Booking Hotels

I always email. I give my CC info when the hotel replies that they have a room available, and they request it. I never blindly send it without knowing for sure that they are offering a room. I've never had an issue - you can tell your email is secure when there is a padlock in the corner of the window. So long as the hotel is reviewed in guidebooks, trip advisor, etc., and is quite clearly a legitimate business, there's nothing to worry about. The person you are communicating with is almost always the owner, the owner's spouse or child, or the manager. More and more in recent years, many of the hotels I book (RS recommendations, usually) do reservations through a secure website.

Lisa, I normally use the E-mail or website information provided in the Guidebooks, and use those to book directly with the Hotel (rather than going through a third party). Some Hotels have nicely designed automated booking sites that indicate availability as well as allowing booking. I'm always a bit nervous about providing credit card information over the net, but so far haven't had any problems (hopefully that continues). Although you could certainly book over the phone, it's not a method I'd recommend except as a "last resort". I've found that some Hotels (especially the smaller ones) only have English-speaking staff at certain times of the day, so it would be a bit of a gamble to call and find out that the English speaking staff just went off-duty for the day. With E-mail responses, they usually delegate that job to one of their staff that's comfortable dealing with written English. Happy travels!

Over the course of my last 2 trips, I've booked a total of 6 different hotels that I found in RS guidebooks and double checked against Trip Advisor... most hotels these days have websites where you can book, but if not, I've never had any problems with email. There's always someone who speaks English, and sometimes it's good to have a 'paper trail' of emails in case anything goes wrong. I've also never had a problem sending my credit card number via email when they need it to confirm a reservation. Good luck and enjoy your trip!

I've booked quite a few times( including Italy, but not Ireland ) online and have used email to confirm CC. Never had a problem ...

If you are concerned go through something like Bookings.com. I used them for France last year for a half dozen bookings with no problems. CC numbers are held to ensure payment for no shows. Cancelations are easy, some you can do within hours of scheduled arrival. You pay the hotel bill at the hotel. You may get a better deal dealing direct with the hotel, but I find this less stressful as all transactions are on an apples to apples basis.

I have booked hotels through their websites (via e-mail) and they always ask for a CC number to hold the room, even if they only want to be paid in cash. I don't worry about e-mailing my number because if anything fraudulent happens, CC holders aren't liable for charges over $50.

I always book online either through the website directly, or through email. I don't know if it really makes a difference, but when sending my credit card information by email, I often break it up into 2 or 3 emails so if one email was intercepted, the whole cc number would not be known. The hotels I've booked at have not had a problem with me doing this.

I always book my accommodations directly by email with the hotel, Gasthof, private renters, etc. from contact information I get using the towns own website. This assures me of the best selektion of economically priced places. I would say that practically everyplace I stayed is small, owner operated. Doing it this way (35 places in 10 years), I have never been asked for a credit card to hold it.