We are going to Turkey in the fall. We have been quoted prices (for hotels, balloon rides, private guides etc.) in different currencies: New Turkish Lira, US dollars and Euros. We will be paying cash (lira) for some things in order to receive cash discounts. How do we make sure that the conversion from either dollars or Euros to Lira will be correct?

Generally, we take a currency cheat sheet from Oanda and don't really care much if we use the the interbank rate, credit card rate, because the cheat sheet is mostly used so we can approximate the cost of something rather than determining the actual amount that we will be paying.

So how would you recommend that we deal with hotels in deciding the conversion rate to Lira?

If we decide to charge something to our credit card that has been previously quoted to us in dollars, should we have the dollar amount charged or should we have it converted to lira?

Any other thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

The cheat sheet is a good idea. Bring a pocket calculator and it's easy enough to check. Charges should be in local currency; not U.S. dollars. You should use the interbank rate for the purposes of calculations. While you may not always hit it exactly and it can change daily, those are the numbers to use for the calculations you are making. It's up to the credit companies to accommodate their angle based on terms and conditions of your agreement, but it has nothing to do with your cash transactions. (If you're getting a cash discount, it will almost certainly be more than 3%).

Hi wj,

People in Turkey should not quote prices in dollars or euro.

Ira, why do you say that people in Turkey shouldn't quote prices in dollars or euros? Virtually, all Turkish hotels do--from the five star Four Seasons to two star hotels. I would say that 95% of the hotel websites I looked list prices in either dollars, euros or both. I believe that this comes from the Turkish lira being a traditionally unstable currency. However, I'll need to pay in lira which is why I want suggestions as to methods for ensuring that I pay using an appropriate exchange rate. I'd prefer not causing an international incident by arguing with the hotel about the exchange rate!

Hi
Check out xe.com. I use it all the time when I am going to europe. It is a currency conversion site. As with all currency conversion it is accurarate for that day as currency flucuates.