Originally Posted by
NYCFlyer10001
Thank you - I've been a longtime reader and decided it was time to post after seeing that you hadn't had reports in India. The hotel I stayed at (an Aloft) also tried to sneak through DCC at checkin, but I was able to nip that by checking the tiny opt-out box.
For the Oberoi, the merchant copy box was not checked. I asked the original waiter to bill in rupees, and he brought back the DCCd slip, which I defaced, and he then got a manager who was able to rerun the sale without DCC (but you'll notice it took 8 minutes...)
Yeah, don't believe it either when they say, "The USD amount is just for your information." Another popular line is, "Check the box, and it'll be XXX currency." You did the right thing by defacing the receipt, and thanks for providing the reports. Starwood Properties have been pulling the DCC stunt for awhile. Was the box in the fine print on the check-in slip or on the credit card receipt? I did notice at the Oberai that the timestamp was 8 minutes apart.
It's far better to opt out of DCC at the source versus attempting a chargeback through your issuer. Most of the time the issuer will issue a courtesy credit, but sometimes the clueless CSRs don't know about DCC and will refuse to open a chargeback case. To avoid these potential headaches it's best to prevent DCC at the source. It's hard to tell how many places are complicit with DCC or simply don't know. There are definitely proprietors who are guilty here, but I would say it's not the norm.