Given that the US dollar is now worth less than the Canadian dollar, will there be a change to pricing structure? As a Canadian, do I have to pay the Canadian dollar amount? It would be much cheaper for me to pay the US dollar (or UK or Euro) amount.
Currency discrepancies
Re: Currency discrepancies
Hi, yes I agree. I have worked out I can save nearly $NZ500 (for the 2 week Traveller trip I am looking at) if i could pay in $US instead of $NZ. Of course I will be interested to see what the new prices will be when they appear on the web for the coming year, hence my reluctance to book.
Re: Currency discrepancies
Ya, I am planning a few trips and looking at Asia. Mostly Thailand and China. I was also looking at traveling with gap adventure tours. A bunch of their prices actually went down for next year! So I might go with them instead. I hate playing the waiting game.
Re: Currency discrepancies
The Canadian dollar is only up significantly against the American dollar because the American dollar is tanking. We're not really up that much against other currencies.
ImTrav is a UK company so they do business in Pounds. So their prices are converted to Canadian dollars from pounds, not American dollars. If any price changes are to be made, I would think they would be raising their American prices, not lowering everyone else's.
How we hold up:
[url=http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=CADGBP=X&t=5y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=]CAD in GBP[/url]
[url=http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=CADUSD=X&t=5y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=]CAD in USD[/url]
[url=http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=5y&s=CADUSD%3DX&l=on&z=l&q=l&c=CADGBP%3DX]Both on the same Graph[/url]
Besides, for the brochure to be released now, the prices would have to have been set months ago, before we reached parity.
Re: Currency discrepancies
Fuzzy puppy, if you look at the graphs you've posted, you'll see that the Canadian dollar has gained on the pound (and euro, though this isn't shown). For example, for a trip (Taste of Thailand) that is 585 GBP, the CDN dollar amount is $1275. Using a median of the last 30 days, the conversion from GBP to CDN dollar would make it about $1,150 CDN dollars (not a huge difference, but isn't a hugely expensive trip).
I am aware that the brochures are printed months in advance, which is why I asked if, as a Canadian, I could pay the price quoted in GBPs, rather than CDN dollars.
Re: Currency discrepancies
It wouldn't surprise me if most of the tours were costed in US dollars anyway as that seems to be the currency of choice for many parts of the world in terms of a baseline currency.
As for me, I would just book through a US agent if I was hassled about paying in US dollars. The
Re: Currency discrepancies
Any chance we can get an answer from an IT person?
Re: Currency discrepancies
Hello everyone!
The team here at the Imaginative Traveller try as best they can to calculate as fairly as possible the pricing according to the information that is available at the time.
It is worth noting that anyone in Canada that wishes to pay in US$ rather than CAN$ should speak to their travel agent about this as some agents will offer this service and we have had a few Canadian bookings booked in this way.
I hope that this helps
Kate
Re: Currency discrepancies
Thanks Kate.
I didn't mean it to sound like I thought that ImTrav was trying to 'cheat' Canadians - I know that the currency rates are extremely fluid and the prices are set far in advance.
I'll check with my TA about booking in non-Canadian funds!
Re: Currency discrepancies
Great stuff!
Please let me know if you need any more info- always happy to oblige!
Kate
Re: Currency discrepancies
Hi! My favourite agent said they will surcharge me if I try to book in a different currency, because they have to pay some fee?
Do you know if they are allowed to do that? If I pay with credit card, I should not have an 'extra' fee?
Does anyone know a good agent in Toronto that allows booking in US money?
Re: Currency discrepancies
Hi there,
I would recommend contacting our Canadian agent:
Trek Escapes
223 Carlton Street
Toronto
+1 4169227584
toronto@trekescapes.com
Unfortunately we can't comment on any additional service fees that travel agents may charge.
Kate
Re: Currency discrepancies
I actually called them a few weeks ago. Trek Escapes told me that they have to pay in Canadian currency so I would. In the end, I booked with [url=http://www.travelcuts.com/en/index2.asp]Travel Cuts[/url]
Re: Currency discrepancies
Thanks fuzzypuppy. I think I am ready to book a trip, hoorah!