Booking & Money
Card fees abroad: the three charges nobody separates
Foreign transaction fees, ATM charges and dynamic currency conversion are three different costs, and only one is unavoidable.
Greta Lindqvist
Contributing writer, Suitcase Theory
Greta writes about staying functional across time zones without pretending jet lag is optional.
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15 articles
Booking & Money
What travel insurance actually declines, and why
Most declined claims fall into a handful of categories, and almost all of them are avoidable at the point of purchase.
Where You Sleep
How to judge a hotel from the listing without staying in it
Photographs are curated, ratings are inflated, and the useful information is in three places most people skip.
Booking & Money
Why the same flight costs different amounts in different countries
Point of sale is a real variable in airline pricing, and the reasons are commercial, regulatory and currency-related at once.
Booking & Money
Refunds, vouchers and the difference between them
What you are offered after a cancellation and what you are entitled to are frequently two different things.
Where You Sleep
Resort fees, city taxes and the price that is not the price
What a room costs and what appears at checkout can differ substantially, and each additional line has a different origin.
Where You Sleep
Short-term rentals move the work onto the guest
A flat is not a small hotel. The price difference reflects a transfer of labour and risk that is worth counting.
Where You Sleep
What a hotel room safe actually protects against
In-room safes deter the opportunist and stop very little else, which changes what should go in them.
Where You Sleep
Aparthotels, serviced flats and the kitchen question
The middle category between a hotel room and a rental is defined by one appliance, and whether you need it decides everything.
Booking & Money
The cover you already hold and did not buy
Payment cards, home policies and memberships often include travel protections nobody reads. Knowing which you hold changes what you…
Booking & Money
Group bookings break the moment one person changes
A booking for several people is one contract rather than several. Any change touches everybody, and the fare rules decide how much…
Where You Sleep
Noise is the variable no property advertises
Every listing describes the bed and none of them describe the sound. Noise is the most common reason a room fails and the easiest…
Where You Sleep
Deposits and damage claims: who decides, and on what evidence
A damage claim is really a dispute about the state of a room before you entered it. Evidence gathered in the first five minutes…
Where You Sleep
Cancellation deadlines run on the clock of the property
A free-cancellation window ends at a specific hour in a specific time zone. Almost every late cancellation charge comes from…
Where You Sleep
Twin, double and family: the words that shift by country
Room descriptions are not standardised. The same word can mean two beds, one bed, or a sofa in a corner depending on where you are…