How many times this has happened to me in the past, I'm not sure, but I'm going to be far more conscious of checking it in the future.

I booked a prepaid rate at the JW Marriott Kolkata (India) for two nights. The hotel dutifully charged my card the next day. It caught my eye mostly because I was expecting an issue with how they calculated the GST on the stay, since one night was under the INR 7500 and one was over INR 7500 (meaning two different tax rates applied).

Well, lo and behold, they charged me in dollars (not rupees). This caused my overall rate to be more than $20 more than it should have been if I was charged in local currency.

I complained up and down and the hotel management seems to feel that this is being done as "courtesy" to guests who appreciate being billed in their home currency. My gosh I was so annoyed at that ridiculousness...

Anyways, in my case they are giving me a refund and "we will notate your account that you prefer to be charged in INR". Yeah, whatever. Thanks.

It seems the hotel should be obligated to ask in advance if they want to pursue the DCC scam with their customers. Otherwise they should just charge in local currency (or finalize the billing on check-out). I've had so many stays in the past where on checkout, the agent says "you paid in advance, so you don't owe anything", and then I just don't take the receipt and leave. Not anymore.... at least not internationally.

I'm curious if Marriott has a stand on how this type of situation should be handled?