Villa does not take credit cards

[Rroo]

The owners of the villa that I am considering renting does not accept credit card (the are in the UK), only checks sent to their bank (a US bank). Has anyone else paid their villa rent like that? Any feedback?

Thank you!

 

[JANNYANS]

A lot of individual owners cannot afford to take cc because of all the charges needed.A check to their bank is standard practice so I would try not to worry about it .

 

[5mins2disney]

We take a lot of personal checks from US and UK guests, but then, we take credit cards too. However, the fees they charge to take said credit cards are just outrageous (4-5% to VRBO owners!), and Paypal is even higher, so we pass along some of the fees. This usually makes owners prefer to send us a check so they don't pay the fees. Others just won't take them at all. The one advantage to using a credit card is that if something goes wrong, the credit card companies will usually side with the cardholder in the event of a dispute, and chargeback the merchant, so you have some consumer protection builtin there that you wouldn't have paying by check (I work for Visa in real life).

 

[isla bonita]

When renting our home I personally do not take credit cards. Our man/co does and I just ask our guest to contact them with their information so I get the best of both worlds. I would imagine there are plenty of owners that do not take credit cards the fees are brutal.

If you have a good feeling about everything I would say go for it. Ask on the DIs if any one has rented from them chances are you might just find out some informatioon that can put your mind at rest.

 

[FLParadisevilla]

Roo,
You should not have a problem sending a check to pay for your booking. You may want to ask if thier Management Company takes credit cards for them. That may be an option for you to pay by Credit Card. It is too expensive for owners in the UK to take Credit Cards, but US owners can get the Merchant accounts a lot easier and cheaper.

 

[Tissa]

The people I am renting from in June are from the UK and had me mail the deposit check to their bank in FL, I e-mailed them when I sent it off and they replied when the bank recieved it. They then mailed me a confirmation.

 

[sympatico]

Do you have any credit card cheques? I don't know if they offer the same protection as the credit card but you could check with visa or whichever card company and find out.

 

[crjack]

Our first rental in Windsor Palms was with a check and two of our villa rental owners have been located in the UK. Never a problem and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. With the fees involved it's fairly common and when we rent here in New England directly through owners it's the same thing.

If you are comfortable with the villa I wouldn't let that stop the process.

Good luck.

 

[Rroo]

Thanks everyone! I feel better about it now. Being a first timer, you never really know whats normal.

Thanks again!!