He warned to avoid a basic mistake when making a payment
Martin Lewis has offered some words of wisdom for families planning a holiday abroad. On his BBC podcast, the money-saving expert shared several tips on cutting your costs, from selecting the right travel cards to avoid bank charges, to when to take out your foreign currency
A listener posed a question about paying for accommodation booked in advance through sites like Booking.com. They wanted to know specifically whether it’s better to settle the bill in pounds or the local currency. Mr Lewis’ recommendation was clear: go for the foreign currency if you’re using a specialist travel card. He said: “The reason is your card is then doing the conversion, and that is at a known rate.
“Many times if you are paying on a foreign website, if you say, I’ll pay in pounds, it means they are doing the currency conversion for you and the rates you get are generally – I don’t know specifically for Booking.com – far worse that you would get converting yourself.”
Do the calculation yourself
To ensure you’re getting the most favourable exchange rate during booking, Mr Lewis provided a handy trick, using euros as an example. He said: “Take that amount that you’re being asked to pay in euros, find what the spot rate is on the day.
“Just put in ‘spot rate euros’, you don’t want the holiday rate, you want the spot rate. Remember that phrase. Then do the conversion yourself.
“That is roughly the rate you will get on a specialist card, and compare that. Generally you will find you are getting a better rate with your card doing the conversion, because it’s a near perfect rate.”
Cash question
Another Martin Lewis fan wrote in with a question about when they should take out their cash for a week-long trip to Bruges in Belgium. They asked whether it was better to get their foreign currency sorted before leaving the UK or once they have arrived in their destination.
Mr Lewis responded: “The safest place to get yourself a decent rate of cash if you actually want cash, is a Bureau de Change comparison site here before you go. But if you have a specialist overseas card, then it is getting it out at a cash machine once you have arrived in Bruges, assuming that cash machine doesn’t have a big ATM charge.”
Despite this advice, Mr Lewis pointed out that withdrawing cash locally could still prove worthwhile even if a modest fee applies. He explained: “Even if it does have an ATM charge, let’s say of €2 or €3 euros, and you’re needing to get out €600 or €700, that’s still probably cheaper, because €2 on €600 or €700 is not big. If it’s €2 on €50, that’s a big charge. €2 on €600 is effectively depreciated across the whole value, so it works.”
