We have rented an apartment in Montepulciano, Le Mezinaie, and have paid a deposit by credit card. The balance is due when we arrive in cash (Euros). Since the Euro is down we have asked the owner if we can prepay the balance now and they have said yes and would use our credit card that they have on file. Do you recommend that or should we wait and see if the Euro goes down more? Thanks.

You could wait until the big bang of the dollar, it won't be long from now and will solve all your travel problems. (For the next few years anyway.)

So yes, I'd wait, the problem will solve itself.

okay, thanks. That is probably true with the pound also - we have to prepay an apartment in London and are thinking we should prepay it sooner if pound keeps dropping.

I'm positively sure, the pound will go down first, they're on the edge of collapse at this moment.

You could wait until the big bang of the dollar, it won't be long from now and will solve all your travel problems. (For the next few years anyway.)

I take it you think that the dollar will sky rocket vs the Euro??

logos...

Come on give it a rest...

You're the person who told us by now the euro would be worth $2...it's much more likely in the near future the euro and usd will be at par.

Your predictions have certainly not been worth very much, now have they?

Don't you just know - someone asks a serious question and who pops up first to "help" but logos999?! That is just mean.

Poor vsd may think that was that was a legitimate/serious response and not come back to check for more info.

vsd: Our friend is a bit of a trouble maker/agitator and has no more info than anyone else. s/he posts the same unfortunate stuff several times a day.

There is no way on earth to know what the $/€ exchange rate will be next week let alone later in the year.

janis,janis,janis my friend. You need to read the news. Financial Times, Handelsblatt, not anything "exotic". It's all in there available to the general public.

The system is beyond repair, due to those criminals at work in the last years in the white house and elsewhere. It really doesn't matter anymore, if and when you buy your Euros.
The $ is kaputt, finito, has ended. No recovery possible. Do not panic but do the right things with what you have and hope for the best. Obama won't help you.

Also you can read the articles describing the difficulties in euroland in countries such as Greece, Italy, Spain, Ireland.

Janis is correct...nobody really knows. Nobody would have thought the euro today would be under $1.30. Next week, $1.25? $1.35? Who knows...it's no different than buying any other financial instrument whether it be oil, stocks, gold or currencies.

Think of all the people last summer who were advised that oil would surely be $200 a barrel this winter and it was suggested they sign a futures contract and lock in the current price which at the time was $130/barrel....think of how they feel now that oil is well under $50/barrel. How many saw that ocming?

Yes the US economy is in trouble but so are the economies throughout the world including Britain, France, Germany among others.

But remember the first law of thermodynamics, what goes up, must come down eventually. Currencies are no different.

logos has predicted 39 of the past two dollar devaluations. And got their timing wrong

Anyone who thinks they can predict the relationships between the £, $ and € the next six months is a self-deluding fool (ask them how they predicted the past week's movements). Your choice is really more about game theory than trying to second-guess.

No-one's got the foggiest. Keeping the cash in your account gets you no interest right now. And what happens if you pay now and have to cancel? You're insured? Will that cancellation insurance cover prepayments you didn't need to make?

Some sensible people might prepay to enable themselves to budget accurately and avoid the shock of dollar devaluation (if it happens). Other sensible people might choose to wait and see, especially if cancellation insurance won't work.

Only foaming at the mouth buffoons will kid themselves they've got knowledge of the markets' likely outurn denied to others. Or believe anyone else who says they have.

>first law of thermodynamics, what goes up, must come down eventually
But xyz123, my friend, it's not thermodynamics, it's not one of natures laws, it's people that call their crimes "quantitavie easing" or "derivates". Pour money that you don't have into the system.
All those things steal wealth, hard earned income from the people of the world to redistrubute it among themselves. This "quantitavie easing" will break the the neck of the dollar.
And the pound only has days left.

okay I didn't mean to start anything here. We will just have to wait and see what happens. Thanks for the replies.

The Euro is overpriced and by summer the £ and $ will gain another 20 cents on it.

Hang fire.

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=INAGMSARPYw

Listen to what Mr. Kanjorsky from the House Committee on Financial Services has to say on C-Span about the bank run in September. They didn't tell the people at that time. Please, do listen and draw your conclusions. Denial won't help.
I remember getting a few 1000€ from the ATM that week-end, but the collapse would have taken place 24 hours before anyway.
It's only been postponed for a few months.

>>>>>>
Only foaming at the mouth buffoons will kid themselves they've got knowledge of the markets' likely outurn denied to others. Or believe anyone else who says they have.
>>>>>>

but the crusty old britons here, like flanner, were also predicting financial doom for america and lecturing them on why their currency was so weak (back when it was $2=£1).

now that we are in the toilet and the £ is sinking fast, we are preaching restraint, etc. a few months ago, we were 'foaming at the mouth buffoons'....boy how things have changed.

I will be traveling to London on September 4th and booked the Claverly Hotel for 5-nights. I also pre-paid to lock in what I thought would be a good rate of 1.61 GBP.

The problem is this: the hotel sent me an email stating they would be closing for renovations and would not be able to honor my reservation. They offered me other accomodations which I declined and said they would return my deposit.

Because the GBP was about 1.38 when they returned my deposit I received $300 less than my deposit.

I have sent an email requesting the unfairness of this transaction and they have chosen not to reply.

I am out $300 and didn't even stay at the hotel. What a bummer.

eurogirl....

I am very sympathetic to you but....this is the way currency exchange works. You sent the hotel £500 (or whatever) and they refunded the £500....the variation of the US$ is irrelevant to their bottom line...it also could have gone the other way...what if sterling had risen to $1.75 in that time span...you would have made (speculation although you wouldn't think of it that way) $300 and you would not have even stayed there.

Absolutely no different than buying 500 shares of stock x, intending to keep it for a while, and having to sell it at a loss.

Assuming you are American, perhaps you can talk your tax accountant into considering this a short term capital loss and putting it on a Schedule D. The chances of the Internal Revenue Service auditing your tax return is negligible and as you can see, simply making a poor tax judgment is no barrier to getting a high government office is next to non existant. If on the unlikely chance they catch you, just amend the tax return!

Seriously though as I said, I don't think the hotel did anything wrong. These things do happen. Did they indicate they would help provide similar accommodaton at the same price?

But you are a living example of the point being made. Nobody knows just what awaits in currency transactions. Perhaps you should hold onto the check for a while (is it in sterling?)...perhaps logos is right.

Since you made your decision to rent the apartment when the exchange rate is appr. $ 1.30, any better/lower rate will give you an unexpected discount, any worse rate will add some real costs.

Consider potential transaction costs for usually good interbank rate for credit card payments vs. costs for obtaining Euros in cash from ATM in Italy, if applicable.

If you do not plan to settle all your upcoming travel expenditures in Italy (apartment, restaurants, shopping) at once from your checking account, you may also want to add CC interest rate, if applicable.

Since your hosts seem to be willing to accept prepayment at any time (not only right now OR once you get there), I would lock in at 1.20 or 1.40, respectively.
If you had shares of one company, you would also have to consider a certain rate for yourself at which to sell to avoid too much loss, or to cash in on profit.

eurogals: &quot;<i>I have sent an email requesting the unfairness of this transaction and they have chosen not to reply.</i>&quot;

What on earth did you expect them to do? They got x amt of &pound; and returned x amt of &pound;. They did not receive $$ and did not make any extra money off you.

Thanks for all of your replies. We will just have to watch and see if the pound or euro go down more then we will prepay.