I am looking for accommodations in Rovinj in September. Looked at the Villa Markiz website, recommended in the Rick Steves guidebook, but the website didn't seem to be fully functioning, There were photos of the exterior of the building, but not the interiors of the rooms. Sent an email to the address in the guidebook and received links from Milica that connected me with appealing images of the guest rooms. Made a selection and sent a return email requesting a reservation, offering to send a credit card number in two separate emails. But my response from Milica instructed me that in order to reserve the apartment I would need to deposit 150 Euro in a PayPal account within 2 days. The address for the PayPal account is a gmail with Milica's personal namel, not the hotel. Milica was not one of the managers/owners listed in Rick's guide book. This seems unusual to me. Does anyone think the Villa Markiz website might have been hacked and this is a scam? Or is requesting partial prepayment via PayPal to a personal account common in Croatia? Most of the recommended Rick Steves accommodations in Rovinj are already booked for our dates, so I've been willing to invest more energy in this reservation than I might otherwise. But I could consider other accommodations further out if that seems wise. Thoughts?
Posted by
Washington DC Region, USA
7049 posts
Mom and pop establishments sometimes don't have the website "dazzle dazzle" and technical resources that big brands have, so the websites reflect those minimal capabilities. But to the point....why limit yourself only to one guidebook's narrow recommendations? Go on www.booking.com and you can filter listings by several criteria and reads tons of reviews. I wouldn't expend much energy on picking out a hotel room. There should be some hotel rooms out there that don't require a prepayment at all (or hopefully only need a credit card for non-refundable advance bookings). Either way, you can't possibly be worse off by expanding your menu of choices. As a caveat, I don't use any guidebooks at all for picking hotels because I'd rather have a full menu to select from and be able to read recent reviews from people who have stayed there (I take some with a grain of salt, of course).
Posted by
Seattle, WA
16241 posts
You can book Villa Markiz through booking.com if you would feel more comfortable with that.
Posted by
Washington DC Region, USA
7049 posts
If you book her place through booking.com, just be sure to read the "special conditions" which require a prepayment, although through a credit card. This is not unusual for some smaller "mom and pop" type places.
This is just a guess, but perhaps she asked you to use PayPal because her personal website can't handle secure credit card transactions and PayPal is just cheaper and more direct (and she wouldn't have to pay fees that come with credit cards as a small % of the transaction).
Posted by
Atlanta
4825 posts
Can't really address the specifics of your issue since we never use PayPal or third party booking sites. Not saying there's anything wrong with either, but we just prefer not to do it. What we do is send an email directly to the hotel or B&B requesting a booking. When we get word that our desired accommodations are available, we just pick up the phone, call them and give the credit card info over the phone to "guarantee" the booking. No one has ever objected to doing it this way, and you might want to give it a try to alleviate some of your apprehensions.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thank you to everyone for your prompt, helpful and very informative advise! I truly appreciate your insights!