Paying for lodging in cash

Every hotel owner, B&B owner, rental apartment owner can make their own rules. If you don't want to follow their rules then that's perfectly OK. There are many hotels and B&Bs from which to choose. If you'd rather use a credit card then choose a different lodging. It is common for rental apartments to require full payment in cash up front. Need lots of Euros ahead of time? Call your bank/credit union and have them up your daily allowance for withdrawals. You can also order foreign currency before you leave home.

I've had both situations when paying with cash. For apartments I've always paid up front. For hotels and B&B's I've usually paid when checking out.

Tim and Andrea are correct. There is no "protocol." Places make their own policies, and cash-only is common in Europe. If you want to use a credit card, you can find places that take them. Places that want cash payment on arrival usually say so on their website or in your reservation e-mail. As Tim said, you can get this before departure, or you can get multiple accounts, or have your withdrawal limit raised, or some combination of these. For most places that want cash, it's usually on departure. That's easy; you just get enough cash throughout your stay and stash it in your money belt, so you're ready on departure day. If it's more than you feel comfortable with, ask to pay in installments (I once had a 10 day stay, so I paid half on day 5 and half on departure). If you have any questions about a place's preferences for payment, just e-mail them and ask. Everyone wants to get paid, so I'm sure they'll fill you in on all the details.

My experience has been the same as Andrea's. You might have to buy some euros from your bank or AAA before leaving, if your first place wants it all up front.

Veronica, A few comments regarding obtaining cash in Europe..... Using ATM's is the easiest way to get cash, but it's a good idea to review your daily withdrawal limit with your Bank, and perhaps have that increased for the duration of your trip. The local Bank may also have a withdrawal limit, which will supersede that imposed by your Bank. It's a REALLY good idea to have both a "primary" ATM card as well as a "backup", in case the primary card malfunctions or is "eaten" by the machine. Try to use Banks or other attended locations for ATM withdrawals. Note that your travel funds must usually be in a chequing account with a four number PIN. Also, don't forget to notify all of your financial institutions and credit card firms that you'll be traveling so they don't "freeze" your account when they detect transaction activity in Europe. I don't rent apartments (who may require payment "up front"), but have paid cash at hotels. I normally withdraw my daily limit for several days in a row so that I have enough. I normally settle my bill the night before checking-out, as I sometimes leave very early before the staff are on duty. Even if hotels do accept credit cards, they usually offer a discount for cash. Happy travels!

When I've paid in cash for lodging in Italy, they've wanted the cash up front. To be prepared, I've always ordered Euros from my local bank before departure to make sure I would have that when I arrived. I use the ATM's while traveling for smaller amounts.

We returned from Italy two weeks ago and paid cash upon checkout for all our hotels (5). No one asked for cash upon check-in. When making the reservation, we were asked for a credit card to hold the rooms, but we made it clear we'd be paying in cash and asked for the RS and/or cash discount. We probably saved a couple hundred Euros with cash.

Thanks for all your help. I discovered that my first place of lodging does require cash up front so I will have to get Euros from my bank. Thank you again!

You usually don't have to pay upfront. On the other hand, I prefer to do that because a) it's one less weight on my mind and I also then know there are no hidden extras, and b) I don't have to carry that money around with me. Don't buy you euros outside of Europe - the exchange will be very bad. Use an ATM within the country you're visiting. There's a useful post on this here: http://tuscany-toscana.blogspot.ch/2011/11/best-way-to-buy-euros-in-italy.html