Cancún Travel Answers

We have used Paypal to pay for all kinds of things bought online from holiday accommodation to items from sites like E-bay. We have never had any dispute or discrepancy. If your holiday start date is within 6-8 weeks of your booking date it would not be at all unusual to be asked for the full amount. In fact I have just paid in full for a holiday starting 4 weeks from now. I have not travelled in Mexico - things could be different- but with Paypal your payment should be secure.

I am not aware of any payment protection from paypal. If things sour, you would only have recourse through the legal system. Most individuals require at least half as a deposit, and then the balance before they give you the keys. I have a vacation rental and require full payment up front when booked. I have several friends with units in Cabo and Wailea that require full amount up front with the booking. There can be problems and fraud does occur, so you need to do your due diligence. When I rent an apartment outside the US, I try and make sure the company I pay the money to has some US presence. Karl

If the condo owner asks you to only make a payment via Paypal as a bank transfer vs. making a payment via Paypal using a credit card I would worry. If however the condo owner asks for payment via Paypal and you decide to use your credit card then you will be fine since your credit card charge can be cancelled if the condo is not as you agreed with the owner and that is your protection. Paypal is the only convenience for you to use the payment vs. the owner setting up a bank account to accept your credit card payments. Also Paypal charges the owners about 3 percent for you paying via the credit card. At the same time no condo owner should ask you for anything more then 25% up front to hold the room and ask you to pay upon arrival either by cash, credit card or travelers checks. To pay the entire amount before your arrival is not fair to you, and leaves you little room to negotiate in case there are problems with your accomodations.

I generally agree with the foregoing. In all the apartments we have rented, the most we have had to pay is US$200 or €150 as a deposit, with the balance being due usually two weeks before arrival date, certainly being paid before arrival. However, in surfing through all the sites, I have come across much more than that being asked for as a deposit, some even requiring 100% of the rental amount as a 'security bond' in addition to the rental amount. I cannot give you any proportion of the cost to pay in deposit - but what is he asking for? Btw, on one rental we had a bit of a barny with the owner who promised to reimburse us for an amount (a small amount but it is the principle that counts) and this obviously wasn't going to materialise. So, I took the dispute to PayPal and they soon sorted it out. We had paid through PayPal, with the amount being charged to our credit card but it was PayPal who sorted it all out. Are you going through a rental website, or is it a stand alone ad on the web? When are you expected to pay the full amount?

Thanks for the useful feedback. The various condo owners, I am talking to, I read about in Tripadvisor under the title "57 Trusted Cancun Rentals" with the visitors reviews but condos get few reviews for some reason. So now I am dealing with them directly as you do not book through Tripadvisor. Is it common to deal with the owners directly and is it better to ask them to to take a credit card in this situation? One of them only wants200 to reserve the place. The Paypal one, I am asking if he wants a deposit or the whole amount.

To -freddiebeatle - If after all these differing views you are still undecided why not ask the condo owner to send you all his Bank details so that you can make a direct transfer from your account into his? Depending on which Bank you bank with it could cost you anything (in UK terms) from around £10 to £20+. We have done this several times with accommodation owners in Spain, Croatia and France. No problem.

"So now I am dealing with them directly as you do not book through Tripadvisor. Is it common to deal with the owners directly and is it better to ask them to to take a credit card in this situation? One of them only wants200 to reserve the place. The Paypal one, I am asking if he wants a deposit or the whole amount." Freddie - my last reply was being typed as you wrote the above. I find nothing unusual in dealing directly with the owner - in fact I much prefer it to dealing with an impersonal Agency. The owner who is asking for only a deposit to reserve sounds reasonable. As for someone who wants the full amount 4 months in advance - I would be hesitant. I tend to be a fairly trusting sort of person and in 40 years plus of booking overseas accommodation have never been swindled. All I can say is go with your instinct. None of us can actually foretell the outcome. Read more: VT Forum temporarily unavailable

No matter where you found the condo you will ultimately deal with the owner directly. So the request on the deposit is not unique. To ask for the entire sum 4 months, 1 month or even a week before arrival date is though something I would worry over. As I said to ask for 25% up front to hold the room and the balance upon arrival in some form is normal and that is what you should work with.

There doesn't seem to be any hard and fast rule here in Europe. However, in the US it seems to be all the money up front at time of booking - at least that is what I have encountered. However, I think it may be a case of as and when and it depends!!

Unfortunately, the Paypal T&Cs say that they do not give protection on "real estate" or services, but I still would use their dispute system in case of a problem. So I am going to trust the condo owners only because they have several good reviews in a number of travel websites. It's a deposit of 2 days out of 7 and the rest some 4 weeks before arrival. I would prefer to pay when I get there, though.

Oh golly, 2 days deposit out of a 7 day booking...... I thought we were talking about considerably longer than that. 2 days deposit is not at all unreasonable, with the full balance paid before arrival, or upon arrival (that would usually be cash).