catbert55 wrote:
Quoting in dollars isn't helping you, because the hotel is doing an informal exchange into CRC, then charging your card in CRC. This is especially bad in the Castillo, where you can't pay in USD and can only pay in CRC after the exchange has been calculated.
Quoting in dollars does help, as you're protected from currency exchange fluctuations. While Castillo does take a vigorish by converting dollars to colones, it's reasonable, and it isn't affected by any change in the exchange rate. If you book a room for $129 per night and the exchange rate is 550:1, you're protected, even if the exchange rate falls to 400:1 after you book. If that price were quoted in colones, you'd eat a 35 percent price increase.
Their exchange rate isn't reasonable and it's calculated on the day you check out. On the day you check out, the front desk takes the quoted dollar rate and uses their current exchange rate, which is written on the wall next to the front desk and isn't a good rate. Then your credit card is charged in Colones and then the credit card exchange rate is used to convert to dollars. The 3-5% upcharge you're paying is coming mostly from the Castillo exchange, not the CC exchange