Paying for SPB Tours in USD - $100 bills OK?

We have booked a tour with SPB Tours and they accept USD as payment. I understand that the bills must be clean, crisp and in good condition, but I have not been able to determine if we can pay using $100 bills. Some places will not take those due to the high counterfeit rate. Does anyone have any experience using $100 bills for tours in St. Petersburg?

Thanks!

Make sure they are not torn or written on, and I guess it would be better if you get those new orange-tinted Franklins with the extra security features.

We have booked a tour with SPB Tours and they accept USD as payment. I understand that the bills must be clean, crisp and in good condition, but I have not been able to determine if we can pay using $100 bills. Some places will not take those due to the high counterfeit rate. Does anyone have any experience using $100 bills for tours in St. Petersburg?

 

Thanks!

Yes. We toured with White Nights Travel, another fabulous SPB private tour company. We paid in crisp, new $100 bills. No issues. No pushback.

There's a copycat tour company with the words "white nights" in its name, too. Ours is #9 on Trip Advisor.

If you are worried, I'd email the company to ask them directly. Different tour guides may have different standards, but if you can show them the email, then hopefully everything will be fine.

The other two people on our tour paid SBP tours in $100 bills last year. They did emphasize clean bills, but they took $100's just fine. No fuss.

We used SPB Tours and paid in 100$ bills at the end of our two day tour. We checked if that was ok during the first day and they had no problem with that, but that was a few years ago.

You could always change higher bills for smaller denominations at guest relations. We had no problem with that either on many occasions.

If you are actually going with the Russian tour company, run by Victoria, you are in for an amazingly wonderful tour. It has been the very best tour we have ever had. Can't rate Victoria's company highly enough - if only they are all as good as hers. There were lots of rave reviews on Cruisecritic so was guided by CC.

We have booked a tour with SPB Tours and they accept USD as payment. I understand that the bills must be clean, crisp and in good condition, but I have not been able to determine if we can pay using $100 bills. Some places will not take those due to the high counterfeit rate. Does anyone have any experience using $100 bills for tours in St. Petersburg?

 

Thanks!

Just did the tour with SPB in late June and paid with $100.00 bills fresh from the bank and had no problems. Cash is cash

Thank you everyone for your very quick answers and advice. That's what I love about CC! I love having all of this knowledge in one place! Safe travels everyone!!

We paid with 11 of them. Easier to carry. Just keep in an envelope labeled with all your tours, prices etc. in your room safe until you need it. Enjoy your trip. We were there 3 weeks ago.

Thank you Endaj, i am very much looking forward to the Baltic cruise. Saint Petersburg has been on my must see list forever. I hope you had a great time on your trip three weeks ago.

We used SPB Tours and paid in 100$ bills at the end of our two day tour. We checked if that was ok during the first day and they had no problem with that, but that was a few years ago.

 

You could always change higher bills for smaller denominations at guest relations. We had no problem with that either on many occasions.

 

If you are actually going with the Russian tour company, run by Victoria, you are in for an amazingly wonderful tour. It has been the very best tour we have ever had. Can't rate Victoria's company highly enough - if only they are all as good as hers. There were lots of rave reviews on Cruisecritic so was guided by CC.

I would not count on getting smaller denomination bills at guest relations. Sure, they'll have US dollars, but you cannot count on the money being new, crisp bills. If US money isn't new, it is worthless to a Russian. We paid the first day using $100 bills, paying somewhat more than we owed because of that. The next day our guide offered us the change ($20). Without thinking about the fact that the $20 bill was rumpled, we told our guide "Hang onto that. We'll be adding more later." After our departure, I felt terrible. I realized what I intended as a kind -- and practical -- gesture in fact deprived our guide of $20. That crumpled money was useless to her or her boss which is why the boss had chosen that specific bill to give us. Back in the US, we would have had no problem with the crumpled bill.

Better to pay in crisp $100 bills than in less than new smaller bills.

Thank you Endaj, i am very much looking forward to the Baltic cruise. Saint Petersburg has been on my must see list forever. I hope you had a great time on your trip three weeks ago.

We had a WONDERFUL time. Thank you. The weather was sunny and pleasant every day except for our boarding day in Copenhagen.

The SPB tours we had in St. P , Berlin, Stockholm and Helsinki were all great. No complaints about any.

The first day of St P was very busy and included a subway experience that was really exciting. Too the canal ride added more variety. So much to enjoy.

Really needed lots more time, but we did and saw enough for a lifetime on this itinerary. have a wonderful time. Pace yourself. We walked MILES and MILES.:D

I would not count on getting smaller denomination bills at guest relations. Sure, they'll have US dollars, but you cannot count on the money being new, crisp bills. If US money isn't new, it is worthless to a Russian. We paid the first day using $100 bills, paying somewhat more than we owed because of that. The next day our guide offered us the change ($20). Without thinking about the fact that the $20 bill was rumpled, we told our guide "Hang onto that. We'll be adding more later." After our departure, I felt terrible. I realized what I intended as a kind -- and practical -- gesture in fact deprived our guide of $20. That crumpled money was useless to her or her boss which is why the boss had chosen that specific bill to give us. Back in the US, we would have had no problem with the crumpled bill.

 

Better to pay in crisp $100 bills than in less than new smaller bills.

Why is that?

Why is that?

Dollars are not the official currency so the Russian banks can make any rules they like when accepting dollars. Obviously tour companies and merchants follow bank rules. They don't want to be stuck holding worthless US currency.

Most of us use the word "new" as a bit of shorthand. Crisp, unfolded bills are satisfactory even if technically not new.

Incidentally, our bank told us new bills are more easily available around Christmas and become less available as the year progresses.

The bills need only be in good condition. Here at home I cringe when I get some crushed up, doodled bills. But they are accepted when I spend them. In foreign countries, not just Russia, the banks will turn them down. So new doesn't necessarily mean uncirculated. Just make sure they are "nice". No tears or scribbles. A bank at home can give you nice ones.

I remember on a Carib island, can't remember which, I paid a cabbie with a U.S. $20 bill. We walked away and within a half a block we heard someone yelling to us. It was the cabbie calling us to say that the bill had a tiny tear in it and he couldn't count on getting it exchanged. We apologized and gave him a replacement. He would have lost the ride fare had he not caught up to us.

Incidentally, our bank told us new bills are more easily available around Christmas and become less available as the year progresses.

My bank told me the same thing last week. I thought it was just a line. Guess not. I got the crispiest smaller denominations they could give me which I'll be using to tip the tour guide. I guess the guide will have to accept them or not get a tip. What other option would there be on that last tour day?

My bank told me the same thing last week. I thought it was just a line. Guess not. ?

My branch of the local bank had no trouble giving me $100 bills.

You don't need uncirculated bills. Shouldn't be a big deal for a clerk to hand off some "nice" hundreds. We had 11 of them. Certainly better than carrying a stack of smaller bills. If you ask for "new" perhaps they feel they have to be straight off the press. But honestly it isn't a big deal to worry about. Those hundreds aren't circulated as much to begin with.

A little trick-

To "crisp up" $100 bills....iron them. Use a lower setting, no steam. Won't make really old bills new again but it will take out small creases and wrinkles. Worked for us on our first Baltic cruise. The second time we paid by credit card.

<<<Karen>>>

The bills need only be in good condition... So new doesn't necessarily mean uncirculated. Just make sure they are "nice". No tears or scribbles. A bank at home can give you nice ones.

I'll add no folds to your list of requirements. I've had merchants return US currency to me and ask for a different bill if there was so much as a fold in the corner. Different countries have different standards for the appearance of the US currency.

As I wrote in post #14, "Most of us use the word "new" as a bit of shorthand. Crisp, unfolded bills are satisfactory even if technically not new."

A little trick-

 

To "crisp up" $100 bills....iron them. Use a lower setting, no steam. Won't make really old bills new again but it will take out small creases and wrinkles. Worked for us on our first Baltic cruise. The second time we paid by credit card.

 

<<<Karen>>>

I remember my mom doing this to the bills put in birthday cards mailed to the grandchildren. :p

Now that I think back she would iron and reuse tissue paper for gifts. She was, as she called it, a "depression baby". No waste was her motto.