U.S. Dollars at par?

I found an article online, stating "Dollars are accepted on the island all year around, but during the off-season, many hotels and restaurants honor a €1 for $1 ratio." (http://nymag.com/travel/weekends/stbarts/)

I was just wondering if this is true, and if so, what restaurants do this.

not true...oh how I wish

haven't seen anyone do that here for a long while, in fact most places take the other route and give an exchange rate that is less favorable than the bank or local exchange place...at the airport in SXM the snack bar takes dollars for euros and vice versa... but that's all I've seen recently...

jgcpalmer said:

I found an article online, stating "Dollars are accepted on the island all year around, but during the off-season, many hotels and restaurants honor a €1 for $1 ratio." (http://nymag.com/travel/weekends/stbarts/)

I was just wondering if this is true, and if so, what restaurants do this.

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Some places will take your dollars and give you the worst exchange rate there is. Marche U market used to take dollars and give a good euro rate in change but I don't know if they do that anymore. Use a credit card or get euros with your ATM card in various places around the island.

only in sxm, next island over, some of the bars will do that on the french side. the dutch side currency is the netherlands antilles guilders (ang), but will of course take dollars as it is worth more than their money.

Dollars are indeed accepted all year round, but, as Andy notes, the exchange rate will often not be in your favor. The only other truth in that quote is that a few hotels, in particular the Guanahani, may sometimes offer a €1:$1 room rate in Summer. You're unlikely to see a par exchange rate in the restaurants unless the exchange rate is actually par.

As of last week, Marche U was giving the best exchange rate I found anywhere. If you need some walking around money, just stop by and make a small purchase and pay with a $100 bill.

Phil

Clicked on the link you provided. The article is originally from 2008. I had a chuckle at the EUR/USD comment. EUR was at about 1.60 then but I recall it dropping quite a bit as the summer ended and we headed into the LEH bankruptcy. That summer, my work colleagues who were coming from Europe were buying everything in sight because dollars were so cheap for them. One fellow from Germany sat next to me for the week he was in NYC and went shopping everyday at lunch. He had to buy a new huge suitcase when he went back because he bought so much stuff. Its odd that comment was made at a time when the EUR was higher than it is now. I remember going to SBH in June 2010 when the whole Greek crisis was in full swing and that was nice for the wallet as EUR hit the recent low of 1.20. Made the June sales that much easier to pay for as the wife is a big fan of the sales. As others have said, in SXM, there are some restaurants that will take dollars on 1:1 if you pay cash, but I don't find most of those places to be where I want to eat other than the lolos.

when I was referring to sxm, I only was referring to the 1 dollar to 1 euro exchange rate at some of the bars in sxm.

of course st. barth will take dollars, exchange rate varies. no one does the 1 euro equals 1 dollar rate here.

Ask for a discount and if you get 25% off, you've got yourself 1€ = 1USD.

elgreaux said:

haven't seen anyone do that here for a long while, in fact most places take the other route and give an exchange rate that is less favorable than the bank or local exchange place...at the airport in SXM the snack bar takes dollars for euros and vice versa... but that's all I've seen recently...

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The Guanahani seems to do it most summers for a limited time. I'll check some old posts to see when and if they stopped.

JEK said:

The Guanahani seems to do it most summers for a limited time. I'll check some old posts to see when and if they stopped.

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financial suicide unless their goods / services are overpriced anyway.

didier said:

financial suicide unless their goods / services are overpriced anyway.

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If the room is empty it is a bigger loss.

JEK said:

If the room is empty it is a bigger loss.

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Depends how flexible their staffing is, typically a bigger cost than a few rooms. if they cut their staff to half for the low season, their operating cost is down a lot.

But considering how many times I've decided to stay elsewhere because hotel has been playing stupid one way or another, I don't think they are very smart on average

No way. Have never seen it. Have seen some places outside of SBH where they will accept a Euro as a dollar.