Exchange Rates at Hotel Reception: a Screen Your Guests Can Read
Many hotels change money for their guests at reception. A small screen with today's rates answers the question before it is asked, keeps the desk from looking rates up on a phone, and shows guests the price before they hand over their cash.
A reception screen shows the handful of currencies your guests bring, in large type, with your own margins. The rates update themselves every morning, the same rates can go on your website, and the software is 248€, once.
The advantages
The currencies your guests bring
Six or eight of the 60 on offer: the dollar, the pound, the Swiss franc, the yen, the yuan.
We buy and We sell
Side by side, from the hotel’s point of view, with the unit next to the code so the yen reads per 100.
Right every morning
The rates follow the official reference rates by themselves. Nobody has to retype a laminated sheet.
In two languages
Labels in 14 languages. Pick a second one and the board takes turns every six seconds, currency names included.
Commission in plain sight
A commission line as large as the rates, if you charge one, and a footer line for your licence number.
One group, one place
Every hotel shares one rates table or has its own, with its own margins and currencies.
On the hotel website
Switch on “On your website” and the same rates answer the guest who emails before arriving.
How the rates are worked out
Each working day the European Central Bank and other central banks publish reference rates, and easyCMS checks for them every hour. For each Automatic currency, Studio takes your buy margin off for We buy and adds your sell margin for We sell, rounding buy down and sell up. A Locked currency keeps the rates you type, for hotels that agree their rates with a bank or a bureau. Staff change rates on the Exchange rates page in Studio, on a phone, and the screen shows them within a few minutes; if the internet drops, it keeps the last rates it received.
Try your own margins first with the free exchange rate margin calculator.
What the rules ask of a hotel
A hotel that changes money as a regular service is usually covered by the same display rules as a bureau de change. This is not legal advice; check what applies to your hotel.
France
Rates and how commission is worked out, in characters of the same size. Outside display only above 5% of turnover. France guide.
Spain
Buying foreign banknotes needs Banco de España authorisation, and minimum buy rates and commissions inside. Spain guide.
United Kingdom
Any rate you show needs the matching sell rate, if you sell, and any commission, as prominently. UK guide.
More countries are in the exchange rate display rules by country guide.
What it costs
A reception screen is one display.
| Line | Cost |
|---|---|
| easyCMS account, up to 5 displays, includes 1 licence | 49 EUR one-time |
| Currency exchange add-on: rate tables and boards, for the whole account | 199 EUR one-time |
| Software total, paid once | 248 EUR |
The add-on covers the rates board, the automatic rates, the second language and the website table. The same account runs your welcome screen, events and restaurant menus: see digital signage for hotels. The screen needs a player: an easyCMS Android player is 499€ with its licence, Windows player software is free, and LG webOS and Samsung Tizen screens have the player built in, with a 129€ licence each.
What it will not do
- Live market rates. The automatic rates are daily reference rates; lock and type yours to reprice during the day.
- Connect to your property management system. Nothing is posted to guest folios.
- Show buy rates only. Every board has a sell column too.
- Replace your licence or your receipts. The paperwork stays yours.
Ready-made designs: reception rates and the board for tourists, with the rest on the exchange rate board templates page. For exchange offices, see exchange rate board software.