Majuki

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.

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?

bostontraveler

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

SPN Lifer

Thank you for this excellent advice!

percysmith

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

Majuki

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?

I know DCC in Indonesia used to be non-existent, but I wonder if eventually they wouldn't try to DCC on top of that.

Majuki

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.

bostontraveler

In most countries the charges eventually must be logged in local currency for tax and accounting purposes.

So if a hotel in Mexico takes $1000USD its bank will convert it into MXN at whatever the rate is that day.

But here is where they are dishonest in my view. Often the amount you see on the final bill in MXN is converted at an inflated rate and then, to make matters worse, they have the audacity to then ask you if you want to pay in USD (yet another exchange... and possible DCC). So yes, you could end up with an inflated bill in MXN and then, on top of that, charged for the convenience of being billed in USD.

It's really fraudulent.

What I recommend people doing is looking carefully at the bill and paying close attention to the conversion rate that is being applied. If the hotel wants to set its rates in USD- fine. When it comes time to check out I pay the official rate- more or less (I am not going to argue about a delta of 1%). But I refuse to pay the hotel for their internal exchange rate which can be often upwards of 10%.

bostontraveler

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

HkCaGu

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.)

Majuki

I agree. I review the exchange rates in advance of international trips to gauge prices. In this case I didn't have a complaint since the price I paid in USD was the quoted price at booking in USD and my ~$30 in incidental food and beverage also used the hotel's reference exchange rate that was more generous than the official rate.

I do look out for what you're describing, however, where hotels will use a reference rate in some familiar currency, such as USD or EUR, but will convert at their own, unfavorable exchange rate to the local currency for the official bill and sometimes try to DCC on top of that.

Yes, I'd recommend everyone have a debit card that reimburses ATM operator fees while traveling. While DCC should be universally avoidable as long as ATM operators are following the rules, some ATM operators charge almost usurious rates for using their machines. There's also the practice of adding a fee only if one declines DCC, as demonstrated in .

TravelinSperry

Just got hit with my first DCC in years. Wasn't paying attention. Luckily it was only 3% (a few dollars) of a small restaurant bill in Sorrento, Italy.

After tapping my credit card, the waiter said "American"? I stupidly assumed he was asking me if this was an American card, but what he really meant was "US Dollars"? Good reminder lesson to pay more attention when traveling. Hasn't happened in so long I wasn't on my guard. Can't believe this hasn't been outlawed yet. I hate DCC worse than the spam calls offering extended warranty on a car I don't own

Majuki

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.

TravelinSperry

Right, they were holding the terminal... and I wasn't paying close enough attention. It was just a solo dinner, and the DCC ended up costing me $3-$4. So I'll just let it go. I nailed the merchant with a 1* google review. But it's a wake up call to me to remember to stay vigilant.

der_saeufer

This is common practice for hotels in the DR regardless of ownership--rates are quoted in USD, but charges are always made in DOP based on an exchange rate the hotel decides on. I think it's both a throwback to the bad old days of an unstable currency and a nod to the huge numbers of American tourists who come here. In my experience they're often lazy with updating the exchange rate and it can go in either party's favor--but if you call them on it, most will usually switch to the rate printed in the newspaper or on Google without much argument.

And for whatever reason, it seems that when it's offered here, DCC always offers to charge in USD, even if the card is in EUR or CAD. But this is a country where you buy fruit by the pound and fuel by the gallon.

GUWonder

Purchases with the Swedish national rail company are also subject to the DCC scam when using non-European bank cards.