Apartment through booking.com in Paris and cash payment

You might try XE https://www.xe.com/ or Transferwise https://transferwise.com/us as I understand they charge less than PayPal.

My problem with paying cash on arrival is that there may be problems in getting the amount necessary out of the ATMs in Paris. Some ATMs have maximum withdrawal amounts per day, as may your own bank. In any case, though French ATMs do not charge a foreign exchange fee, your bank may well do so, so you may end up paying even more than the PayPal 6%. You certainly do not wish to pay the high fees your bank would charge to supply you with Euros, and then carry large amounts of cash with you.

The choices the owner gave you are not unusual for a privately owned apartment. I'd avoid the bank transfer, which probably will involve an excessive fee to your bank. Cash on arrival may not be convenient, but you can get cash from a Paris ATM. If your daily withdrawal limit is too low, maybe your bank can raise it by prior arrangement, or the owner can take ii over more than one day. Paypal would be most convenient but the owner wants you to cover the extra cost to him/her. The fact that an apartment owner doesn't work with credit cards is in no way a "red flag."

Look for the 13-digit registration number on the apartment listing, or get it from the owner, before you sign up. Without it, the rental probably violates Paris law and you could lose it without warning.

Not weird, not really out of the ordinary - there's lots of variation between payment options across properties.

You can do better than Paypal with 6%.

Pay cash, assuming you have a reasonable bank without excessive fees for using your ATM overseas. You could pay using Transferwise (funded by a credit card) for a fairly low fee (I have and would again). But nothing I see in your post is way out of line (with the possible exception of Paypal charging 6%, which seems excessive, but that may just be how they squeeze their customers).

IMO your best choice here is cash on arrival.

Check with your bank regarding foreign ATM fees. If they allow such fees, open checking and brokerage accounts at Charles Schwab. Tell them your intention: to avoid ATM fees while traveling abroad. They will know the accounts you need. Put the money you will need for any cash withdrawals in your new Schwab checking account. Now you have the best foreign exchange rates possible with no ATM fees at all.

There are probably other banks that waive foreign ATM fees as well.

I just lost $3k using a listing through booking.com. Found apt for 8 women, reserved it, started receiving phone texts from Nicolas Marcillo, that they were moving account to homeaway.com. Took three days, then he sent me a link to homeaway.com showing the property. I wired funds to Deustch Bank in Milan. Thought I had checked out every thing in every way, but think my risk was when using his link to see property on homeaway and then wiring funds. Did not know that both booking.com and homeaway.com one pays their site, one does not wire funds. hen

Got a beautiful letter from homeaway.com confirming reservations with all the appropriate details, reservation number, etc. Whept talking to Fraud Dpt at homeway.com found out email address had two additional letters that make it a different IP.

Heartbroken, as this was large part of budget, and heartsick that I fell for this scam. Before that I thought I was fairly tech savvy.

I am following up with various police departments and banks involved.....Milan and Barcelona.

Now back looking for central Paris apt for 8 women, at least 2 baths close to sites of interest and metro. Gun shy!

When reading this I hope each of you think it would not happen to you and..................I hope you are right.

LaV

@ LaV, Perhaps you can tell us your budget and your travel dates and people may be able to suggest some options. I have a feeling that the apartment that you rented did not even exist so better to find that out before you get to Paris. Not in Paris, but I know someone who showed up for a vacation rental only to find that the place did not exist. It will be tough to find a place with 2 bathrooms and decent sleeping arrangements for 8 so suggestions from forum members might be useful for you. Without knowing your budget, I throw caution to the wind and suggest the Châteauneuf from ParisPerfect, which has a registration number, is a three bedroom place and sleeps 8 -- two will have to sleep in the living room. Location is near the Ecole Militaire metro station. ParisPerfect is a legitimate business. Good luck with your search and so sorry that you were the victim of a rip-off.

In 2017 I rented 2 apartments in Italy through Booking.com. In both cases the listing said cash only. In both cases, the owners had those little handheld credit card machines and took my card. One did the charge upon arrival. The other took it at the end.

Your Paris situation may be different.

I'm curious about your concern about cash gotchas. Did you mean that in the context of dealing with the owner? Or is the concern about getting the cash from a cash machine upon arrival?

It sounds like this is your first trip to Europe. This Money section in Rick's Travel Tips is a great source for managing your money in Europe. You might find the other Travel Tips sections useful, too.

There is little recourse if you do a bank transfer, and I don't like paying all funds before seeing the place, so cash on arrival gives you more control than the other options. You could take cash with you if withdrawl in France means a daily limit. I realize it isn't the best rate of exchange, but it is better than 6% fee.
There are still a lot of countries where cash is king, or providers charge their credit card merchant fees back to you. It doesn't mean it is a scam, just different.
Asking for 'gotchas', I also don't know what you are thinking will happen. You arrive, request a walk through - take your time and check that things work and everything advertised is there. Ask for keys to test doors and locks. And only then do you give them the money.
North Americans have gotten out of the habit of carrying cash, and sometimes it means a good chunk of cash; but you don't have a $ sign flashing over your head so you are no more likely to get robbed than the person next to you who has no cash. Just be smart and keep it close to your body and inaccessible until you need it.

JHK
Thanks for your response! Our dates in Paris are June 16 - 21. I am a budget traveler so prob $ 80-90 per night per person is what we would prefer $3400 + in total. I am not sure this is feasible.....it has been a while since last in Paris.

Some of the group might be staying after June 21 for 3-4 more days, with other family members coming in, so having a kitchen washer.dryer would be ideal, just not sure if all that is practical to ask for. Party will be 8 women (aged 74{me} thru 18) We want something close to sites, clean and safe............

I welcome your feedback and advice. Thanks

LaVonne

It's not that cash is king in France. It's that most financial transactions here that aren,t done by card are done by interbank transfer, which here is set up to be easy and free. It's just how people are used to paying for lots of goods and services.

So my guess is they make available the cash payment possibility as a concession to Americans as they've come to understand that most Americans can't/aren't able to pay by wire transfer.

We have paid cash on arrival for three paris apartments.. ( all same company) .. We bring some from home.. and then we both ( hubby and I have accounts at seperate banks ) withdraw some cash from ATMs on arrival in city.. ( to beat the limit on ATM withdrawal.. since you need a large amount )

We have two hotels booked in Europe for our trip this May- June.. neither take CCs and both ask for cash payments.

My concern would be is make sure apartment is REGISTERED as a legal rental .. if owner gets in trouble he may have to pull the rental off market at last minute leaving you in the lurch( not out money but out of luck trying to find another place at a decent price at the last minute!!)

Did you by chance check on AIrBnB? It worked like a charm in Paris for my wife and I.

Cash on arrival is the safest of all methods. You don't hand over the money until you see there is an actual apartment and you hold the key. Many landlords do it to avoid taxes, others to avoid bank fees but since those are always charged back to the renter, I think the former is more likely.

I have used wire transfers but only in situations where I absolutely know with whom I am dealing. What a bummer to get cheated like that. Although I thought both Homeaway and AirBNB made it very clear that the money was always to go through the listing agency and not directly to the owner.

I booked my apartment in Paris through VRBO but also paid the owner in cash upon arrival. It was the simplest way to do it. Like another poster stated I brought some € from home and made a couple of ATM withdrawals (2 different cards to avoid maxing out). It worked out fine, owner was wonderful and helpful, and I loved my apartment.

We have paid the rental fee with cash several times in Paris. We order our euros ahead of time through AAA. No fee if you order a certain amount.

AAA may not charge a fee, but it's important also to compare the exchange rate it gives you to the official rate you see online. You may find you paid 5% or 7% above the standard rate, which would not be good even if there is no extra fee slapped on top of the transaction. You cannot trust employees who say there is no extra charge. They may not by knowingly lying; they may just not know the whole story.