More to the point is that you pay TWO exchange fees if you are billed in dollars. The Chinese bank will charge a fee to convert your hotel bill to US dollars (in my case it was about 22 basis points) and then your US bank will also charge you a foreign exchange fee even if you are billed in dollars. Yes, as long as the source of the transaction was overseas (Chinese hotel) US credit cards charge a foreign exchange fee when you are billed in US dollars. So there is never a benefit to a US consumer to be billed in US dollars when you are overseas. If you are using a credit card that has zero foreign exchange fees (such as the CHASE BA card, CHASE Priority Club card, FIA -- former Schwab -- VISA, Amex Platinum card...) you will still pay a conversion fee on the Chinese end if the hotel charges you in dollars.

So always demand that you are billed in RMB in China or whatever the local currency is if you are outside the 50 US states.