We will be in Vietnam next week. Do the shop keepers and cafe operators prefer local
currency or would they like to have dollars?

jake747

Some shopkeepers will accept US dollars, but expect to pay more since they are accepting foreign currency. The currency of the country is the VN dong, readily available from ATMs everywhere in the cities.

do shopkeepers in your town accept dong? then of course vn shopkeepers want dong or credit cards

To answer my own question after returning from Vietnam 3 days ago. The US dollar is easily accepted in all the tourist cities I visited. The dollar is really preferred. And they easily give change in dollars from their pocket full of one dollar bills. In Cambodia the US dollar is king. Do not need local currency at all.
I don't know where rhkkmk got his dong idea.

j747

In Cambodia the US dollar is the medium of exchange. VN has its own currency, the dong. As I said before, some shopkeepers will accept US dollars in VN, but using US dollars marks you as a naive traveler and you will pay more for everything than you would in dong.

People in highly touristed areas in Vietnam will take US Dollars, but If you noticed, the exchange rate they used was not at all to your benefit. It would have been much cheaper to go pull some Dong from an ATM.

In Cambodia, the US Dollar is the main currency, but that is changing. The government is printing bigger bills, and places that have cash registers are starting to use the bank rate of exchange instead of the 4000 Riel to the Dollars.

You pay $3 per transaction for any credit card and bank withdrawals are also limited to about 2,000,000 VND ($100. Each time you make a withdrawal, there is a $2 fee.

The biggest advantage in using dong is that you become an instant millionaire.

Universal, what one pays in bank charges depends on one's bank. For instance, my bank does not charge for use of foreign bank machines, refunds any charges made by foreign bank machines and charges just 1% on foreign currency transactions.

I've never heard of credit cards charging a flat fee like $3 in addition to the usual 3% foreign exchange fee.

What Kathie said. The bank I use for foreign trips is even better. I pay no foreign transaction fee on credit card transactions or on ATM withdrawals.

Chase Bank charges a flat fee. Needless to say, I only take that ATM card as an emergency backup.

Our recent experience (October) was a little different. We used both dong and dollars and always got a great exchenge rate when we paid in dollars--no worse that standard rates.

Vietnamsese like cash and VND than USD. the Credit card and USD is oftent accepted in tourist shop, and area.

Why would they accept US dollars? Because it is to their advantage.

If it wasn't to their advantage they would refuge and make you pay in dong.

My hotels were happy to change my Australian dollars to Dong.

"My hotels were happy to change my Australian dollars to Dong" I bet they were. Did you check the mark up on the rate? Hotels are just about the worst place to exchange money anywhere if you want a decent rate. Although from what I hear Aussie bank offer their customers a particularly poor deal on forex withdrawals overseas.

re: exchange rate... yes, the exchange rate is worse, but we are not talking about a lot of money vs convenience. A few pennies difference. When spending so much to get anywhere, the exchange rate difference is "chump change"

Agree with you annergizer. If I was exchanging my AUD$200,000 I wouldn't use a hotel.

Never really checked the exchange rate. Sounded like what the bank had given me. For convenience I am happy to lose a bit of money. If I have spent $10,000 for the holiday I am happy to waste $50.

The exchange rate difference between a bank and your hotel is more likely to be in the 10% range (or even more). So if you exchanged $500, you probably lost at least $50. We all choose how to spend our money, and if that is satisfactory to you, fine. But others should know what they are paying for convenience.

It's better to bring local currency if you visit any shops and cafes. Some of them in the Old Quarter accept US Dollars as well. Local currency may work the best.

Withdrawal only 100$ is not very useful. Maybe some banks propose to withdrawal more ?