Originally Posted by allen074
Natalie - welcome to the scam of all scams -- yes, you probably were charged a currency ripoff fee even though the purchase was in US$. The merchant located overseas and therefore they charged you a fee. Ain't that great.
I disagree. Many, many hotels and resorts advertise their rates in US$, then convert them into local currency for billing and charge your card in local currency. I recently stayed at two of Francis Ford Coppola's resorts in Guatemala and Belize, for example, and all deposit costs were advertised in US$, but billed in Belize dollars, costing me approximately 5% more than the advertised price once they had converted US$ to BZ$ and then my credit card converted back (including the 3% Citi charge, since I didn't realize I would be charged in BZ$).