Originally Posted by rasheed (Post 34067507)

I've seen this at other resorts in Mexico where their internal exchange rate was favorable. It just really means they overprice all their MXN listed items.

Originally Posted by bostontraveler (Post 34067541)

I have had major arguments with hotels in Mexico (and elsewhere) that engage in this practice of quoting in USD, converting to local currency at an inflated rate and then converting back to USD again at an unfavorable rate to THEN try to charge with DCC. It's abominable.

Originally Posted by percysmith (Post 34068195)

Or Bintan in Indonesia

Originally Posted by Majuki (Post 34068372)

I was a bit surprised because I got some food and drinks from the rooftop bar, and that charge was in MXN. With the favorable rate it cost me less than if I had done a separate credit card charge (unless the restaurant also used the same rate). It's a loss for those using MXN denominated credit cards, however.



Yes, I've seen the double conversion too. In this particular case the reservation was denominated in USD, the credit card preauth was USD, and the final credit card slip was in USD at a rate that matched the total in USD at the time of booking. Based on this experience, my guess is that anyone with a USD card would get billed in USD. I imagine this hotel has DCC on its terminal as well, but I would be curious to see if the conversion would be based off of USD or MXN. My guess there would be USD, but I'd need a non-MXN and non-USD card to test. We only have one non-USD card in the house, but Mrs. Majuki doesn't like me using it to test various merchants for DCC in the US. It's also a Visa debit card, so I'm not about to be paying a hotel bill with it. :D



If using a credit card in Bintan, however, wouldn't the charge be in IDR? I know they quote in USD and then apply their own, unfavorable exchange rate from USD to IDR. Have you see reports of DCC on top of that?

Originally Posted by bostontraveler (Post 34067541)

What I tell them each time is: "It's fine to quote your hotel price in USD. You want to quote in a stable currency to minimize your risk. Fine. But here I am, checking out... let's look at the original price quoted. Convert it to your currency today. That's what I will pay you. Nothing more and nothing less."

The front desk folks sometimes don't understand the gaming their accounting offices do but eventually a manager emerges from the back and I pay what is due.

Originally Posted by Majuki (Post 34068372)

If using a credit card in Bintan, however, wouldn't the charge be in IDR? I know they quote in USD and then apply their own, unfavorable exchange rate from USD to IDR. Have you see reports of DCC on top of that?

Originally Posted by bostontraveler (Post 34068459)

It’s not just USD denominated cards. This happens with EUR and other issues cards- it is still often billed in USD

Originally Posted by percysmith (Post 34068583)

Menus in SGD, bill in INR, at the rate in the reception (remember to take a photo before you sit down and order).

Originally Posted by Majuki (Post 34046635)

I'm in Cancun, and I noticed an incredibly steep DCC offer from an ATM of around 7%. This was on top of the 10% - don't know if fixed - commission. I'll get the ATM operator fees reimbursed, but I think this is the highest I've seen.

Originally Posted by Majuki (Post 34069933)

Sure. It's like Aruba. (I'm not using the Maldives as an example because to my knowledge there's no way to pay in MVR at the resorts. In Aruba you could always present a local card or cash in AWG.) However, in the case of Aruba hotel bills are presented in USD. Any DCC would be top of the USD amount. In this case the quoted price at booking and the price at checkout (which matched the price at booking) were both USD. The folio I was given for review at checkout was MXN. I have two questions:

1) If the booking price and credit card transactions are natively in USD, why provide the hotel bill in MXN instead of USD?

2) Would any DCC, if present, be on top of the USD price, not the MXN price? That is to say if someone presents a EUR, GBP, or CAD card and the transaction had DCC would the conversion happen off of a USD price?

Originally Posted by Majuki (Post 34069967)

As a follow up to my own post, my card issuer refunded $8.44 on an $81.16 posted transaction amount. Accepting the DCC offer on top of that would have approached a 20% loss on the transaction.

Originally Posted by bostontraveler (Post 34069975)

What I recommend people doing is looking carefully at the bill and paying close attention to the conversion rate that is being applied

Originally Posted by bostontraveler (Post 34069980)

That is total highway robbery. Glad you got your issuer to refund it!

Originally Posted by TravelinSperry (Post 34072185)

After tapping my credit card, the waiter said "American"?

Originally Posted by Majuki (Post 34072419)

What's worse is contactless is no longer a reliable protection against DCC. I assume you didn't have control of the terminal for the transaction?

I know this is after the fact, but in such a case I would ask the merchant to void the transaction. If the merchant refused, I'd indicate on the receipt and/or file a chargeback.

Now that international travel is picking up again we have to be vigilant for DCC for the first time in up to two years.

Originally Posted by HkCaGu (Post 34070575)

In the Dominican Republic in early February 2021, the RIU booking quoted me US$504. I arrived to sign some paper receipt large amount of DOP, and the transaction eventually posted as US$504.69. Nothing fishy there. DCC was not offered. I guess it would be stupid to present a USD amount that was obviously much higher than a reservation booking. (RIU is a Spanish company.)