Hotel only accepts bank/wire transfer. No credit card payment.

Not been to this place in particular, but it sounds definitely legitimate, albeit a bit old fashioned.
Credit cards are generally less common in Europe, due to higher fees than in the US on both vendors and users, and bank transfers are considered normal (and possibly safer).

I have found this hotel on the service provider booking.com, though. Maybe try this - they have listed Mastercard and Visa as legitimate payment methods there - other cards will be unlikely to be accepted in Europe anyway, as they charge the vendor even higher fees.

This is not uncommon in Europe and we have encountered it many times. Wire the money to their bank account.

The hotel's own booking site is also mentioning the acceptance of Mastercard/Visa https://en.hoteltoureiffel.com/

When I make a dummy booking I receive the following message

Sales terms and conditions
Deposit: $ 0 (Your credit/debit card will be used to guarantee your booking. )

Balance: The balance of $ ... must be paid directly at check-in.

No. This is uncommon. I've never once had to wire money for a hotel in over 20 years of travel. Look at online reviews and see if this has happened before. It looks like they're trying to dodge credit card fees, but the problem is that you are not protected this way if the hotel goes belly-up or doesn't want to honor your reservation.

As windyram notes the hotel site shows they accept Visa or Mastercard, but only those two.

Were you trying to use some other credit card?

Were you on the 'real' hotel site?

I agree with Alexander that if you do a wire transfer, the money is gone and if anything goes sideways you are 'out in the cold'

i have wired money for apartments 20 years ago (would never do it now since there are so many scams). It always made me nervous as if they are crooks your money is gone. I was careful to carefully verify or work with people I had dozen business wiht before. I'd not do it with a hotel in 2025. I might agree to pay cash on arrival or something but I'd never wire.

As windyram mentioned, I did get the same response when I made the reservation last evening. I used a VISA credit card. However, I received an email from them this morning stating: "Since this is a non-cancellable rate, prepayment is required upon reservation. We do not accept credit card payments and require payment by bank transfer."
They attached a pdf of their bank info from Banque Populaire. Email was signed Camille (reception desk).

Personally I'd walk away... it'snot worth the risk IMHO

I have not done this is DECADES! but if you get there and they "lost" your reservation... no protection at all and they have your cash.

are you certain that the message you got is actually from the actual hotel and not somebody after your money?

I would be very careful and telephone the hotel reception, don't use communication methods in the email.

Since this is a non-cancellable rate, prepayment is required upon reservation.

Yes, this happens more frequent. A clear example of this practice is another hotel L'Empire Paris, which describes this clearly in its FAQ. See the last question here (use translate since it's in French) https://www.lempire-paris.com/faq

If you decide to stay with your hotel choice, my advice would be, before wiring the money, to contact the hotel by phone for confirmation of the received mail, just to make sure there isn't a hacker at work who has infiltrated the reservation system.

"Since this is a non-cancellable rate, prepayment is required upon reservation. We do not accept credit card payments and require payment by bank transfer."

I suspect that the hotel does not want to get entangled with dealing with the credit card company if the situation arises where someone tries to cancel a non refundable reservation and tries to do a 'charge dispute' . Or perhaps not have to pay the credit card processing fee on a discounted rate.

But do make sure the email you received is the 'real deal'

So which is cheaper, paying the higher rate for a refundable/cancelable reservation or a cancel for any reason trip insurance policy?

Or find somewhere else?

if the situation arises where someone tries to cancel a non refundable reservation and tries to do a 'charge dispute'

Yes, correct. This is a lesson for the hotels since the corona period.

A bank transfer, in French un virement, is very common and not at all old-fashioned. It's a preferred way to pay for many French people because credit cards are uncommon in France. Most French people, when they whip out a card with a Visa logo on it, are actually using a debit card.

And French banks limit the amount of money one can deduct from their account using a debit card -- regardless of balance -- per week and per 30 days running.. I suppose it's a way to reduce the potential for fraud, but as a result when a French bank account owner is facing a large bill, for a large capital purchase or for several days in a hotel as examples, they'll prefer to pay by transfer (virement) rather than by charging the card because virements don't count toward the card's limits, since they're not made with the card.

it's not shady. It's above-board and common.

That said, it is more or less irreversible, which is why it seems to be linked to your decision to purchase a nonrefundable, less expensive rate. When making that kind of reservation, the cost pretty much is sunk no matter what.

If it's non-refundable, it doesn't matter how it's paid, you won't get your money back if you have to cancel.
Hopefully, you are taking out travel insurance. Since Covid, I reserve at the refundable rate.

Bank transfers are a common way to make payments in Europe, but this is the first time I heard of a hotel asking for a transfer. It's so common here that many banks don't even issue checks anymore.

You wouldn't do a bank wire transfer but would use an online service/bank such as Wise to transfer the money. A bank wire would be ridiculously expensive.

So if you booked the cancellable rate, would they accept your CC? If so, then book it that way.

I did a VRBO once in France about 15 years ago that required payment via wire, and while I did it, I decided I would never do that again. I haven't encountered this requirement in a hotel anywhere in the world, so I must be living a charmed life.

Someone mentioned the hotel is available through booking.com. I would look at that, too.

Ultimately, I would take my business elsewhere if you can't get this resolved. I always book a cancellable rate, because you never know if you will be able to take the trip (illness, family emergency, etc).

"are you certain that the message you got is actually from the actual hotel and not somebody after your money?

I would be very careful and telephone the hotel reception, don't use communication methods in the email."

Yes to this advise. I was recently ripped off by a person who hacked into the account of a person who I have done business with for years. Always call the recipient to make sure that the wire instructions are correct and that they sent the email. I wish I had done that because then my counterparty would have said "nope I did not send you that bill."

Altho your bank can arrange the transfer, wise.com ( formerly transferwise.com ) is much cheaper

Some banks do offer free wire transfers - I use Fidelity which does not charge for wire transfers.

I have mainly had to use wire transfers when paying for European hiking trips, African overland trips, and one small hotel in Brazil (small mom and pop hotel booked during absolute peak season so understandably they didn’t want a no show and the cost of credit cards was too high for them).

As mentioned above, either find another hotel, or book a refundable rate which hopefully can be guaranteed with a credit card

@Bob: Just to make this clear, I used the term „a bit old fashioned“ solely to describe a hotel only accepting bank transfers for online bookings - personally, I use transfers for everything and credit cards for nothing.