Fi­nance Min­is­ter Colm Im­bert has said he will in­ves­ti­gate the de­ci­sion by the Hy­att Re­gency ho­tel that it will no longer be ac­cept­ing the Trinidad and To­ba­go cur­ren­cy (One TT dol­lar=US$0.16 cents), pre­fer­ring in­stead cur­ren­cies from the Unit­ed States and Eu­rope.

In a state­ment post­ed on Face­book and oth­er so­cial me­dia plat­forms over the week­end, the state-owned ho­tel said the mea­sure would go in­to ef­fect from No­vem­ber 1, this year.

“Ef­fec­tive No­vem­ber 1, 2024, all trans­ac­tions at Hy­att Re­gency Trinidad will be main­ly cash-free for a faster, smoother, and more se­cure ex­pe­ri­ence. We ac­cept all ma­jor cred­it cards, deb­it cards and on­ly US dol­lars, British pound ster­ling, and Eu­ro dol­lars.”

The ho­tel has since re­scind­ed the state­ment.

A screenshot of the brief statement issued by Minister of Finance Colm Imbert in his social media platforms, on the release by Hyatt Regency, which the hotel has since rescinded. [Image courtesy Colm Imbert via X (formerly Twitter)]

Post­ing on X (for­mer­ly Twit­ter), Min­is­ter Im­bert said that the Hy­att re­cent­ly an­nounced, “a con­tentious de­ci­sion to stop ac­cept­ing TTD cash while ac­cept­ing USD and GBP cash.”  He not­ed it was quick­ly re­scind­ed.

“As cor­po­ra­tion sole the MOF (Min­istry of Fi­nance) has no over­sight role over the op­er­a­tions of the Hy­att,” Im­bert said in the brief state­ment, “but will in­ves­ti­gate the cur­ren­cy as­pect of the mat­ter.”

The ho­tel has since apol­o­gised for its state­ment re­gard­ing cash­less pay­ment op­tions, say­ing it was pre­ma­ture­ly dis­trib­uted and con­tained in­ac­cu­rate in­for­ma­tion.

The ho­tel’s gen­er­al man­ag­er, Michael Hoop­er said “at this time”, Hy­att Re­gency Trinidad will not be im­ple­ment­ing any changes to its pay­ment process.

“A mes­sage re­gard­ing cash­less pay­ment op­tions at the Hy­att Re­gency Trinidad ho­tel was pre­ma­ture­ly dis­trib­uted with in­ac­cu­rate in­for­ma­tion. At this time, we will not be im­ple­ment­ing any changes to our pay­ment process. We wish to apol­o­gise for any con­fu­sion or in­con­ve­nience caused,” Hoop­er said. —PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC)