Budapest room rates listed in euros not Hungarian Currency. Why?

A couple of reasons I think. To make it easier for tourists. Another is the exchange rate. They are not losing any money. When I was in Budapest in November 2011 prices were quoted in euros at the hotel, restaurants and taxis. But they naturally take the foint also.

Hotels in eastern Europe will sometimes quote their rates in Euros rather than in local currency. I've had this situation with hotels that I have booked in in Warsaw and Dubrovnik.

in the front of the 2010 E. Europe guidebook I have, Rick says "Remember that some accommodations quote their rates in euros, while others use the local currency. I generally list the prices they give me. However, occasionally I've converted a few prices to make it easier to compare hotel rates - so you might notice a little variation between the rates listed here and those quoted by the hotels."

Most of the places have websites, which if you think about it are listing for Europeans. So it makes sense to have prices listed in euros, rather than hf. Some sites let you a currency for the page. If you do comparisons, you will find that the euro rate coverts to hf, and both convert to they same $$ amount. Only site I saw that this was not so was the site for Orangeways Bus, if you ed hf on their page, it was cheaper than if you ed euros on their page.
Also, in the guide books, it makes sense to show prices in euro as this allows for a quick comparison in one's head as to prices in the bulk of Europe where euro are the currency.

We use hotel web sites, not guidebooks to help us find hotels. Quite a few hotels in eastern Europe list their rates in Euros. I am not familiar with Steves Guides but it sounds like an editorial problem that the hotel rates are in Euros and not the local currency, or dollars. If the editorial board gets information from hotels and the rates are listed in Euros it would be easy to convert those amounts to something more convenient for the reader to use. Who wants to use a guide book written in the English language and have to use a currency conversion to find out what you are really paying.

I'd rather use a guidebook that lists prices in the same currency that the hotel uses rather than converting everything to US dollars. With fluctuations in the exchange rate, I wouldn't know what rate was used when the guidebook made the conversion versus when I use the guidebook, so I don't really know what I'll be paying. While hotels do change their prices, currency fluctuates more frequently. My experience at a variety of Hungarian hotels was that just because they quote the price in Euros doesn't mean that they accept Euros in cash. Like others said, quoting in Euros is a convenience for the tourists and also makes prices seem a little lower because one Euro is almost 300 Forint. When you pay, they'll often convert the price into to Forints.

Thanks for all the replys. The prices are listed in the local currency in all other places that dont use the euro except Budapest.

I seem to remember hearing that Hungary was moving off the forint in Jan 2013? Perhaps Rick is being pro-active.