Finanza.

--
Wes Groleau

large cash hotel payment
 

On 03-26-2015 05:25, Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:
However, apart from agreeing with all that has been said I would like to
add that changing cash in Italy can be complicated, though it may be
better today than it was 25 years ago when my wife and I wanted to
change a not particularly large amount of dollars (about 50, probably)
into lire. We went to a bank in Cremona thinking it would be a matter of
five minutes, but it took about three hours. The cashier couldn't
understand why people who weren't American and didn't live in the US
would want to change dollars into lire.

Today, they use Euro instead of lire and there are ATMs everywhere. For
anything related to finance or technology, 25 years is a good as a century.

I know of at least two U.S. banks that refund all ATM fees and mine uses
very close to the interbank exchange rate at the time of a withdrawal.
In 2013 in Italy, I only carried enough cash for a couple of days of the
few places that wouldn't accept plastic.

--
Wes Groleau