Travelers Checks

1/ How many Thomas Cook offices in South America?
2/ Can you replace them after you've cashed them, (not that there will be much money left after the boutique hotel has taken its considerable share)?

Thomas Cook? Seriously?! I thought the OP was asking about Ecuador not Magaluf.

FWIW the Amex office in Quito will replace lost Amex travellers checks, but they won't cash them. (They don't actually replace them directly, they get them posted in from USA but you can collect them here).

According to the AMEX TC website there is no longer anywhere in Ecuador that cashes them
http://www.aetclocator.com/TCLocator/maps.do?scountry=EC

Maybe it depends what country you are coming from, but from the UK there is just no advantage in taking TC anymore. If you use a debit card and it gets stolen/cloned/etc the bank will refund you the stolen money. Just as you can replace TC if they get stolen. Once you've withdrawn money, or cashed a TC, you are on your own anyway.

Way back before there were international ATMs it made sense, because it was better to carry TC than your entire funds in cash, but that hasn't been the case for a long while now.

Honestly, the last time I saw someone use a travelers cheque was back in the 90s.

I agree totally. I was in Mexico (Oaxaca) with a friend a few years back, whose bank (B of A) had told her she didn't need an ATM card, but she did need travelers' checks. It was a nightmare trying to cash them, so I had to continually loan her money from my ATM withdrawals. Finally after about four days, she found a currency exchange window that would take them. For her next trip, she got a debit card! She didn't change banks, I don't think, but I sure would have!