Euro or lira? Pricing hotel rooms in Türkiye when costs are in lira

In Türkiye, the currency of a rate is a pricing decision, not a formality. Currency rules for accommodation contracts are specific and change over time, so the safe default is to price in lira and to confirm any foreign-currency arrangement with an accountant or legal adviser before it goes into a contract. Consumer-facing prices are a separate question again, and advertisements must show total prices in lira. The two rules come from different authorities and answer different questions.

A hotel signs a tour operator contract in euro, shows its own website in lira, and pays salaries, electricity and the butcher in lira. Three currencies, one building, and only one of them is a decision anyone wrote down. After reading this article you will be able to separate the three currencies, know what the official texts actually allow, and draft a one-page currency policy that names the conversion rule, the revision trigger and the approver for every rate family.

Which currency should each hotel rate be set in?#

Set each rate in the currency of the party who can carry the risk, and write down who that is. Most hotels run three currencies at once and only ever discuss one of them.

Separate the three. The contract currency is what an operator or corporate account is invoiced in, often euro. The sale currency is what the guest sees and pays, usually lira at home. The cost currency is payroll, energy, supplies and taxes, almost all in lira.

The mismatch is the risk, not the currency. A euro contract against lira costs gains when the lira weakens and loses when it strengthens. A lira rate against lira costs is stable at home, but it moves in the foreign guest's own currency, which shows up in demand long before it shows up in the ledger.

The counterparty usually decides. In practice, a European operator may contract in euro, a domestic agency or guest in lira, and a corporate account in its own reporting currency. The decision rule is to match the currency to the cost base where you can, and where you cannot, price the mismatch in rather than absorb it silently.

Indexation is a third instrument: a lira contract carrying a foreign-currency reference clause. It is not the same thing as a euro contract and needs its own wording.

Keep one rate family in one currency. A rate that is euro in the contract and lira on the website is two products sharing a name, and the front desk will be asked to explain the difference.

What does Decision 32 allow for hotel contracts?#

Since 30 January 2021, accommodation service contracts that residents of Türkiye make at Ministry of Culture and Tourism-certified facilities may be priced in foreign currency or indexed to it.

Decision No. 32 on the Protection of the Value of the Turkish Lira is the currency-control framework. In general it keeps contracts between residents in Türkiye in lira. Communiqué No. 2021-32/59, published in the Official Gazette of 30 January 2021 (No. 31380) and effective on publication, added an exception to Article 8(7) of Communiqué No. 2008-32/34 for accommodation service contracts made at certified facilities.

The Ministry of Treasury and Finance's FAQ on Decision No. 32 (opens in a new tab) (November 2025) states that hotel rooms may be let for accommodation in foreign currency, or indexed to it, from that date. The same FAQ answers the payment question: where the price may lawfully be set in foreign currency and the parties agree to pay in lira, they may freely choose the exchange rate for payment, and currency regulation imposes no obligation on that choice.

Read the exception narrowly. It names certified facilities and contracts made by residents of Türkiye. It is currency regulation only: it says nothing about tax, invoicing or advertising, which are separate rules with separate authorities.

Can a hotel advertise a room price in euro?#

Not as a general rule: an advertisement to consumers must state the total sale price in Turkish lira, and the regulation's exceptions do not include a room in Türkiye.

Article 13 of the Commercial Advertising Regulation requires the price in an advertisement to be the total sale price including all taxes, stated as "Türk Lirası", "TL" or the lira sign, according to the consolidated text on the Presidency's Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi (2026). The listed exceptions are advertisements for package tours and education services performed abroad, and for transport and accommodation services abroad.

So a euro contract and a lira advertisement can both be correct at the same time. The contract rule and the advertising rule come from different authorities and answer different questions. What this article cannot settle is how the advertising rule applies to a euro price shown to a foreign audience on your own site or on a channel. That is channel-specific and belongs with counsel.

"Total" is the operative word. A "from" price that excludes tax or a resort fee is the detail a consumer-protection review looks at first.

Which exchange rate should the contract name?#

Name one, in writing, with its source, its day and its time. The TCMB indicative rate is a published reference that binds no one.

The Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye announces indicative rates at 15:30 on each business day, posts them on its website the same day and publishes them in the Official Gazette the next day, according to TCMB's Indicative Exchange Rates page (opens in a new tab) (2 November 2026). No rates are set on weekends, public holidays or half working days. TCMB states the rates are not binding on any person or institution; parties other than the Central Bank decide for themselves which rate to use between them.

Without a named rate, conversion becomes whoever is at the desk, and two guests paying the same euro price on the same day can be charged different lira amounts. A workable clause names four things: the source (TCMB indicative), the day (for example the business day before arrival, or the day of invoicing), the time (the 15:30 publication), and the fallback when no rate is published (the last published rate).

Add rounding: how many decimals, and whether it rounds to the nearest unit or in the hotel's favor. Small amounts, but they are the ones guests query. Keep the front desk's cash handling out of this. That is an operations policy, not a pricing one, and mixing the two is how a rate rule turns into folklore.

How often should lira prices be revised?#

On a written calendar with a named approver, and with an explicit rule that confirmed bookings are not repriced.

A lira price decays between revisions when costs rise. The real question is not whether to revise but how often, on what trigger, and who signs. There are two trigger families. Calendar triggers use fixed dates, for example quarterly. Event triggers fire on a cost change above a threshold you set, a currency move, or a shift in the competitive set. Calendar-only is predictable and easy to explain to the team; event-driven reacts faster but needs an owner who is always available.

Protect early buyers. A confirmed rate is a commitment, so a revision applies to new bookings from a stated date, and the rate plan should say so before the front desk has to negotiate it guest by guest. Channel consistency matters too: a lira revision must reach every channel at the same moment, or the channel that was not updated becomes the cheapest one on the market.

Deep discounts locked months ahead in lira are both an inflation bet and a currency bet. That is the trade-off sitting behind early booking and non-refundable rates. Compare each revision against a defined competitive set rather than a feeling, so it has a reference point you can explain to the owner; choosing that set fairly is a job in itself.

What should a hotel write down, and what needs a professional?#

Write down the currency, the conversion rule, the revision trigger and the approver for each rate family; take the contract, advertising and tax questions to counsel and the accountant.

A one-page currency policy covers, for each rate family (rack, corporate, agency allotment, channel, own website), the currency, the conversion rule, the revision trigger and who may change it. Counsel should confirm whether a given contract falls inside the Decision 32 exception, and how the advertising rule applies to each channel and audience. The accountant should confirm which rate and which day's rate convert a foreign-currency invoice into lira for tax, and how the price itself is treated; currency regulation does not answer this.

What this article deliberately does not state: tax rates, invoice conversion rules, penalty amounts, or how any of it applies to your property. Review the policy once a year and whenever a communiqué or regulation changes, and keep the dated version so you can show what you decided and when.

What to do next#

Write the one-page currency policy this week: one line per rate family giving the currency, the conversion rule with its source and day, the revision trigger and the approver. Then send three questions out: the contract and advertising ones to counsel, and the invoice conversion one to your accountant. The article's pieces fall into place: the contract rule governs what you may agree, the advertising rule governs what you may show, and the conversion rule is yours to choose and to write down.