Booking.com

Here's what it says on Booking.com:

'You will pay the hotel in the hotel’s local currency ( EUR ). The displayed amount (in USD ) is indicative and based on today’s exchange rate."

So, there's nothing to worry about, and yes, it's normal for hotel rates to be posted in local currency. When you saw the price for the Lucerne hotel in US dollars, that was merely for your guidance; the hotel was still priced in Swiss francs.

In fact, this system is to your advantage. You want to pay the local currency, and let your credit card or bank do the converting. If you pay in USD, that's called "dynamic currency conversion." It's usually a scam; the hotel or merchant uses their own conversion rate, which is worse than the one your credit card uses. Then, your credit card still charges you a fee for the "foreign transaction." So, you can pay a lot more this way.

We used booking.com a couple of years ago for Italy, and I don't remember whether it was quoted in $$ or Euros, but its was still the best deal we found at the time. I don't know that it should be a big deal either way, unless your credit/debit card charges a foreign transaction fee. Even so, if you're not actually paying until you arrive, you're better off paying in the local currency (Euros in Euro-zone Europe) because you'll get a better exchange rate when your bank processes the transaction than if you let the hotel convert it from Euros to dollars up front as a "convenience," as noted above. If you're worried that the room is too expensive because the actual cost is higher than what you thought is was when you thought the price was a dollar amount, then you may want to consider a different hotel, if that's possible.

Leave it in euros do not let hotel convert it for you!!!! As Harold said you are then just dealing with dynamic currency exchange , basic translation, you pay more by asking hotel to allow you to pay in your foriegm currency!!

PS why would a place charge someone in foriefn currency? When tourist come to my city from Japan we expect them to pay on dollars, pretty normal don't u think?

Thanks for your replies . So it was for my benefit that it was in Euro. Now there is one less thing for me to worry about. I was just planning our itinerary 2 -3 months ago and now, our trip will start in less than a month ( middle of June)..

On the booking.com website, you have the option of selecting the rate to be shown in euro or dollars (upper part of page, icon for € or $ should show, use the pulldown menu to select currency). As others have said, leave it in euro but be sure to calculate your expenses in dollars, since that is probably how you calculate your budget.

The currency conversion tool on Booking.com (or Venere, or similar websites) for normal reservations (that you'll pay on arrival) is only a reference. They pick a general exchange rate from some vendor (don't know which, but it doesn't matter much), and make the simple calculations.

This doesn't guarantee you will pay the hotel fare on US$ upon arrival, conversion will be made at the exchange rate of the day you arrive, if needed to.

" Dynamic conversion" (e.g., letting the hotel/rental car agency/restaurant CC machine charge you in US$) is almost always more expensive than charging your card in the local currency and letting your card do the conversion. If your card has some sort of fee for international transactions, it will still apply regardless of currency used, since these fees are tackled on basis of merchant location, not currency used.

Then, if you throw in the potential for some language difficulties and what not, I'd rather have reservations done in local (€) currency. It eliminates any source of potential controversy, since is the currency of the hotel.

Thanks Andre L. for your detail explanation. This forum has such a wealth of information from people like you and all the others that have unselfishly volunteer their help and suggestion.