Readers' tips: Why you shouldn't use pre-paid cash cards to pay for hotels

The next day I decided to pay €200 as a part-payment using my Qantas Cash card. Unbeknown to me, the hotel decided to "protect" the full amount of our stay on this card also, even though they had done so already on my normal credit card. Why they would do this is anyone's guess.

I checked out using my credit card but when checking Qantas Cash card balance later, noticed that the full amount had been debited and this card was out of euros.

I am still waiting for this to be rectified three weeks later and have now concluded our trip. I know that I shouldn't use a pre-paid Qantas Cash card for hotels but thought, mistakenly, that the hotel having had a normal credit card on file, wouldn't touch this card.

It's worth reminding travellers who use pre-paid cards, not to use them for hotels, car rentals or cruise lines. Qantas Cash also told me this.

I still believe that we were badly treated in this instance by Hilton Milan.

Robert Doyle, Wollongong, NSW

RESERVE JUDGMENT

I was disappointed to read "National Park or private game reserve?" (Traveller, June 25) because the piece gave an unbalanced account of safari options in Kruger National Park.

It inaccurately describes self-drive safaris in national parks as inferior to private game reserves. National parks are not zoos and self-drive safaris can give visitors intimate encounters with wildlife and more independence. Night drives and walks with rangers are available in Kruger.

Private game reserves can be expensive and national parks offer excellent value for money. Your readers deserve a balanced account of the options so they can make informed choices.

Chris Suchet-Pearson, Hornsby, NSW

JUST IN CASE

Beware connections between two airlines whose systems don't talk to each other. I was recently unable to check my bag from Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, through to Sydney via Dubai.

If you don't want to exit, collect your bag and re-enter at the transit airport, or can't (for example, because of insufficient time or a visa requirement), you've got a problem.

I managed to muddle through because there is a fall-back system at Dubai, but despite a 20-hour transit time my bag arrived two days behind me. However, in this instance it didn't cause any problem because I was travelling home.

I've no idea how you find out in advance whether you will be able to check your bag right through, but if you have a short connection time your bag will likely not make it.

Kevin Hunt, Kenthurst, NSW

IT'S A PLEASURE

I recently took a tour of the Puglia region with a small, personal company called "Italy with Pleasure". It is run by Antonella, a local, and her husband Malcolm, a long-time Italy resident but originally from New Zealand.

Accommodation was superb in an albergo diffuso (described as a combination between a hotel and house) and every day was packed with visits to historic places in Puglia and the most superb local food with low food miles. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

Ann Calder, Scamander, TAS