Current Currencies

Here is my understanding and a personal anecdote.

I first visited Mexico in December 1982. At that time, lodging prices, along with hotel restaurant meals, were registered with the federal government in pesos.

While I was visiting there was a serious peso devaluation. There was an “official” exchange rate, but pesos and dollars were being exchanged, literally “on the street” at very different rates. Mexicans wanted to get their hands on dollars to preserve purchasing power.

Because the prices were registered and approved by authorities in pesos, those prices dropped drastically during my weeks in Mexico. I’m going by memory, but I think that by the time I checked out of my 4-5 star hotel in Acapulco I paid US$17/night based on the exchange rate I was getting on the street.

Subsequently, the Mexican government changed the system for registering approved prices and set them in USD.

Lodging that was not for the international travel market did not need to register prices.

Of course, we gringos can check in at hotels and expect to pay peso prices in pesos.