Please sign in to post.

ATM withdrawals to pay cash for hotel bills

Posted by (Raleigh, NC, USA) on

I've noticed that a lot of budget- and moderate-priced hotels and B&Bs in Italy only take cash or they give decent discounts for cash payments. I love to save money, but I'm curious: Do most travelers on this board take advantage of these savings when paying for big-ticket items like lodging, or do you find that the benefit is outweighed by the inconvenience of having to go to ATMs more often or other factors?

Most of the places we're considering for our 17-day trip to Italy next year charge between 95 and 170 euros a night for a triple, so we're not looking at 5-star splurges, but still it adds up (especially if we'll be paying cash daily at most restaurants, bars, ticket windows, etc). Any advice or successful strategies you can share would be very appreciated.

Thanks,
Tim

Posted by
7737 posts

We tried to pay cash when possible for the discount. One annoying thing though was when we rented an apartment in Rome for the first part of this trip. The owner wanted cash up front, which was a big chunk of money and more than we could take out of an ATM in one day, so we had to buy euros in advance.

Posted by
1317 posts

It worked fine for us last time. Since the bill isn't due til the end of your stay (generally), you can hit the ATMs several times to "stock up", especially if you have more than one card to draw from. ATMs are everywhere, so we'd just scoot over and withdraw the max (about 200-250 euro) on two cards, which adds up fairly quickly. The thing to watch out for is how much spending cash you need.

Posted by
2207 posts

ATM's will give you the best exchange rates. CLICK HERE for more info on ATM's in Italy and some suggestions. Good Luck!

Posted by
23296 posts

Cash is King. We pay for almost everything in cash ESPECIALLY if a discount is offered. We don't find it inconvenient to hit the ATMs. First, seldom have to look for one since they are everywhere. We are often just walking down street and when we see one we use it. If you use ATMs attached to banks during open hours you often will find no limit and can easily withdrawn 500 Euro (provided your bank allows that big of a one time withdraw) at a time. With two cards we can generally get all the cash we need with one stop. If not, find a second one. The drawback is that you do have more cash on your body but a properly used money belt solves that problem.

Posted by
67 posts

We had a variety of instances. Some hotels took credit cards, some cash at end of stay, some cash at check in. We were always out walking so if we saw an ATM we'd take out some each day in anticipation of hotel costs. It wasn't a hassel at all since there are many ATM's around. It was worth paying cash, it meant we had a little more to spend on a nice meal.

Posted by
21 posts

thanks for the input! you guys are great. we'll have three ATMS cards with us, so it shouldn't be a problem at all.

This topic has been automatically closed due to a period of inactivity.