Deposits for accomodation

[Paul Taylor]

Hi Steve,
As you are DA MAN(!!) for all things Tobago, could you please tell me.......

Ive just provisionally booked both Sea-Level guesthouse in Castara and Mot Mot Ridge guesthouse in Grange area (from simplytobago.com) for our 2 week November trip.

Sea-Level guesthouse are asking for 15% deposit which is fair enough but...
a) Is this normal?
b) They said they want it transferred into their German account?!?!
c) What would you recommend the best and cheapest way to send them the deposit money, assuming I will be sending USdollars into a German account?

Mot Mot Ridge want the full balance for 3 nights = 135US dollars in advance.
a) Is it normal practice in Tobago to pay the full amount upfront, when we dont really know who they are?
b) Again, what is the best way to send the money to them, but to Tobago this time, not Germany.

Your recommendations please.

Many thanks in advance.
Paul Taylor

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Paul

The deposit/balance requirements of the 350+ accommodation outlets on Tobago varies enormously, so its difficult to comment - other than that both of these come within "the norm".

As regards Sea Level, the first thing is to get rid of the US dollar conversion and agree the total cost in Euros. Barclays charge me £10 for low value (under $2000) transfers with the EU (£20 for urgent transfers). Payment with this service takes about six days.

Paying the full cost up front seems a little steep, but it is only a 3-day booking so that does rather block them from longer bookings, so is probably fair. However, Barclays charge me £20 for transfers to T&T and most non-EU countries.


I'll be interested to hear other people's comments about this, particularly with regard to the costs charged by different banks.

[Sue J]

Paul

It may be worth checking whether they either have or would be prepared to set up a PayPal account. It's a much lower cost way for small amounts, even if they ask you to pay the charges.

Have a great time!

Sue

[Brian Taylor]

hello there
here the point of view from another business.
we do the same thing as the sealevel guesthouse
a) speaking for us, when we say for example 100US we mean the ammount of 100US in the currency that is yours. it's just because for some strange reason the whole island is rating in US, so we do it to to give guests the chance to compare easier
b) the german account might be to cover costs like webmaster over there since the choice of web side builders ir very poor here...
c) if you would pay a percentage of a three day stay the ammount would be so small, that it might not be a reason for you to show up, these days it is not so easy to fill vacancies because of "no-shows"
d) sending money to tobago is not so easy, goes wrong sometimes and since there is no online banking it is a problem to travel to the lowlands from castara, spend one or two hours in the bank to check if any deposits reached. even with western union we have to travel all the way there (to learn the money did not reach yet or they have no cash that day... )

our advice: pay the US ammount in pounds in and selevel will have Euro on their account... no problem!

by the way, we worked without deposit for a year and wanted to trust people. a very high percentage showed, but the naughty rest hurt the purse.... thanks to them you now go through the trouble...

have a splendid holiday anyway, maybe we meet in castara