I just contacted Alberto Basso in Vernazza about staying in one of his rooms in June, and he said he could reserve a room for us for the dates we wanted, but now he wants a credit card number to hold it. I'm uncomfortable giving him a credit card number via email. Is this now standard practice for rooms in Vernazza? We stayed with Rosa Vitali 5 years ago and she just accepted our email. Unfortunately she was booked already and suggested her nephew Alberto's rooms. Have travellers to Vernazza negatively affected the trust of the people there? Should I email him or call him with the numbers or just find someone else?
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
And if you're leary about emailing CC info, send it in two separate emails. First eight digits in the first email, followed by remaining digits and exp. date in the next email (although the odds of it being intercepted by someone with nefarious purposes are astronomically low.)
I've had some of these smaller places ask me to mail them a US check that they hold as a deposit and then hand back to you when you arrive.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
It's a common practice in Italy for many small places to stay. These small places do not have or participate in an online credit card reservation system. They have email but nothing more. In the CT, there are even many places to stay that don't even have email. It's word of mouth in the towns.
We had to email our credit card number to a couple of places on our more recent trip to Italy last year. A small few even want cash (Euros) or money transfers up front. In the end, we had no problems.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
313 posts
Carol, do they have a fax number? What we've always done is to make arrangements by email, but fax credit card numbers and confirmation. That is, of course, if you and they both have faxing capabilities. We've also called on occasion, too. It's really not unusual to be asked for a credit card to hold it, even for those places that want payment in cash. It might be hard to find someone who doesn't request the CC.