Which card details hotels ask for online and how to protect yourself

What card details a hotel asks for when you book online

Paying for a hotel online with a card is safe. The real risk, cliché as it sounds, is not having your account emptied: it's being charged and never getting the room. Along the way a fair doubt arises: what details do you need to give, is a password required, and how do you avoid an extra charge? The actual mechanism is simpler than it seems.

Never share your PIN: confirmation goes through your bank

For an online booking they ask for the card number, expiry date and the CVV code. With that a charge can be attempted, but your bank's app notifies you of the exact amount (100 euros, for example) and you have to approve it with your app password. The four-digit PIN, the one used at ATMs or card terminals, plays no part in online purchases and is never given to anyone. If someone asks for it, be suspicious.

The real risk: not getting what was promised

With bank confirmation, a merchant cannot charge you more than the amount you authorise: your bank shows you the exact figure before you give the go-ahead. What can happen is that a fraudulent site takes the payment and never provides the service. Your bank won't protect you there: common sense will, along with a practice that is gaining ground: keeping a card permanently empty, linked to an account with no funds, and loading it with just the right amount at the moment of purchase. Some banks such as ING allow this free of charge; at Correos (the Spanish postal service), topping up a prepaid card costs money. While banks sort out the fine print, the top-up card is emerging as the standard for one-off purchases.