Am I being too paranoid?

It's good to remember that if your credit card number is stolen or used fraudulently, by law you're only liable for $50. And some banks won't even hold you liable for that.

My husband and I will be in Europe in May and over the last few months I have forward my credit card info through email to several hotels with no problems. I was hesitant at first also, but since I did not want to make a phone call to hold the room I took a chance.

The one thing we do extra is to use a credit card that is only used for that purpose. We have an old credit card that we haven't charge anything on in years but the account is till open. That way if that card was compromised we can kill it without any other problems. Just use a different card when you get to the hotel. However, cannot do that if purchasing train tickets or other items that are often tied to that specific card and you need that card to pick up the tickets or to validate the ticket if you print it out at home.

just a word of caution about staying there. the owner tried to cheat me out of about 20 euro on the bill but I showed her my confirmation which had the price. She just shrugged her shoulders. also, she does not turn on the heat until the evening.

Send it. It happens all the time. Spend your worrying time thinking about the neighbor's tree that's going to fall on your house while you're gone.

I sure hope our neighbor's tree doesn't fall on our house! He's an acre away, and that would take a mean windstorm to accomplish it! :)

It is actually more secure to send the number via email that it is to give it over the phone. Who knows who is listening on the extension or tapped the line outside the building?? You are being too paranoid !

Regarding the heat not going on till evening. We had that same issue at Hotel Bretagna in Florence. I wonder if it is a city regulation.

I think the heat deal is regulatory at some level (having been told by an innkeeper). We were in Vallombrosa which is a good twenty-five miles southeast of Florence. It can't be city, so must be district or maybe even provincial ......or national with waivers for the mountains. We were also told there are seasonal constraints. I can remember radiators, but have no idea how they heated the steam/water.

You could split the CC number into two different emails. The heat deal....yes it's a seasonal thing but if your into the season and they don't turn it on it's because they don't want to pay for it. Especially if it's a small establishment. Same for AC in summer.

I've stayed there and loved the place. The CC # is to reserve the room. You will pay in cash once you are there. I had no problems and it is pretty common with most b&b's in Italy.

This is a good time to remind you to be sure you're checking DAILY your bank/credit card statements for any fradulent/'messed-up' transactions. 'Messed-up' = a charge for only one hotel night instead of three, a train reservation charge that's 2x what it should be, etc. And don't be surprised if your bank's 'fraud department' calls you about one of your transactions...it's par for the course. Email is fine for your credit card number; if in doubt, see Paragraph #1...And keep all email correspondance! Bring copies of all of your reservations.

Another approach for sending your credit card information is to send it in separate emails. Just let them know that is what you are doing.
Have also stayed at Katti House in Florence and would do so again.

If you're not paranoid when you give a waiter your credit card at a restaurant, I don't think there's any need to be paranoid sending your CC# in an email. Try not to stress, take normal common sense precautions, and you'll have a great time :)

All is taken care of. Turns out my card had "an issue" and the number was not making sense to some part of the booking program. Once adjusted, I was able to register through their secure online site. Mission accomplished, paranoid quelled. Thanks, everybody!

paranoia. -sheesh-

Melody,
I have some great news for you! Nothing reduces paranoia like a visit to Italy. Three weeks living among the Italians and my life was changed forever. I'm a much more relaxed, more easy going person now. Have a great time.