A few posters have made this point. I don't have a problem with them quoting in USD because of the volatility of the local currency -- but then they should either bill you in USD or, if it's against the law as it supposedly is in Russia, then give you a reasonable exchange rate at check-out.

All over Russia one sees "international currency units" or similar such fictions, which are either dollars, euros, or somewhere in between. Merchants claim that this is a way to effectively price things in dollars/euros while skirting the letter of the Russian law prohibiting this, but in reality I believe that this is just a scam to squeeze a few more percentage points out of tourists. I don't see why they can't price in rubles and then post the exchange rate, even if it's at a slight premium, like in every other country.

I can imagine in my business if I signed a six-month contract with an international client quoted in USD, and then tried to say, "when I deliver the services in six months, I will bill you in your local currency, using my 'corporate exchange rate,' which I will determine at that time." This is exactly what Marriott did (this is what it says in the rate rules when one books). No business in the world would agree to this, and, as a previous poster pointed out, every business that performs such cross-border transactions has rational ways of mitigating this exchange-rate risk.

In economics we learn about "menu costs," or the cost of having to constantly change one's prices (or re-print menus, as the example goes) with a volatile currency. I guess these "international currency units," etc. is the Russian economy's answer to avoid this. Although the ruble has been quite stable since the last devaluation. . . Back to the point that it's a shame that a reputable company like Marriott uses this excuse to cheat customers.