I looked at the prices of the cable car, and my personal best practice is to pay cash for smaller transactions unless I know the merchant to be free of DCC. I will admit that it's somewhat of a defeatist attitude, but it's easier than having to file a dispute when the issuer may not even take up the case. For me, the threshold is perhaps $10-15. Especially for small souvenirs (postcards, refrigerator magnets, etc.) in shops, I find it easier to transact in cash. My default card would typically be the Chase Sapphire Reserve since that's my only Ultimate Rewards earning card with a 0% FTF, so in many of those situations I'd only be seeing 1x.

For larger purchases, I typically am better able to monitor the payment. In the case of hotels, it's easy to avoid if you're staying at a Marriott/Starwood or Hilton, as both of those chains offer an AmEx affinity card. For other hotels, my best practice is to do a preauth on a 0% FTF AmEx and then avoid express checkouts. I'll go down to the desk and ask them to change the payment card and process in local currency if there is an option on the payment terminal. At least at hotels, I've never had an issue.