I am about to write back to a hotel in France where I am making a reservation by email. They want my credit card number to reserve the room. I think I can figure out how to tell them in French that I'm going to send them the number by postal mail.

But how would I ask them whether they intend to charge a deposit now, or only use it as a guarantee? I want to explain that if they will be posting a charge to the card now, I will need to notify the company ahead of time to allow the charge from France.

Thanks,

Roz

Roz,
Instead of asking your rather complicated question, how about if you "streamline" your question: what is the cancellation/refund policy? Quelle est la politique d'annulation/remboursement ?

quote:

Instead of asking your rather complicated question, how about if you "streamline" your question

Well, I need to find out if they are going to charge a deposit, because it will probably be refused if I don't notify the credit card company. Does something like this sound okay?

"Est-ce que vous voulez le numéro seulement pour une garantie? Avant une transaction européenne avec la carte, je dois prévenir la banque americaine."

- Roz

Vous demandez mon numéro de carte de crédit
- simplement pour bloquer une réservation sans débit de la carte, ou
- pour le paiement de la totalité des nuits d'hotels, ou
- pour le paiement des acomptes?
Je dois prévenir ma banque dans le cas de pré-paiement.

(But Roz, in all my online booking experience, this condition is always explained in the reservation policy.)

quote:

in all my online booking experience, this condition is always explained in the reservation policy.

OK, thanks. I'll try it the simple way first, and save the more complicated one in case I don't get a clear answer.

- Roz