In Reply to: Help with paying deposits in US $$$ posted by kazndon on Saturday, 27. March 2010 at 12:38 Bali Time:
Forgive the comment if you have already looked into it ..... compare prices on online booking web sites. The 2 sites I usually use (both begin with A but can't be stated fully here)for bookings in Asia offer prices that are often much cheaper than booking directly with a hotel.
It also means you can pay in A$ by credit card from a secure site and print a vouchure out almost immediately. To me this is much better than sending US$ off, paying the commision on buying foreign currency, bank fees etc.
Over 8 or so years and quite a few bookings I've never had a problem with either of the above - in terms of payment, refund or changes if needed and the vouchures have always been excepted without question.