Restaurant pricing - English vs Spanish

[ReefHound]

Are there restaurants in let's say Orlando Florida a very touristy city in the US that have one menu priced for tourists and one for the locals? Maybe there are, I don't know, I'm just asking because maybe this is more prevalent than I realize.

I gotta figure the currency exchange rip off that restaurants do to tourists is probably really just the result of giving locals a loyalty repeat customer discount too then? Or do they have some unwritten lines they don't cross? Where it's okay to rip off a tourist for $10-$15 dollars with the exchange rate on a meal but the higher priced English menu is not a rip off, they draw the line there?

There's no guarantee any local will patronize any business any number of times because of some local discount. As for different pricing for locals/tourists in the USA, I can't think of any restaurant anywhere that does that. However, I know that Disneyworld offers a discounted admission rate to Florida residents.

 

[lionfish-eater]

I have seen english/spanish menus at various restaurants. It seems more like the menus were printed and then the exchange rates adjusted without reprinting the menus. Some had little pieces of tape adjusting the peso price.

The plan local discount is different than the menu pricing. Some establishments will offer a small discount if you live on coz and have a ferry card showing you are a resident. These are typically places that cater to tourists and expats.

You have lots of choices. You can pay 4 or 5 dollars for a beer at a restaurant along the waterfront, or you can go to the supermarket San Fransisco and pick up a six pack for less than $3.

 

[ReefHound]

Some had little pieces of tape adjusting the peso price..

That's a good indicator that a place primarily targets tourists.

 

[lionfish-eater]

That's a good indicator that a place primarily targets tourists.

No, it is a sign of fluctuations in exchange rates that happen faster than owners want to reprint menus. Sometimes the stickers are on all prices.

 

[ReefHound]

No, it is a sign of fluctuations in exchange rates that happen faster than owners want to reprint menus. Sometimes the stickers are on all prices.

Yes, because if they were targeting locals it would be the USD prices being taped over due to rapid fluctuations. Menu items would be set at a certain number of pesos with dollars adjusted to equal those pesos. When it's pesos taped over, it shows they are keeping their prices at a fixed USD level.

There's little reason to do that when most of their costs are based on the peso other than they are setting prices based on what the tourists will bear.

 

[gr8jab]

Are there restaurants in let's say Orlando Florida a very touristy city in the US that have one menu priced for tourists and one for the locals? Maybe there are, I don't know, I'm just asking because maybe this is more prevalent than I realize.

I gotta figure the currency exchange rip off that restaurants do to tourists is probably really just the result of giving locals a loyalty repeat customer discount too then? Or do they have some unwritten lines they don't cross? Where it's okay to rip off a tourist for $10-$15 dollars with the exchange rate on a meal but the higher priced English menu is not a rip off, they draw the line there?

In Daytona most all of the restaurants and other businesses have two prices. They switch to the inflated prices during spring break, bike week, race week, etc. The locals and tourists pay the same.

 

[ggunn]

So what? You always have the option of looking at a menu and deciding if the meal offered is worth the price being asked. Why should you care if they are charging someone else less for the same meal?

 

[mmmbelows]

I'm with you ggunn, I personally seek out the dishonest to do business with.

 

[Sometimes]

This happens in one way or another anywhere there are tourists. I have seen it blatantly in Paris and Venice and you can see it in a more hidden way in NYC where I live. Any part of town where tourists flock will be significantly more expensive than a few blocks away, even at multiple locations of the same restaurant.

It's simple market capitalism. Price things at the level the market can support, and realize that in many places there is going to be more than one market.

 

[ggunn]

I'm with you ggunn, I personally seek out the dishonest to do business with.

What in the world has this got to do with honesty or the lack thereof? Merchants are not bound by any sort of code to charge everyone the same price for their wares. There certainly isn't any thing of the sort here in the US, or haven't you noticed?

In Cozumel or anywhere else, I look at the menu, consider what I would be getting, consider what it would cost me, and either go in and eat or take my business down the street. It's no skin off my nose if the restauranteur charges locals less to get their business. He's got the right to run his business any way he wants and I have the right to walk away.