Originally Posted by
yyliu88
sounds like a painful experience for international properties!!!
In my experience, not if they know what they're doing.
I stayed at a hotel in Germany over the weekend, and when I went to check out, the Front Desk associate said they had a new procedure for gift cards, and to please bear with her as she went through it since she wasn't completely familiar with it. She got out the instructions, and followed them, and the cards went through without a hitch.
Originally Posted by
qazw1
In the past, I find that even if I check the balance of the cards online, I still cannot get it right for foreign transactions due to the currency charge. So if the hotel calls the administrator for a balance on the card, does this mean the balance is in local currency after the currency exchange fee?
It seemed to work that way. I'll have to see what the remaining balance charged to my credit card turned out to be, but it does seem that the currency conversion fee (3%) charged when VISA handled the gift card transactions didn't apply.
If the process saves the 3%, that's a plus right there.