I have no comment on gouging, either on prices or exchange rates, other than to say that I know it when I see it, detest it, have a long memory, and have more SBH restaurants that I would like to visit than I have time in which to visit them.
Regarding restaurants that appologize and blame their prices on the Euro/USD exchange rate - I didn't experience this in November, but I may be patronizing different restaurants. It should be noted that, among SBH friends and visitors who I have asked, "Maya's" is by far the leading response when I ask which they consider to be the most over-rated restaurant on the island.
I do have a comment on the Visa/MC in Euros and Amex in USD difference. Two restaurateurs on the island have given me essentially the same explanation for the use of different currencies. I can't speak to the veracity, but I offer it for discussion.
Supposedly, a credit card machine, either Amex, MC, or Visa, can be set up to charge sales in only one currency.
Mastercard and Visa charge the merchant a percentage on all sales charged to their cards. The patron, if they carry a balance, also pay an interest rate to their bank. (No idea if that is shared with MC/Visa) Both MC/Visa and the issuing bank are getting a piece of the action, either out of the merchant percentage or the cardholder interest payments.
Amex also charges the merchant a percentage on all sales charged to their cards, but a higher percentage than MC/Visa. With Amex there is no bank involved, so Amex's profits are only coming from one end of the transaction - the merchant. One way for merchants to recoup the higher cost to them of sales made on an Amex card is to charge the sale in USD using a merchant-defined exchange rate, which is artificially high. Amex makes more money from the merchant than MC or Visa, but doesn't collect anything on the other end from the cardholder who is required to pay their bill in full. The merchant reduces the sting (to them) of the higher Amex fee by stinging the customer with a higher exchange rate. The customer pays up front via a higher exchange rate, and may or may not pay more in the long run - depends on how bad the merchant's exchange rate is.
Does any of this make sense as a plausible explanation?
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