Exchange rates on $25 dining/spa certs
 

From a post in another thread, I suspect the exchange rates for the $25 dining/spa certificates may not be the most favorable, but I'm thinking of using a few at the Savoy later this month--does anyone have any experience with exchange rates there, or more generally, for these things?

Just posted a funny experience at Hotel MacDonald where they converted $100US to $94 cdn for the dining certs. Cdn $ is weaker than US $ at that time too. This has never happened to me in the 8 years as a platinum member.. sounds like this is a new thing going accross the board for all FPCers.

Can´t comment about the $ : GBP exchange rate, but regarding the USD vs. CAD issue:

IME you get $25CAD or $25USD credit, no conversion takes place, BUT most hotels argue that the $25 value is after taxes, so they deduct $22-$24 pre-tax (depending on state/province) which is equal to $25 after-tax. I always thought that it was a little pointless, but it´s always entertaining when it takes them 10min to figure out what the pre-tax value is :p.

This would also likely explain why AM got credited with $94 at the Macdonald.

This is a neat explanation.. Hotel MacDonald is in Edmonton.. so no provincial sales tax.. are you referring to the GST? First time in Alberta this has happened, and I've used dining certs at Hotel MacDonald before.

I´ve never used dining certs at the MacDonald, but IIRC some other properties in Alberta only gave me a <$24 credit arguing that this was the pre-tax amount, so yes, they deducted the (approximate) amount of GST.

I wasn´t too impressed, but then again, I don´t see the point in arguing about $1.

Whistler converts USD to CAD
 

At Chateau Whistler they convert the $25 certs from USD to CAD. Last time (August 2010) the rate was at least 5% worse than bank rates.

Hmm, I have a $150 stash of expiring certificates, with only 3 realistic opportunities to use them. Best choice will be at Sante in the Sonoma Mission Inn mid-February, but since I gather I can't use them for wine or tips, that probably means using only 4 or 5 of them. (Based on the Canadian conversion and tax discussion, I have the impression they can't be used for state/local tax, either--if that's wrong, please correct me.) As my other 2 opportunities will be outside the US, I guess I'll take the currency conversion hit and use 1 or 2 at the River Restaurant in the Savoy.

Seems like a new direction to revenue generation, or discounting of discounts is occurring. Looks like the best value of dining certs is to use it at par at a US destination, where there are minimal excuses to honor the cert at face value.

Monte Carlo is using 1.49 USD:EURO. Crazy when its at 1.22 right now.

When inquiring with the front desk manager they said its set by their accounting department and ALSO APPLIES to Fairmont Gift Cards.

Applying an inflated 'convienience' exchange rate to gift cards too sounds like a very questionable tactic.

I've had the certificates treated differently within the same property. I was at the Banff Springs last month and used a cert at the Willow Stream Spa and used some at the Castello Restaurant as well. The restaurant redeemed them as a straight CAD$25 pre-tax off of the tab. The Spa mentioned they were USD, and gave me CAD$24.50 pre-tax off the bill, implying an F/X rate of 1USD = 0.98CAD.

It would be nice to have some consistency around redemption value across the Fairmont chain.

Best conversion rate I had : 25 CHF for a 25$ certificate at Le Montreux Palace :)

I used a $25 breakfast cert. at Hotel Vancouver on Aug. 16, which took it @ C$25Then when I got to Banff Springs Aug. 19--21, the buffet restaurant took 'em as C$23.25 each, citing a US rate of C$.93, same as the reception's rate for US currency vs. an interbank rate of C$.985--.99 .
I later phoned PC hotline & suggested a change to C$25 in Canada because Fairmont is a Canadian corp. and US$25 stateside & overseas.

I recently stayed in all five properties in Alberta.
Most of the time they converted the US $25, and in each case I got $23.50.
Sometimes it was posted as $25, though.
And there was also a mix of whether GST was applied to the gross amount or net amount -- I think I all four situations arose ($25/$23.50 applied before/after GST).

While the $23.50 was a ripoff, it was at least consistent with the posted exchange rate in the lobby for exchanging money -- they were giving CDN 0.94 per USD.

Edit: And one other inconsistency was the treatment of meals that became free after using a cert. On one occasion, they wanted me to sign the receipt anyways, to provide evidence that I was using the cert. The other time, after I gave the cert, they said I was all set.

Any yet another discrepancy is the timing of when the certs appear as used in my account. About 2/3 have posted, the other 1/3 have not. Those that have posted ranged from immeidately (less than 2 hours) to 2-3 days.

Banff Springs charged me GST on the full price discount ($29 + $1.45 GST) - $23.25 = $7.20, to which I added a tip.
IDK about Canada, but when a coupon is used in NC & SC, tax is charged on the discount price, while OH requires sales tax be charged on the full price .

Premiers and Platinums should be of sufficient means such that exchange rates on $25 are inconsequential? :D