Let's see whether these SPG hotels can DCC me on my Amex SPG Business ;)

I won't say a word to the front desk

I believe Amex is not susceptible to DCC outside of PayPal.

I think that was why there was the ;) at the end. :) AmEx and Discover (for its limited overseas acceptance) are immune from DCC in the traditional sense. PayPal and some of the others are trying to make a quick buck off of customer ignorance by using their own inflated exchange rates. In this sense, I have to say that DCC is - at least in theory - more honest about it. :eek:

That's why I want them to try~ As Majuki pointed out, these hotels are quite terrible on this matter. Like to watch them fail.

Amex SPG should be the standard issue to for any world traveler sticking to SPG.

Get one before it is taken off the shelf by the merger.

I have the Chase Marriott card right now, but I was thinking about applying for the SPG AmEx as a hedge for after the merger. I have my doubts whether or not AmEx will be allowed to grandfather people into a Marriott card like Barclaycard did with the AAdvantage Aviator. My hunch is that they will discontinue the card completely or try to sell the portfolio to Chase. I primarily stay at Marriott properties, so it would be nice to have a Marriott AmEx that couldn't be DCCed.

Got DCCed twice in Korea recently. Both times I was never presented with the option, the clerk just selected the option on their end of the terminal. Once it was at a Korean restaurant and the staff pretty much spoke no English so I didn't bother trying to get them to void and re-do the transaction.

The second time it happened was at a Starbucks. I should have fought that one because I went there twice. The first time, the clerk allowed me to select the desired currency on the signature pad, but the second time, another clerk preselected DCC without telling me. Didn't realize until the receipt printed.

Other major retailers like Uniqlo, Shinsigae, and E mart all have DCC but they were all compliant and would ask you to select the desired currency on the signature pad.

DCC on Amazon.co.jp is easy to disable, but I was surprised at exactly how much of a haircut it is:

According to MasterCard for yesterday, ¥12300 = $105.65

Amazon's DCC price: $109.08. DCC fleece: 3.25%.

See here for screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/8GqPm

Just got back from my latest trip to Mexico City. Found yet another new instance of DCC: Scotiabank ATMs. I've noted over the last few years how DCC has been popping up all over Mexico City, particularly with POS wireless terminals from certain banks. However, last week was the first time I encountered it at an ATM. It was easy to bypass, but the choice was presented as something like "To continue in Dollars, press ACCEPT. Otherwise press CANCEL." which, if you are not paying attention, gives you the impression that you will cancel your entire transaction. Pressing "Cancel," of course, just continues the transaction in Mexican Pesos.

I find this use of language so insidious. The way they specifically make it seem that if you do not continue in dollars with DCC your transaction will not proceed at all is just sickening.

If only they allowed you to pick DCC on pre-orders... (they don't).

1 USD is now below 115 JPY. I would have settled for locking in at 1 USD to 120 JPY months ago.

Currency hedging? :D

I'm finally visiting a DCC-exposed jurisdiction after a long absence (largely due to too many visits to Japan last year and a big one to Argentina): Bangkok.

Due to different card promos I'm only using Visa for small spends (<$500). Big spends go to Unionpay (I know. Defeatist...)

When I use the Visa on small spends (as far as I can tell) all card terminals spit out quote slips. As a lot of it is dining (eating lunch in Bangkok is cheap...) and I proactively say "charge Thai baht" I don't get to see the quote slip a lot.

On one occasion where the waitress brought me the merchant slip (DCC declined) with the quote slip I asked to keep it. The acquirer was Siam Commercial Bank, the markup was not disclosed but I later calculated it to be 5.1%.

While the terminals a compliant there's a lot to be said about the operators. The other occasion I managed to obtain a quote slip was at a supermarket checkout (Gourmet, Terminal 21). Acquirer was Bangkok Bank. A 3.00% markup was disclosed but in reality the markup was 5.7%.

But I wouldn't have obtained it if I wasn't looking. The operator simply pressed no to DCC without asking me. When a quote slip came out she was just about to throw it away until I asked for it back.

That was one extreme. My wife got an operator doing the opposite. At a Boots outlet at BKK she didn't proactively ask for THB but the operator didn't ask and simply opted her in. Even though the terminal was under the cashier's desk the acquirer was Siam Commercial Bank again sink had no reason to doubt a quote slip was generated but the slip simply disposed of for the sake of efficiency.

The slip didn't have a lot of verbage - the only indication something was wrong was:

"THB 230.00

HKD 53.49"

But as she walked into the CX lounge an SMS was received from our bank stating what exactly was charged (53.49), and which currency (HKD). She walked back and got a voided slip.

Still remembers that when I was in Phuket, I kinda put everything I can on the hotel bill, which I can pay at once so that I only needed to say "charge me in Baht" once...

My understanding is close to yours that their machines are compliant, but the operators may fumble.

Hey guys, check out P神's post over at http://www.hongkongcard.com/forum/fo...p?id=12272&p=6 #59 re disarming BOC thermal terminals

I'm in Vietnam this weekend. Not using V/M much but no DCC still

P.S. I've just translated the mainland forum bit:

Some pos terminal, such as Bank of China, after swiping card (I think) displays something like "if not, press the Cancel key ..." message. From the wording alone, you wont know you're being DCCed. If you do nothing in the next 2-3 seconds you will be DCCed. If you don't physically see the pos terminal, you will be DCCed cos there's no further need for input like PIN. Therefore, in this 2-3 seconds, press the cancel key on the pos terminal. The pos may prompt to cancel the transaction - select yes, after which the slip will be DCC free.

A worser type is Bankcomm - you will be DCCed without any opportunity to stop it. bank pos settings are not the same. Under the circumstances, void the slip (after both customer and merchant copies are printed) and see if there are any options to cancel DCC only (on certain Bankcomm terminals this is the third option). If such an option is available and selected, a DCC-free slip will be printed"

Was given the option for DCC at Disney store in Hong Kong airport about a month ago.

I found the same language at New Delhi airport and at a mall in Bangalore. Regulators in the US should be doing something about this. I am amazed European regulators who are more proactive have allowed their citizens to be fleeced too.

Heading to Bali next month. How is Bali/Indonesia for DCC?

At least for Bali - been there twice, stuck my card up all sorts of places, no DCC.

Been to Bintan three years ago - same.

What could either regulatory body do, though? They can't exactly force merchants outside their respective jurisdictions to be compliant. Anything the US does in particular won't really do much because US merchants are already DCC compliant for the most part.

I doubt even European regulators can get so pro-consumer but during roll-out V/M determined whether your card can be DCCed based on currency (e.g. for a while USD- and HKD-denominated cards can be DCCed but a THB-denominated card cannot).

So, if the merchant/acquirer frauds still happen and are found to outweigh advantages in consumer "choice", in extremis a regulator can order DCC be rolled back e.g. no DCC for EUR-denominated cards and fine Visa Europe EUR50M a day til they comply.

No problem with DCC in Indonesia due to the fact they've to run all transactions in their local currency (even if it says S$ at the shops :D )

They might not be able to do it now anymore http://loyaltylobby.com/2016/02/04/m...ted-at-hotels/

Thats some good news, but I doubt it will be enforced on islands like Bintan/Batam where 90%+ must be Singaporean tourists on weekend-trips..

But with Indonesia finally having abolished the "visa tax" for my nationality, I might be visiting more often (take that Sri Lanka, who did the opposite :p )

Is the visa tax not rolled into airline tickets now?

American Express globally does not allow DCC. It is very easy for Visa and Master Card to do likewise. But they chose not to do so.

Another BoC DCC - Hilton Tianhe Guangzhou hotel checkout

Thermal slip, "offline completion".
The terminal was behind the cashier's desk so OP didn't have an opportunity to play whack-a-mole.

http://www.hongkongcard.com/forum/fo...p?id=12272&p=6 #60
http://www.hongkongcard.com/forum/fo...p?id=12272&p=7 #61

Thermal slip also http://www.hongkongcard.com/forum/fo...p?id=12272&p=8

V and MC did not permit DCC until they were sued claiming "competition" in exchange rates would be good for the consumer and some idiotic court agreed, and now we're stuck where we are today.

The airport tax is. The Visa (Visa on Arrival) is something that not every National has to get (many ASEAN don't need it, and now they've included some western nations too) - thus as it's not mandatory and doesn't apply to anyone, it can't be included in a ticket fare.

Also, on an unrelated note, it looks like AirBnB has now made it impossible to opt out of the fleece, on the order of 3% (and you have to read and comprehend two separate poorly-written 'help documents' to figure that out):

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/...h-any-currency & https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/502

Relevant bits:

"You can choose to view Airbnb listings in many currencies, but you can't manually choose what currency you'll pay in. The currency in which you'll be asked to pay is controlled by your country and payment method." and "The adjusted exchange rate is the base exchange rate plus a 3% conversion fee."

I guess AirBnB just doesn't believe in any regulations at all, hotel, payment processing, or otherwise... :mad:

AirBnB has always given me the heebie-jeebies, the whole business model seems very exploitative - it's basically couchsurfing for cash. Any ounce of respect I had for them is gone now, though.

Just change the country on your billing address to the currency you wish to pay in. That's what their customer services told me when I complained.... :rolleyes:

I really detest that site now. There are plenty of alternatives for serviced apartments (which is all I would ever rent from their site, never a room) which are IMO much better.

Same thing goes for Paypal. I was trying to pay for some KLM flights out of Singapore in Singapore Dollars. Paypal was doing a DCC with horrible rates. I chose KLM's credit card option with 3% surcharge which was still better than Paypal's horrible DCC rate. I will never use Paypal for any foreign transactions here on.

There is a way to disable DCC in paypal...

Yes... go to: https://www.paypal.com/bg/cgi-bin/we...ding&buyer_hub ... and select "conversion options" for the card you want to use.

However: I've seen more than one person report that this option is not available to all users. It's there for me, so I haven't had a reason to try to find out more.

Discover is force-DCC'd on PayPal. Other networks are not.

What happens if you just use Amex for international AirBnb?

AirBnB forces DCC regardless of card. What I do is look at the prices in the foreign country and then book through there. The exchange rate is a lot more favourable.

Good to know, thanks. It sounds like AirBnB *may* be doing something different on their web platform than the DCC we're familiar with at the Point of Sale. Regardless, it sure is a sleazy practice, in my opinion.

Same as Uber does in China- look at any e-mailed Uber receipt from a ride in China and you'll see "charged in US dollars", and you'll notice that you were charged from the US. Except at least Uber doesn't mark up the rate. AirBNB does, and that's not a very customer-friendly thing to do when you don't offer an alternative.

That's interesting because in Australia Uber charges AUD natively.