Greece, Paying for Holiday Accommodation in Cash?

kokolino23

I've always paid cash in Greece so I wouldn't worry about anything TBH.

NoodleDoodleMan

Greeks do have a fairly good justification for avoiding banks though, as it wasn't long ago when nobody could withdraw their own money for weeks.

Tax dodging has been a well established practice in Greece long before their recent financial crisis.

maman

mgdavid wrote: »

It's not just the Greeks.....

Absolutely not.


However, I'll stay on topic and not give my views on the black economy and tax dodgers in this country.;)


We've paid in cash (sterling) for accommodation in Turkey for years and years and still do. We got into the habit the last time they had rapid inflation. I think our hotel owner probably hid it under his mattress as sterling was far more valuable to him long term than the rapidly devaluing TL.


It sounds like you've done all the checks so it's genuine accommodation not a scam.:)

Ganga

mgdavid wrote: »

It's not just the Greeks.....

I am sure tax evasion/avoidance has been around since " tax " was invented,In fareness the Greek nation has got this down to a fine art:rotfl:

lindos90

Thank you all for your reassuring posts. Other half will be contacting his credit card bank and see how to cancel the pending payment. As long as that can be cancelled, or the bank can confirm that it will reach a point where it can't be drawn before our holiday, we will go ahead and pay in euros when we arrive. Everything else checks out (the reviews on trip advisor, availability dates seem consistent etc I do feel its a genuine host and is likely to be what you all say.

lindos90

Just as a follow up to my question. We kept in contact with the owners who at no point requested the money to be paid, got through to the CC card company who put a note on the account and prevented the payment being collected by the owners at a later date. Bit the bullet and bought euros cash for accommodation, transfers, spends and food did worry like heck until we put it in the villa safe. Bought before the exchange rate dipped too.

Debenhams was the best rate, they honour the online rate if you show them a screenshot (and MSEs 'special rate' is basically that too.) As we were asking for quite a large amount the lady had to go to the safe somewhere out of the retail area, so she gave us 2 free tokens to go the the instore costa, and also a £5 voucher to spend in store (which I gave to a lady buying a dress, as I wasn't planning to buy anything else from there) she was really chuffed!

The villa owner was brilliant and met us at nearly midnight to direct us through the village to get to the villa. She appreciated cash, as did all the small businesses we supported while we were there.

There seemed so many pros and cons with other 'card' options, so overall glad we took everything in cash, although I do appreciate that it wouldn't be every ones first choice.

Came back with lots of euros to spare, keeping them as euros rather than change back to £s as the rate fell quite a lot after we bought them.

Ganga

Look on the bright side ,you have just boosted her pension and had a good holiday to boot,also a good contact for future holidays.

jackieblack

Thanks for coming back to give an update, it’s always good to know how things worked out and not everyone bothers

jonesMUFCforever

Have you ever wondered why there are so many buildings in Greece looking unfinished ie with rebar sticking out of the roofs?

It's all to do with avoiding tax - apparently when you finish building a property in Greece you have to pay a tax - if the building is 'never' finished cough cough you don't pay!

shaun_from_Africa

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

It's all to do with avoiding tax - apparently when you finish building a property in Greece you have to pay a tax - if the building is 'never' finished cough cough you don't pay!

Wasn't that also the case in the UK when you paid rates on the value of a property before the Poll tax was introduced?

I seem to remember being told that when you increased the value of a property by doing something such as adding an extension, the rateable value only increased once the extension had been totally completed so this increase was postponed by never quite finishing the work.