Originally Posted by
jplee3
Hey guys, quick question regarding currency conversion rates.
Obviously there's a few sites out there like XE.com and Oanda.com
My concern/question is this: if I convert 1 USD to XPF on XE.com it's
80.9025 XPF. And if I convert 80.9025 XPF back to USD it's 1 USD.
Why is it that, on Oanda, when I convert $1 USD to XPF it's 82.42966 XPF but when I convert 82.42966 to USD it's $1.04107 USD. This may seem like a slight discrepancy, but when I convert $800 USD to XPF it's 65,943.7 XPF and when I convert 65,943.7 XPF back to USD it's $832.858 - that's a huge difference!
The reason I wonder this is because IHG seems to use Oanda for all their currency exchange, and it seems to be in higher favor *against* the USD somehow. Is this allowable? I found lower prices USD on certain hotels through Priceline and Travelocity, but when I convert the USD to XPF pricing it's obviously inflated.
It seems IHG is using this to their advantage. It just seems really dirty to me
Anyone else notice this? Or can you at least explain it? Is it because of the "Interbank" Exchange rates? Ughhhh. And so why don't other currency conversion sites reflect this when converting amounts?
Just simply because the amount "selling" differs from the amount "buying". Not even theory, the XE example is right. There are two different prices (the difference is the 'spread') for a currency and you will never be able to make such a transaction like in XE.
Moreover, IHG is using oanda is a reference only. Oanda has no influence to your room price. the XPF/USD conversion rate depends on the (inter-) bank rate (plus banks may add surcharges or set their own exchange rate) at the time the payment is made and IHG has no influence on that.
Edit: This "spread" is apparently particularily high with XPF...