Traveller's Checks for room deposit

Perhaps a 50 euro money order?

Traveler's checks are dinosaurs. Forget them. Why can't you do the bank transfer? Did you inquire about Pay Pal? The transfer and pay pal are nearly instant forms of payment, you'd have to mail the traveler's check and it appears you are in a rush.

The research I've done on bank transfers says that it's expensive to do from the US but I'm open to any suggestions. I have paypal but don't really know how it works, I'll check into it further.
It appears they have to have a paypal account for me to do the money transfer. This is a convent and they don't have that setup.

Grace, I did a transfer in Euro's here in Austin at the Wells Fargo in the Great Hills area. Of all the wells fargos around I think they handle the most foreign transactions. I was sending almost 2,000 Euros to pay for a bike tour we're taking this summer. You would need all of their bank/ account info to do this. I think it's kind of strange that your hotel is asking for 50 euros to hold your room, but they don't take credit. cards I had this issue once with a very small B&B in France, but mailed them a u.s. check which they held until my arrival. Might see if they are willing to do that.

I have a B&B in England that wanted a deposit - never had to pay a deposit in England before. Decided not to do the bank transfer. Instead the local Wells Fargo has foreign currency, so I bought pounds from them to cover the deposit. Perhaps a bit risky to send money in the mail, but it worked. They let us know they received it.

I would do the bank transfer as it provides you with a little protection. Although fraud may be unlikely in this case, there is still a possibility for fraud. With a bank transfer it is going checking account to checking accounting for you have a record of receiving the funds. Sending cash, TCs, etc. through the mail always has the possibility of not getting there You can also do an international bank draft. Check with your bank to see what they would recommend. The big issue, I know, is the small sum of money and the fee could be 50% or more of what you are sending. I have had to do a couple of these arrangements and it is always a pain in the butt and expensive. Just a cost of the vacation.

Bank transfers are very common everywhere in Europe. In fact, most Germans don't even have checks anymore.

I do not think that is the type of bank transfer the OP is asking about. That is a form of electronic banking. The transfer from a US bank in dollars to a German bank in Euro is a different animal.

I suggest that you open an account with XE Trade. Money will be taken from your checking account by electronic transfer and you can have a bank draft in euro mailed to the convent. Or if the convent will give you a bank account number, you can have XE Trade do an electronic transfer to that account. The exchange rate is only slightly higher than the international rate on the day the transaction is initiated. There are no fees. For security reasons it takes a little time and effort to set up an account, but everything goes quickly and smoothly after that.

Thanks everyone for the advice! I will check out the different options you have given me tomorrow.

An update: I guess AAA doesn't do TC anymore so I signed up for the XE trade account and will send them a deposit that way. The only catch is that to put my name and arrival date on it as they request I would have to send a wire and that has an extra cost. But, my account has been approved and it will definitely come in handy next year when my daughter studies abroad. Thanks again!