In the interest of ensuring security relative to your personal credit card details, I thought it would be a good reminder to note that this information should never be sent to anyone via e-mail. E-mail is not secure, and your messages could be intercepted should the right person be doing the right thing at the right time to facilitate e-mail theft. Some people believe they can add a little security by breaking up information and sending more than one message…same problem. And, there’s the added issue of somebody grabbing this stuff from the e-mail server. A better idea is encryption software, but the recipient has to be able to decrypt the message, and they’re not likely going to have the software. I know many people here have always just sent e-mails without incident, but you probably shouldn’t take this risk. Here’s what I do instead: I’ll correspond back & forth via e-mail, select a lodging that meets my requirements, and let them know that I will call to confirm and provide all credit card details. I then call, do my best with a combo of local language and English (English almost always spoken well enough), and I’m done. I then ask for a confirmation e-mail and will follow-up to confirm again right before my trip. Some small places don’t have e-mail. If not, I call. You never know what might happen to your information from there...they write it down…anyone with access to their pad of paper, reservation paperwork, or reservation “system” could take and use it. Still, it’s better than e-mail, and you could at least track it back to the establishment (you know to whom you provided your card details…you wouldn’t know who may have stolen this stuff in cyber space). Some places have secure websites using SSL…verify by referencing the lock icon on your browser...happiness.
Hope this is helpful….just my two cents on how to accomplish this in a more secure fashion. Another secure option is FAX. Cheers!
