Originally Posted by
david55
Please help me make sense here.
I am going to put a deposit down on a hotel stay in Mexico for next January.
Paying with an Amex they charge you in pesos.
Paying with Visa in US dollars.
Which one should I use based on currency fluctuation.
Thanks.
Well, the likelihood here is the peso will continue to drop in value against the dollar.
Another thing you'll want to think about is whether you'll pay a foreign exchange fee (most AMEX, no; some others, ~3%.
Right now, one dolls is MXP 19.91260; this is better than recent figures, but historically it has gone down in value in the long run.
Look
here; when the new Peso was introduced on December 22, 1994, it was MXN 4.8875 to the dollar.
Feel like small time currency speculation? Pay it in pesos. I think you'll come out ahead, but it's just a somewhat informed guess from someone who has lived in Mexico and has been through a lot of currency change. When I began this observation, the Peso was 12.50 to the dollar; I've seen it as low as 3,068.90 to the dollar, before they issued new currency.