Booking and paying for hotels in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities in Russia today faces two challenges that arose after sanctions were imposed.
Popular booking services like Booking.com and Airbnb.com no longer show any listings for accommodation in Russia.
Russian booking systems only accept credit cards issued in Russia for payment and do not accept Visa or Mastercard.
So how can you now book and pay for a hotel in Russia?
These problems can easily be solved in two ways.
Use the only major international service that continues to operate in Russia — to book hotels in Moscow and St. Petersburg. You just need to know the specifics of booking accommodation on Trip.com.
Book hotels on the Russian website with payment due at check-in at the hotel. In this case you will need to pay in cash in Russian rubles.
How to book a hotel in Russia on the Trip.com website?
, registered in Singapore, currently continues to operate in the Russian hotel booking market and accepts various credit cards for online payment: Visa, Mastercard, Japanese JCB, Chinese UnionPay and Russian MIR cards.
However, if you try to find accommodation in Russia, for example in Moscow, as you usually do on other booking services, you will see the message: «No properties found.»
Don’t believe that accommodation cannot be found 🙂 Change the language to Russian (Русский).
You will immediately see that in Moscow you can book over 1,500 hotels. Hotels can be paid for with Visa, Mastercard, JCB, UnionPay cards.
The currency must be indicated as EUR, USD or any other currency except the Russian ruble (RUB). If you select RUB, you will only be able to pay with a Russian credit card, not an international one.
You can also go directly to the Trip.com website using with the correct settings.
The only discomfort you will face is that hotel names and other information will be in Russian, but you can use Google Translate.
The advantages of are that you use a reliable international booking service and pay for hotels with your credit card online. With the other option, you would have to pay for accommodation in Russian rubles.
How to book a hotel in Russia with payment due at check-in?
Another way to book hotels in Russia is to use the Russian website . You cannot pay for accommodation with international credit cards online, but some accommodation can be booked without using a credit card, with cash payment on arrival at the hotel.
The main advantages of the Ostrovok.ru site are a large selection of hotels and apartments in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities in Russia, as well as the ability to use the English language and display prices in a convenient currency for you.
The option to book accommodation without a credit card is available for some but not all hotels. For example, in St. Petersburg out of 6,200 hotels you can book 2,000 accommodation options with cash payment at check-in.
To find only such hotel offers, select the Payment and booking option: No card required for booking.
When you select a suitable hotel and room, you will see a message about the need to pay at the hotel and the amount in Russian rubles.
How to book a hotel in Moscow and St. Petersburg with a Russian credit card?
If you have a Russian credit card, opportunities for booking accommodation in Moscow, St. Petersburg and any other city in Russia are significantly expanded. In addition to Trip.com and Ostrovok.ru, you can book hotels on Yandex Travel, and apartments on Sutochno.ru (the Russian equivalent of Airbnb).
To use a Russian credit card on the website, you need to change the currency to Russian rubles (RUB), and you can select Russian as the language.
The booking service does not require any special settings. Using online payment rather than booking without a credit card will increase the selection of hotels and apartments by about three times.
— is one of the largest hotel and apartment booking services in Russia. Unfortunately, this site does not support any languages other than Russian.
is a Russian site similar to Airbnb. You can find apartments, homes, hostels and a few hotels here. English language is available, as well as displaying accommodation prices in US dollars and euros.
How can hotels in Russia be paid for now?
Payment for hotels booked in Russia is now possible in three ways. This depends on the booking service you use.
1. Online payment with Visa and Mastercard credit cards. This payment option is available on the website (you must switch to Russian).
2. Booking without a credit card with cash payment in Russian rubles on arrival at the hotel. This option can be used on the service.
When booking without a card, you need to remember that apart from cash in Russian rubles, you will not have any alternative ways to pay for your stay. International Visa and Mastercards do not work in Russia due to sanctions, and cash US dollars or euros are not accepted at many hotels.
3. Payment with a card issued in Russia. If you have a Russian credit card, you can book accommodation online with payment on Trip.com, Ostrovok.ru, as well as .
The table shows all options for paying for hotels in Russia when booking on the most popular sites.
| VISA/MasterCard | Russian cards | Without a card | |
| Trip.com | Yes | Yes | No |
| Ostrovok.ru | No | Yes | Yes |
| Yandex Travel | No | Yes | No |
| Sutochno.ru | No | Yes | No |
Further Reading: How to book a hotel in China?
