 Poster: A snowHead
|
I'm with @pam w, though it may just be a matter of generation. Including the printed boarding cards.
The OP's question was about "major" resorts, and there may be less need for cash in larger (and more commercial) resorts. And Covid has changed expectations. Even so, in St Gervais some of the more rustic mountain restaurants (in a good sense!) only take cash, others have a strong preference for cash with smaller transactions, and very few are geared to take tips in anything but cash.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
Only refusal of a card we’ve had lately was in the Jungfrau. A wee hut down from First to the bus. We had drank the beers. Luckily I had 20chf to cover it, but the cunning Swiss had renewed currency since our last visit. Gladly she accepted our out-of-circulation 20chf note.
Euros wouldn’t have helped 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
Probably 90% cars, 10% cash.
In La Plagne last year there was a v popular mountaintop restaurant with big problems accepting card payments and it was carnage as a result, with long queues and of course lots of tutting and knowing looks as people from different countries (or maybe just manners, never sure) have different perspectives on what queuing means. Fortunately one of our group had cash so we saved ourselves a good 30 minute wait.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
I’m guessing most French cafe owners don’t need to go to Switzerland with a cardboard box at the end of the season, just a big briefcase now, must be helping Macron balance the books!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
I didn't take cash on a trip to Alagna last month. Very few problems, even in the smallest, most remote places: in one place the mobile internet connection to the card machine was a bit ropey, so it took two or three attempts to connect (which didn't happen to be a problem on a very quiet day, but might have been a pain/embarrassment if there'd been a long queue); once or twice there was a €3 minimum card spend, so I ended up getting a round of morning espressi rather than just my own (which made the whole thing more sociable anyway; if I'd been on my own I'd probably have got some cash out after this happened once); and I didn't have any cash to tip the guide, leaving a choice between going to an ATM and transferring the GBP equivalent to someone who had cash (I went for the latter).
Another +1 for the Halifax Clarity card. I also have a Barclaycard that had no FX charges when I got it (rates not quite as good as Clarity, but cheaper to withdraw cash), but is now extortionate: they seem to rotate the best deals across their different cards, a cynic would think they're hoping that the customers don't notice). And they won't let me apply to change it, because I use it so little (because I only got it for use abroad, which is now overpriced).
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
I always have some cash left over from previous visits and take that with me (though sadly I seem loose the Swiss Francs), much like I always have some cash with me in the UK.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Ryunis wrote: |
Probably 90% cars, 10% cash.
. |
Expensive places you ski if you have to barter a car for lunch on the mountain.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| T Bar wrote: |
| Ryunis wrote: |
Probably 90% cars, 10% cash.
. |
Expensive places you ski if you have to barter a car for lunch on the mountain. |
Courchevel maybe
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
@Ryunis,
Fair enough, it is pretty pricey.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, as a technologist I'm techno-pessimist i.e. one day it will fail. So when self-driving, I always have enough cash to at least buy the petrol and some food for the journey home. When I'm flying, I'll have enough cash as a backup to cover the main holiday costs.
Similarly, I always print out my flight boarding passes. People used to make fun of me for being a dinosaur - until the day when they were flying; the airport systems failed; they couldn't process ePasses; and only paper pass holders were allowed through. I'm happy to load my boarding pass onto my mobile and Apple Watch but will use whichever is the most convenient at the time.
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads  on Thu 23-02-23 14:50; edited 1 time in total
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
@LaForet, I always print out boarding passes, not because I think the technology might fail (I know my mobile phone will be out of charge when I get to the airport - life's like that) but it is far less faff to just pull the pass out of my pocket than it is to pull the phone out, switch it on, search for the appropriate app, find the right pass and present it.
It is, however, a lot easier making a card payment, just swipe instead of searching for the right change.
|
|
|
|
|
|
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
|
|
@johnE, take a screen shot of the boarding pass. I also print out
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
@johnE, you can usually add it to your phone wallet (if you have an iPhone anyway, not sure about androids). Makes it easy to bring up quickly when needed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
It's good to have cash to pay for French speeding fines. Or do they take cards these days ? I've not had a ticket for the last few years (and also usually take the Belgium/Germany route now) so I'm not fully up to date on the latest French Gendarmerie practices 
And as others have mentioned, tips in cash are always well received, you have control of who's receiving the cash, and you're more likely to get served quickly in bars where they remember they got a cash tip for a previous round of drinks.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
I find self employed guides always prefer to be paid in cash 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
| johnE wrote: |
| switch it on |
Out of idle curiosity, why do you carry a phone around that's switched off?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
| ster wrote: |
| @johnE, you can usually add it to your phone wallet (if you have an iPhone anyway, not sure about androids). Makes it easy to bring up quickly when needed. |
yes android phones have a wallet too
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
|
Got caught out at La Rossetaz in Les Gets this year where they didn't accept cards and only had 20 Euros. However much to my surprise they offered an honesty system where they gave you a receipt that allowed you to bank transfer when you had a signal or pay in cash at a few shops in Morzine. Did make me wonder how many people would do a runner
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
@Dr John, Not much point having it on when I'm not using it, but I will be carrying through the airport for use in the resort.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
@johnE, wow..are you 87? Or do you not expect anyone to contact you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
Only a knob head would totally rely on cards in the mountains. Take the cards by all means but have some cash on you to avoid any embarrassment. Best to cover all bases in my experience. I'm in Samnaun for the next 9 days and one particular bar/restaurant doesn't take cards at all.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Last year I changed £200 into euros, it has been with me to Switzerland, Germany, Spain (Menorca, Ibiza and Tenerife) and now France. It is my just in case cash. So far I haven’t spent any of it, all transactions have been on my Monzo card using my Apple Watch. Maybe I’ll need it next time but the way things are going it’s looking unlikely.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quote: |
Or do you not expect anyone to contact you?
|
Why would they?
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
@johnE, well, it's not compulsory but I am pretty constantly liaising with people for one reason or another, I get notifications that are useful, and I use my phone as my computer so it's always on. I just think it's really odd to have a communication device that only communicates one way.
Do you not have friends who might send you a message?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Snowbandit56 wrote: |
| Only a knob head would totally rely on cards in the mountains. |
I feel seen.
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
Currently in SkiWelt, Austria. Quite a few places with notices saying cards minimum €20/25.
I was lucky at the top somewhere yesterday, we queued for food and arrived to pay. Then I realized I had passed a whiteboard earlier with various things scrawled on it, including “Keine Karten”; apparently they had no mobile signal for the machines. Lucky as I had taken some cash out at the base.
|
|
|
|
|
|
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
|
| Quote: |
It's good to have cash to pay for French speeding fines. Or do they take cards these days ? I've not had a ticket for the last few years (and also usually take the Belgium/Germany route now
|
When I had a French speeding fine I didn't have 90 euros cash. The kind policeman who had been eating his lunch by the side of the road in a deserted dorp somewhere in La France profonde where nobody had lived for years and with no speed limit signs looked after my passport for me and gave me directions to the nearest cashpoint - some 6 miles away.
I recall standing behind a woman in a busy easyJet boarding queue who had her boarding pass on a tablet, in the early days of such things. She had to put the rest of her baggage (far too much) down, open up the tablet and then swivel and swap it round till the reader recognised her pass, then reverse the process. Everybody was tutting. I had my paper pass folded up in the back pocket of my jeans, where I ALWAYS carry it. Had I lost it, I'd have had to get my phone out. But as my jeans are quite a snug fit, nothing falls out of those pockets. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Old Fartbag wrote: |
| I am however, unashamedly old school. |
Back in 1996 + a year or two, my boss and i would compete on our weekly Swiss trips as to who needed the least cash for a 2 or 3 day trip. Quite often it was zero, as cards were ubiquitous, from taxis to hotels to bars and restaurants.
OK, admittedly it was Zurich rather than the outlying mountain villages, but we're talking 25 years (and three jobs) ago.
Yes, we'd have some francs in our wallets 'just in case' - but more often than not they went back in the desk drawer on return, ready for the next visit.
"Old School" really is old...
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
| Arctic Roll wrote: |
"Old School" really is old... |
At least I no longer use Travellers' Cheques. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
@holidayloverxx, I use my phone as a hand held computer. It is almost never used as a phone (little or no signal at home). I consume less than £5 credit a month. The most common application I use are mapping apps like outdoor active or google maps, which have no use if I'm off to the airport or even driving down to Les Arcs.
And yes I have no friends
On a recent trip to Japan my friend wa shocked to see he'd used £9 of usage just from switching on to leaving the airport.Almost all of which was spam.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
| pam w wrote: |
| Quote: |
It's good to have cash to pay for French speeding fines. Or do they take cards these days ? I've not had a ticket for the last few years (and also usually take the Belgium/Germany route now
|
When I had a French speeding fine I didn't have 90 euros cash. The kind policeman who had been eating his lunch by the side of the road in a deserted dorp somewhere in La France profonde where nobody had lived for years and with no speed limit signs looked after my passport for me and gave me directions to the nearest cashpoint - some 6 miles away.
|
I suspected that's how it would work, I had a similar situation in Belgium many years ago when driving though with a mate of mine.
It was pre-euro days and we had plenty of Dutch Guilders and German Deutschmarks but no Belgian Francs as we were just passing though on the motorway. We passed a small van labelled 'Rijkswacht' at speed without recognizing this is a Flemish word for police. They stopped us and accompanied us to a cashpoint, told us how much to take out, we handed it over and were on our way again. I still have no idea how much the fine was as we didn't know the exchange rate for Belgian Francs except you got a lot more of them than French Francs for a pound.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
We had one place on Häuser Kaibling in Schladming refuse cards, but that was it. However-we then moved on to Oberstdorf and had to use cash almost everywhere on or off the mountain.
Last month we had a trip to Gerardmer and La Bresse, cards accepted in both.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
Posted on Facebook today.
"The Corner is at The Corner val Claret.
1 h
· Tignes, France ·
Quick Announcement  from cowdoo Corner! Our Wifi has gone, therefore we can only accept CASH today! Sorry for the inconvenience folks x"
So the answer is Yes, cash is needed in major resorts.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
It's always worth taking local currency when going abroad.
I'm going hiking in Wales this weekend. The B&B owner advised us that payment should be in cash. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
| Old Fartbag wrote: |
| Arctic Roll wrote: |
"Old School" really is old... |
At least I no longer use Travellers' Cheques. |
Maybe 5 or 6+ years ago, we remembered that we had a bunch of Travellers Cheques and so took them to St Anton for that year’s stay. Nobody, ie no business or bank, would accept them. When I tried at the Post Office, the counter person called her back office colleagues over… to show them what a TC looks like! None of them had apparently seen one before!
In the end, I had to cash them at the issuing bank at home and that took 7 or 8 weeks for Amex to clear the funds back to my bank.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Loads of places in Borovets don't take card, it's not Alps or Euros and not many Snowheads would go there ... but same issue
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
