Hotel Bill - How to handle personal charges?

mkqueen

I recently signed up for my first Tauck tour in Italy. I've travelled all over the world for both work and pleasure, but this will be first time doing an organized tour. I wanted to see some different areas and didn't want to deal with the hassle of travel logistics between the places. I really like that the Tauck tour I chose seems to have some free time which is an important part of travel for me. I love to have time to just sit in a café and people watch. Plus it's my vacation and some down time is appreciated. :-)

My question is how do you handle paying for personal charges when you check out of the hotel on a tour? I may charge a drink and/or meal that is not included in the tour to my room. This is probably a stupid question, but not sure how the hotel check out process works on a tour since I've never been on any organized tour. From reading other postings it sounds like Tauck handles the check-in process, so wasn't sure if the front desk would have my credit card for personal charges. I assume I need to head down to the lobby a little before pick-up time on the check out day and settle up my personal charges, but just wanted to confirm the process from some more experienced tour takers.

Thanks for your assistance!

smarks50

Unlike individual stays in a hotel, you will not have to give a personal credit card for each hotel check-in with Tauck. However, if you have personal charges, you need to settle your account by credit card or cash either before evening end or first thing in the morning. I always do this before going to breakfast so if I encounter a long check-out line I do not hold up the departure of the entire group.

British

yes, you go down early and settle your extra charges. In fact, because so many times the tours leave the hotel really early, the tour directors encourage you to settle up the night before if you can. Always be sure you haven't been charged for as meal that Tauck was supposed to pay for, which rarely will happen. One thing you will learn is that the tour always leaves promptly. We have never had a problem with anyone being late on our tours, but I have met a few travelers who say there has been the odd one who spoils it for everyone else. We love how the Tauck tours are run and would not travel with anyone else when we want a tour rather than a stay in one place vacation. I believe our first Tauck tour was an Italian one. It's interesting to see how things have changed due to customer feedback, people wanting more free time and wanting to chose their own restaurants being prime examples.

mkqueen

Thanks for the quick and informative replies. Appreciate the assistance and advice!