Originally Posted by
rasheed
That is ridiculous that there is DCC at Marriott Sydney Harbour when you already pay an extra 2% just for using a credit card as payment. I strongly suggest going across the street to the ANZ bank and taking out the cash to make the payment (like I did). ANZ only charges 2 AUD as an ATM fee, and my bank reimburses that anyway. Even with having the MR Visa, I still was against paying the fee.
You're right on it not being worth it for the rewards even with a Marriott Visa (which I used for the two transactions). Even though
in my case I opted out of DCC, they still hit me for 2% of the total amount for both transactions, A$72.02 in total.
I am very familiar with that ANZ branch, and it's usually my first stop after checking into the hotel after walking from Circular Quay station. I don't know which other hotels levy a credit card surcharge, but it seems like it's becoming more of a problem in Australia.
Imagine a worse case where a naive traveler was using a 3% FTF card, was ignorant of DCC (3.8% in this case), and paid the 2% surcharge... 8.8% stupid tax for using a credit card for the hotel bill.
I'm trying to think of a practical way to pay the hotel room next time. I'm about 50/50 in terms of my stays there on points versus paid, but I think in the future I'll exclusively stay on points or do as you did and pay down the room in cash. Even with the SPG AmEx at 6x, it's unlikely to be worth it.