Booking a B&B and card details

numnumcake

Hi I'm not sure if I'm posting in the right forum so feel free to move it if it's in the wrong place!


My boyfriend and I are planning on going to the Aran Islands in a few weeks for the night and most of the b and bs want me to give them my credit card details over the phone. Is there any place that would just take cash on arrival by any chance or is this always the practice?

Any help would be appreciated

miss no stars

B&B on the Aran Islands? Not a chance I'd give them my credit card details over the phone. How are they going to store them securely?

I'd tell them I can send them a postal order by registered post as a deposit and the balance to be paid in cash on arrival.

I'm actually quite shocked they'd expect people to be okay with that. Give out your credit card details over the phone to someone you don't know who's running a B&B? Seriously? I can understand that they don't want to be messed about by no-shows, but surely it'd work a lot better to say to people that they need to pay a booking deposit equal to the first night's accommodation (by bank draft, postal order or credit card) and the balance is to be paid on arrival.

The_Morrigan

numnumcake wrote: »

Hi I'm not sure if I'm posting in the right forum so feel free to move it if it's in the wrong place!


My boyfriend and I are planning on going to the Aran Islands in a few weeks for the night and most of the b and bs want me to give them my credit card details over the phone. Is there any place that would just take cash on arrival by any chance or is this always the practice?

Any help would be appreciated

Quite the norm for booking any commercial accommodation - credit card details are taken to allow the B&B charge you if you cancel last minute (usually detailed in their terms).
I'm sure if you ask them they will allow you to pay by cash on check out but the card details would be there as security.

miss no stars

The_Morrigan wrote: »

Quite the norm for booking any commercial accommodation - credit card details are taken to allow the B&B charge you if you cancel last minute (usually detailed in their terms).
I'm sure if you ask them they will allow you to pay by cash on check out but the card details would be there as security.

This is true, but I've always experienced giving the card details through a secure website, not to someone who might take it down on a slip of paper that anyone could walk off with :eek:

The_Morrigan

miss no stars wrote: »

This is true, but I've always experienced giving the card details through a secure website, not to someone who might take it down on a slip of paper that anyone could walk off with :eek:

That's one hell of an assumption to make...reservation applications are secured you know.

_Kaiser_

The_Morrigan wrote: »

That's one hell of an assumption to make...reservation applications are secured you know.

To be fair, it's a legitimate concern - I don't know how big this B&B is but who knows what COULD happen? I had a card scammed once as as best as I can make out it was from a restaurant I'd been in a week earlier - this was the days before Chip and PIN though.

The only people I'd give card details over the phone would be big established companies like my insurer, DELL, Sky etc - in fact Sky have a system I've never come across elsewhere yet... instead of calling it out to the agent, you type it in on your phone as you're talking to them.

Mrs OBumble

Has anyone on the Aran's signed up with AirBnB? Or one of the host of other booking sites out there.

I guess I can understand the type of folks who make bookings over the phone these days are more likely to to be still dealing in postal orders and the like. But really, it is the 21st century we're living in.

The_Morrigan

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

To be fair, it's a legitimate concern - I don't know how big this B&B is but who knows what COULD happen? I had a card scammed once as as best as I can make out it was from a restaurant I'd been in a week earlier - this was the days before Chip and PIN though.

The only people I'd give card details over the phone would be big established companies like my insurer, DELL, Sky etc - in fact Sky have a system I've never come across elsewhere yet... instead of calling it out to the agent, you type it in on your phone as you're talking to them.

But it's a concern you raise with the business...you don't write off every company as a fraudulent entity before you establish how a company operates.

_Kaiser_

The_Morrigan wrote: »

But it's a concern you raise with the business...you don't write off every company as a fraudulent entity before you establish how a company operates.

At a guess, and I am just guessing as I've never been to the Aran Islands , I'm guessing these are very small "Mom and Pop" operations? Not much of a company to complain to there.

Anyway, I'm surprised they're asking myself.. I've booked B&Bs and Hotels down south and always sorted out payment methods on arrival

The_Morrigan

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

At a guess, and I am just guessing as I've never been to the Aran Islands , I'm guessing these are very small "Mom and Pop" operations? Not much of a company to complain to there.

Anyway, I'm surprised they're asking myself.. I've booked B&Bs and Hotels down south and always sorted out payment methods on arrival

Still these Mom and Pop operations are on booking.com....

I'm guessing the remoteness may require additional security on payments.

irishgrover

Am I missing something here? If you making a booking for accommodation, via a telephone, from a family run B&B to a 5* delux hotel, they all ask for credit card details? How else would you pay?

miss no stars

irishgrover wrote: »

Am I missing something here? If you making a booking for accommodation, via a telephone, from a family run B&B to a 5* delux hotel, they all ask for credit card details? How else would you pay?

Youre missing two things - the reassurance that your CC details are kept secure, and that very few hotels require payment upon booking...

Mrs OBumble

miss no stars wrote: »

very few hotels require payment upon booking...

Your experience is clearly very different to mine ....

the_syco

I'd say they get a few cancellations "because it was too wet/windy/etc", so CC would seem the best option for the B&B.

irishgrover

miss no stars wrote: »

Youre missing two things - the reassurance that your CC details are kept secure, and that very few hotels require payment upon booking...

with respect I disagree with both your points
....the probability that you will experience CC fraud in a family owned and run business is probably less than average...too much to lose...
..with regards to the very few hotels require payment upon booking, true, but 99% of them require CC details to hold the booking. Well, that is what I have found over the last 8 years where on average I spent between 100 and 150 nights per year in hotels. I have literally no recollection whatsoever of making a booking without giving CC details, be that on line, or on phone...

athtrasna

Before the internet was widely used all bookings were made by phone. Sorry OP I think you're totally over-reacting. The B&B owners need some guarantee that you'll be there, offer to post a bank draft or money order if you'd prefer, otherwise credit card is the way to go.