Originally Posted by
beachfan
Are they?
My thoughts-
This is a US dollar dominated gift card we are talking about, not a credit card, and it’s the same as if you gave them cash. The hotel does the conversion on a gift card, not Amex
You could have purchased the gift card with a credit card or cash, the accepting business will treat it like cash.
Just like in the old days of dollar denominated American Express traveler checks.
To the hotel, it's simply an American Express.
If the hotel charges €40, it receives €40 (subject to the usual terminal charges). Amex makes the conversion in real time and debits the balance in USD from the GC. The rate is unlikely to be spot, but it won't be far off. And as far as I'm aware, as it's a US issued card, there's also no foreign currency fee to consider (European issued Amex cards charge a 2.99% fee on all transactions made in a currency other than the one the card is issued for, but US Amex cards do not).