A hotel takes cash in many places at once. The front desk takes deposits and changes money for guests. Each restaurant and bar runs its own till. The nightclub fills up fast on weekends. Spa, shops, and valet bring in cash too. All of it has to be counted, checked, and banked, and every department handles money a little differently. Two problems come with the cash: foreign notes the team has to value correctly, and counterfeit notes that cost you money the moment they slip through.
Dubai still runs on a lot of cash, even with cards everywhere. The city had a record 19.59 million visitors in 2025, and hotels stayed about 81% full - one of the highest rates in the world. Guests come from India, Russia, China, the Gulf, and Europe, and many still pay in cash, often in their own currency. A hotel in Deira, Bur Dubai, Downtown, Dubai Marina, or JBR can see ten or more currencies at the front desk in one shift. And the clubs and lounges in the bigger hotels take a lot of large notes late at night - exactly when staff are busy and a quick look at a note is easy to skip.
It is not only Dubai. Abu Dhabi had a record 26.6 million visitors in 2025, with hotel income up almost 20%, and resorts in Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah, and Fujairah get the same cash-carrying crowd. Anywhere in the UAE, if a hotel takes foreign notes at the desk and cash at its outlets, the counterfeit and counting problems are the same. Only the local tourism fee changes by emirate - Dubai charges the Tourism Dirham; the others have their own hotel fees.
The counterfeit risk is the one hotels often ignore - until it costs them. Here is a real example from one of our clients in Dubai.
How one Dubai hotel group lost AED 8,000 to counterfeits
We first called a large group of three-star hotels in Dubai and explained why they should put counterfeit detectors like the Cassida 3200 at every front desk and club counter. At the time, they said they didn't need them.
About two weeks later, counterfeit AED 1,000 notes started showing up at their clubs. The AED 1,000 is the biggest note, so it is the one most worth faking. In just a few weeks the group took more than AED 8,000 in fake notes - money that was simply gone, with no way to get it back.
When we followed up, they were ready to act. We put in 12 Cassida 3200 counterfeit detectors at their front desks and outlet counters, and 8 Cassida Neo Max and Artemis machines in their cash offices to check and process the money at the back. Now the cash is checked from the moment it is taken at the counter to the moment it is counted in the cash office - closing the exact gap the fake notes had been slipping through.
Different departments, different machines
One machine cannot do the whole job, because the departments do different work. The front desk needs to take and value several currencies - along with exchange houses, it is one of the few places where that happens every day. The club and restaurant tills mostly take AED, so what matters there is speed and a detector that catches a fake before it goes in the drawer. The back-office cash room has its own job: bring all the money together, check it, and give finance one clear, documented total.
Where the currency-exchange rule kicks in
There is one rule to know before a front desk starts taking a lot of foreign currency. In the UAE, buying and selling foreign currency as a business needs a license. The Central Bank controls this, and it requires a special money-changer license with millions of dirhams in capital. A hotel does not have that license and does not need it - as long as the front desk stays on the right side of a simple line. Taking foreign currency toward a guest's bill and giving change in AED is normal hotel work. Offering to buy or sell currency as a service on its own - acting like an informal money changer for a guest who just wants cash swapped - is not. That is exchange business, and only licensed companies can do it.
A second point comes up in the daily count: the Tourism Dirham. Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism charges it per room, per night, based on the hotel's star rating - about AED 20 for five-star, AED 15 for four-star, AED 10 for three-star, and AED 7 for one- and two-star hotels and guesthouses - for the first 30 nights of a stay. It has to show as its own line on the guest's bill, separate from the room rate, service charge, and VAT. The DTCM can fine hotels that report it wrong. So for a front desk taking this fee in cash across dozens of check-ins and check-outs a day, it is one more number that has to add up cleanly.
The setup we recommend for a hotel
Check notes at the counter, value currency at the front desk, and check everything again at the back. In practice, that means three kinds of machine for the three jobs above:
At every guest-facing counter (front desk, club, restaurants): the Cassida 3200 counterfeit detector checks each note the moment it is taken, so a fake is caught at the counter instead of found later. This is the layer the hotel group above was missing.
At the front desk, for foreign currency: the Cassida Xpecto reads and values a mixed stack of 20-plus currencies, checks for fakes, and has a screen the guest can watch as the money is counted.
At high-volume restaurant and bar tills: the Cassida Xpecto Lite counts and values mixed AED notes with advanced counterfeit detection - fast and reliable where AED is the main currency handled.
In the cash office: the Cassida Neo Max and Artemis bring the cash from every outlet together, check it, and print a documented total with note serial numbers - the clear record finance needs.
Practical points for hotel cash handling
Put a detector where cash first comes in. The cheapest place to stop a fake is the counter that takes it - front desk, club, and restaurants - not the cash office hours later.
Give the front desk a multi-currency machine. It is one of the few spots where foreign cash comes in every day. Value it at the counter instead of guessing a rate or sending a guest to an ATM.
Count every department the same way. A resort with several outlets needs one way of counting that finance can trust across all of them.
Keep the Tourism Dirham on its own line. Track it separately from room money so the bill and the cash match.
All Cassida machines read the new polymer AED notes. The Central Bank is switching AED notes to polymer. Every Cassida machine - old model or new - reads all of them, so you will not get a false reject on a real note at a busy counter.
Clean the machines often. Cash is dirty, and club and valet money is some of the dirtiest of all. Dust and grime build up inside the machine and cause miscounts and jams. Regular cleaning keeps it accurate, and our service center handles it.
Train the front desk on the currency rule. Taking foreign cash toward a bill and giving AED change is fine. Buying or selling currency as a service is not, without a Central Bank license.
Frequently asked questions
Where should a hotel put counterfeit detection? At every counter that takes cash from guests - front desk, club, and restaurants. The counter is the only place you can still refuse a fake; by the cash office it is already your loss.
Does every department need a multi-currency counter? No. It matters most at the front desk, where foreign cash is normal. Restaurants and bars mostly take AED and do fine with a fast counter that has a good detector.
How should a hotel count cash across many outlets? Each outlet should count and record its own till first, then send it to one central cash office. If you mix tills before counting, you cannot tell which outlet a shortage came from.
Can a hotel front desk exchange currency like a bank or exchange house? Not as a separate service. Buying and selling currency as a business needs a Central Bank license, which hotels usually do not have. A front desk can take foreign cash toward a bill and give AED change - that is normal payment handling, not exchange business.
The bottom line
A hotel handles cash in more places, and more currencies, than almost any business its size - and each place is where a fake or a miscount can turn into a real loss. Check notes at the counter with a detector, value foreign cash at the front desk, and check everything again in a documented count at the back. The group that learned this the hard way lost AED 8,000 first; the setup that fixed it was in place within weeks.
Why hotels switch to Cassida
Many hotels first buy counters on the open market or from an online marketplace. They work at first, but when a machine jams, misreads notes, or needs cleaning, there is no one to call. That is when hotels move to Cassida: we run the only specialized service center for cash machines in the region, in Al Quoz, Dubai. A machine that goes down is cleaned, fixed, or replaced fast - not left broken behind the desk.
About Cassida Middle East
Cassida Middle East is the only branch of Cassida USA in the region. We operate the UAE’s only service center focused exclusively on cash-handling equipment - banknote counters, sorters, and counterfeit detectors - located in Al Quoz, Dubai. We have been here since 2013 and have served more than 4,000 businesses across the country. Every machine comes with a one-year warranty, and when you buy directly from the Cassida website we add a second year - two years of cover in total. You also get training when you buy and both on-site and yearly service plans.
Written by Mohammad Tahir, Head of Sales & Operations, Cassida Middle East - 11 years working directly with the Middle East and African markets.
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