Dear Guest,

The shifts in exchange rates affect you as a Doorways customer because you are traveling to Europe. It also can hit Doorways hard because we collect payment from you in dollars and in most cases pay owners in Euro. To protect our company from losses due to fluctuating currency, we set a range when establishing our prices for the year. If the dollar strengthens outside this range, we give money back to you, and if the dollar weakens, we have to collect additional funds.

According to Ruesch, International today: February 3

$1.3172 = €1.0

$1.5862 = £1.0

MarketView

The dollar was virtually flat early Friday ahead of this morning’s major look at the health of the U.S. labor market as investors refrained from placing big bets. U.S. nonfarm payrolls, due out at 8:30 a.m. EST, are forecast to increase by 150,000 last month, a solid amount that’s expected to leave the unemployment rate at 8.5%. A stronger than expected jobs report could reduce the near-term risk of more Fed support to boost the economy, a dollar-positive scenario. Ahead of the U.S. employment report, Canada released its own which disappointed, causing the loonie to fall below a key threshold against the greenback. Canada added a mere 2,300 jobs last month, a fraction of the 23,100 investors had expected which unexpectedly pushed the nation’s jobless rate up a tick to 7.6%, its highest since April 2011. Euro sentiment remained fragile as talks between the Greek government and private bondholders on a key debt swap deal remained at loggerheads. Data showing the fastest rate of growth for Britain’s leading services sector helped quell recession fears, keeping sterling near mid-November highs on the dollar. Sharing the spotlight with today’s jobs report will be U.S. data on factory orders and the influential services sector.

For customers traveling in 2012:

"Prices are subject to shifts in currency exchange rates and will be adjusted up or down at the time of payment only if the rate falls outside of the ranges: 1.1-1.55 dollar/Euro or 1.4-2.0 dollar/£. When adjustments are necessary, we will use the currency we use to pay the owner and calculate it from the exchange rate received on the actual transfer."

In 2000 and in 2001 Doorways gave a refund to guests after they paid their final bill. Everyone was very happy then! For the beginning of 2008, we had to collect extra money. For the past couple of years, there has been no adjustment either way. Customers renting properties for 2012 for which the owners are paid in Euros may be charged a currency adjustment on the unpaid balance, according to the value of the dollar versus the Euro at the time of the final bill; the adjustment could be up or down. Should you want to protect yourself against decline of the dollar, you can pay your final bill early or be sure to book a villa with a guaranteed US dollar rate.

We are infinitely grateful for your cooperation. And here's hoping that the dollar strengthens.

Kit Burns, President
Doorways, Ltd.

IMPORTANT LINKS:

Click to view the 2012 Financial Agreement