Vendors asking for Relevé d’identité bancaire?

If they do not take credit cards, you may be out of luck, as this is standard payment practice in much of Europe, where checks are pretty much a thing of the past and they use direct bank transfers. Without a European bank account, you are stuck. Ask if they will take a credit card as a guarantee and pay by cash when you arrive.

Unfortunately, I asked that, and the owner asked for my banking identification.

Cindy - unfortunately the RIB (the shorthand for banking details set up in the European format) is very commonly used in France - so French or Italians or whoever are very used to paying for things this way. The vendor doesn't lose any money to the credit card company this way, is probably a big reason why they prefer it.

So I hope you can get them to agree to hold your reservation but unfortunately for non-European bank holders, they may not be willing to make any extra effort. I hope they are willing to work with you.

@Cindy, I wouldn't worry too much about this. As others have opined, it is common practice in Europe. I work for an international financial institution, and our customers routinely ask us to provide this for personal banking purposes. It may be possible for you to ask the vendor if you can blur out your account details (before, or after he/she has seen them), in case you are worried about this sensitive information. I would just add that data protection laws in Europe are generally far stricter than in the USA, assuming that's where you are from. Again, I wouldn't worry if I were you. Interestingly, I will be in Amboise in a couple weeks and we haven't run into this problem yet.

But they want your bank details because they want to debit the account for the cost of the services. The account is in USD and they want to be paid in EUR, so that is problematic.

@Sam, the OP mentioned that the vendor needs the banking details to confirm the reservation. It's still not clear to me why they can't allow her to pay the bill in cash once the hike is over. Anyway, I wish @Cindy all the best and hope she and her family have a great time. My sister said she and her husband loved Amboise when they were there in 2022.

Thank you all! The vendor was able to agree to hold hold my reservation without my banking details and is allowing us to pay in cash when we arrive.

Good news!

Excellent. Glad she was able to be flexible. Enjoy your hike !