Hotel booking

[gatoneko]

Hi all. I am going back to Argentina after three years. Things have changed a lot since and I have questions.

What's the best way to book a hotel? Most booking site quotes price in dollars but do they charge in dollars or pesos in official rate? Is it better for example in Booking.com to choose a hotel not to charge in CC but accept cash at arrival (in pesos). Airbnb seems always charge in residents currency (in my case CAD), and there is no way to pay in pesos or blue rate?

Thanks all.

 

[elhombresinnombre]

Wherever I go, I always book direct with the accommodation and pay some or all of the charges direct to them in their local currency. You often get a better price through booking direct rather than via an intermediary and provided that you are paying in local currency on a non-local bank card, in Argentita you should receive the special tourist rate of exchange. I use the intermediary websites to identity possible suitable places but I don't book with them.

 

[Rich One]

Some tourists book with a CC for one night, then once there arrange to pay the rate in pesos in pesos . However if you pay with a foreign CC you will get the tourist rate . The rate for MC in my case was $AR 451 per dollar. First you are billed at the official rate of $256 per dollar and later you get an adjustment.

 

[Quilombo]

Hi all. I am going back to Argentina after three years. Things have changed a lot since and I have questions.

What's the best way to book a hotel? Most booking site quotes price in dollars but do they charge in dollars or pesos in official rate? Is it better for example in Booking.com to choose a hotel not to charge in CC but accept cash at arrival (in pesos). Airbnb seems always charge in residents currency (in my case CAD), and there is no way to pay in pesos or blue rate?

Thanks all.

- Usually via the hotel directly, or via Booking.com from my experience (selecting pay on arrival)
- The reservations are established in dollars, with the peso exchange rate being the BNA/BCRA one at the time of check-in, i.e. you lock in a 5 night stay for $500.00 USD and would pay what ever $500.00 is in BNA/BCRA dollars at check in, i.e. $273 as of today, so $136,500 ARS while if your check in is on the 30th and it's $280 at the end of the money, you'd pay $280 * $500
- If you pay with a foreign credit/debit card, you won't be charged the 21% occupancy tax, which, depending on the exchange rates of the day may be better than paying in blue or Western Union pesos
- Airbnb will always be in dollars as they are billing from a non-Argentine payments provider, and they don't let you pay in cash (though people have been able to work stuff out with the owner of the apt/house where they extend their stay in cash, but this is against the Tc & Cs but it's doable)