exchanging cash

Your ATM card should work everywhere in Italy. However, I would check with your bank and also inform them that you will be using it and what dates. If the hotel only takes cash simply plan ahead with your withdrawals.

Buon viaggio,

RB

All hotels take credit cards- cash option might be cheaper in cases. ATM cards have the regular transaction fees of $5 etc that was for bank of America.

You're right that "all the hotels want cash" and it's probably an overstatement to say that "all hotels take credit cards".

While they WANT cash, that doesn't necessarily mean that they won't take a credit card if that's all you have to offer them. They prefer cash because they get 100% of the money, vs. the 3-to-5% they lose to fees if you use a credit card. Also, perhaps, some don't report all the income they take in cash.

When we were in Rome last spring the hotel had a sign up saying their credit card machine was out of order, but when we handed them our cards at checkout they took them without question (and the card machine was working fine). The sign is just in hopes that many people will pay with cash and they'll make a little more money.

If you find that the hotel WILL take a credit card, pressure them to do so. If you DO have to pay with cash, withdraw it over a few days of ATM withdrawals (use a debit card, it has lower fees than a credit card).

Before you travel, you might ask your bank to raise your daily withdrawal limit, but you might have to visit more than one machine to get that daily amount, since the machines themselves also have daily limit that may be lower than the home bank limit.

Steve: "...they will probably also charge you more than if you had gone to the ATM and given them cash."

Saying "probably" there is highly questionable, Steve. "Possibly" may have been a better word.

I've found that most places don't charge more to use the card, but of course some do.

Places I've stayed just tell me what I owe when I check out. They don't even know yet if I'm paying by cash or card. And the amount is always exactly the published room rate they'd already told me in the e-mail confirming my reservation.

Once they tell me what my bill is, they take that amount if I offer cash, and they charge my card that amount if I hand them a card.

But yes, you might ask them if they give a discount for cash. If there is a discount, and it's enough to offset the inconvenience of getting the cash together, by all means take advantage of the discount.

Steve: "Its always cheaper to go the ATM route."

True. If cheaper is all you're interested it, getting cash by ATM and paying all your hotel bills with cash will save some money over paying by credit card and paying the foreign transaction fee.

For me, though, I'd rather pay with the card and avoid the hassle of getting that much cash at ATMs (hotel bills can be quite high if you stay several days). I'm not very worried about losing the cash or being robbed, but it's just a lot easier to pay with the card and be done with it.

Liz expressed, "I'm afraid I'll not be able to get enough out." Pressuring the hotel to take the credit card is a way for her to avoid that problem. By "pressure", I'm just saying she should ask them to take her card and let them know that it's hard for her to get that much cash together. It never hurts to ask.

The famous "our credit card machine is broken" scam. Yep, we experienced the same thing the first place we stayed in Italy on our first trip, on Lake Como. Now if that happens to us again, I'll know to say "Then we can't pay." If they tell us we can go to a bancomat, I'll say we've already taken out all the cash we can for the day and perhaps they could try the credit card machine just to see if perhaps it's working now. :-)