First report in Taiwan...
We arrived late Thursday evening at around 11pm local time to the Taoyuan Novotel. I noticed a number of folios at check-in, and they all did DCC on the room authorization hold of the equivalent of 7000 NTD in USD with the [X] box checked. Knowing from experience that they automatically select DCC here for the authorization hold, I used my AmEx Platinum as planned. I noticed two things on the receipt:
The first is that (S) indicates that the card was swiped, not an EMV transaction? I was too tired to notice whether or not the receptionist swiped the card. The second is the transaction type says "PREAUTH". I assume the DCC rules and choices still apply for this transaction type, but the receptionists at this hotel have always told me in the past that DCC doesn't matter in this case because it's a hold only. However, in the case this charge were to post, it would be a transaction with DCC applied.
I used my Chase Sapphire Preferred at checkout and requested to be billed in NTD:
This time the receptionist did an EMV transaction, and you can see (C) after the card number. (I've redacted all but the last four digits, my name, and authorization code.) Since I had indicated I wanted NTD, the receptionist had already printed out the above receipt and handed me the quote/signature slip to sign plus the above receipt in tandem. To cover my bases, I still checked the [X] NTD box before signing.
A couple of things to note here. First, Chase is showing a pending transaction in the amount of 192.03, the DCC rate. I think the above receipt indicates that I am in fact safe from DCC even though the pending transaction is the DCC amount, right? It's just like a car rental or hotel authorization hold might be higher than the final posted charge.
Finally, there is a nice 4.8% DCC fee markup on the exchange rate. It makes you wonder how many people fall for DCC without realizing it.
EDIT: I just noticed that the pending charge is for "Novotel Hotels DCC". It's even in the title!