So what's the situation "on the ground" with the currency crisis?
Sep 24, 2018, 8:24 am
#136
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Sep 24, 2018, 8:30 am
#137
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This post below sums it up perfectly. The no limit desire to squeeze every single (last) drop out of a deal, no matter what it takes or who gets screwed is perhaps the ugliest part of the current FT Spirit.
We are not alone in this world and it pays back to think a little further away from our own belly button every once in a while....
We are not alone in this world and it pays back to think a little further away from our own belly button every once in a while....
Um ... where to start?
2) Why is it a bad time to be planning luxury travel? Real luxury travelers aren't bargaining for trinkets in a Middle Eastern Shuk. They are willing to pay price X for something that guarantees Y level of experience. They don't want to go where "at least some of the locals go" unless they are the locals that ... well, you won't find much of that in Argentina because the loaded locals are luxuriating elsewhere.
Someone who is perhaps a FTer looking for luxury on the cheap (that's why we all came here once upon a time to have airlines pay us to drink their Dom and eat their caviar) is not someone "planning luxury travel geared toward foreigners."
And like all things La Argentina, today's advice may not hold water for tomorrow's trip. Unless you're in a prepaid situation, or have booked via a US (or Euro, etc) based company, I'd not rely on a peso-denominated confirmation from anyone else. And when you show up and they haven't honored your AR$1800 a night place (booked at $20 to $1) and it is now $40 to $1, and they tell you where to go if you don't like the new $4000 pricee, what are you going to do? Have a tantrum? Go ahead. Sue them? HA. Write in Trip Advisor? They aren't scared. You can always complain in their Libro de Quejas - every business is supposed to have one, even the toll booths. There you go.
But best yet, do we really want to drive businesses into bankruptcy because they didn't technically hold up their end of the bargains when the underlying value of the terms have changed so much to make performance an impossibility?
2) Why is it a bad time to be planning luxury travel? Real luxury travelers aren't bargaining for trinkets in a Middle Eastern Shuk. They are willing to pay price X for something that guarantees Y level of experience. They don't want to go where "at least some of the locals go" unless they are the locals that ... well, you won't find much of that in Argentina because the loaded locals are luxuriating elsewhere.
Someone who is perhaps a FTer looking for luxury on the cheap (that's why we all came here once upon a time to have airlines pay us to drink their Dom and eat their caviar) is not someone "planning luxury travel geared toward foreigners."
And like all things La Argentina, today's advice may not hold water for tomorrow's trip. Unless you're in a prepaid situation, or have booked via a US (or Euro, etc) based company, I'd not rely on a peso-denominated confirmation from anyone else. And when you show up and they haven't honored your AR$1800 a night place (booked at $20 to $1) and it is now $40 to $1, and they tell you where to go if you don't like the new $4000 pricee, what are you going to do? Have a tantrum? Go ahead. Sue them? HA. Write in Trip Advisor? They aren't scared. You can always complain in their Libro de Quejas - every business is supposed to have one, even the toll booths. There you go.
But best yet, do we really want to drive businesses into bankruptcy because they didn't technically hold up their end of the bargains when the underlying value of the terms have changed so much to make performance an impossibility?
Sep 24, 2018, 8:27 pm
#139
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Hiddy, as I said, this was the last two times that I was there during a currency crisis. I obviously have not been in Argentine for the last several months, so have missed this one thus far. In my previous experience I experienced this in big and small SUPERmarkets, not Hypermarkets, so you are not going to get this at a Carrefour, but will surely be able to do it at a Coto or a Disco, if you know how. Jumbo, not too sure.
Sep 24, 2018, 8:38 pm
#140
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ISo as to not single you out, I feel the same for some "implanted" locals that come down to live here of their own choice, but never seem to stop complaining and moaning about everything that is so wrong, so expensive and so complicated here.... perhaps its best to pack your stuff and return back to where the grass is greener...? Life is tooo short to spend it moaning and having a bad time, especially if you have a choice..
It wouldn't surprise me if we see the one to one parity between the dollar and peso again.....what do you think?
Sep 24, 2018, 9:44 pm
#141
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And, frankly, I tire of your not-very-useful "don't be so cheap" advice. But to each his or her own. I constantly see folks being suckered into WAY overpaying for travel. Going to an aggregation website to compare prices isn't "squeezing every single drip out of a deal." It's simply not being a fool with your money.
Sep 25, 2018, 3:07 pm
#143
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Sep 25, 2018, 8:37 pm
#144
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Sep 26, 2018, 8:23 am
#145
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Yeah, unless you don't care what you pay, you can't really give your business to folks in Argentina who are pricing in US dollars right now. I've seen this before in other countries with wild currency fluxuations. Like I remember visiting India a few years ago and couldn't use my hotel loyalty points because the rupiah had fallen so fast that all the redemption values were horrific. It just is what it is. You do the math, and then you do what's best for yourself.
Sep 26, 2018, 12:05 pm
#147
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In Argentina there is a saying..... " a confesion de parte, relevo de prueba ". Im sure one of the various Abogados (Lawyers) that read this thread will be able to translate far better than I would.....
LOL
LOL
Sep 26, 2018, 12:09 pm
#148
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My Dear Hiddy.... suffice it to say that I would not be telling the truth if I said I wasn't including you in my above post. No hard feelings, I hope....?
A return to a Peso to US Dollar at a fixed conversion rate** is, in my opinion, not going to happen.
(**) please note that the actual nominal number at which a fixed conversion is set is in itself meaningless
A return to a Peso to US Dollar at a fixed conversion rate** is, in my opinion, not going to happen.
(**) please note that the actual nominal number at which a fixed conversion is set is in itself meaningless
Sep 26, 2018, 8:10 pm
#149
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Marriott? The Marriott in Buenos Aires was reflagged (no longer Marriott family) several years ago.
Sep 26, 2018, 9:35 pm
#150
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