Discover Card in Japan?
 

Leaving for Japan in 13 hours and just received an email from our hotel saying they no longer accept Visa/MC. They say they only accept AMEX, Diners, JCB or cash. The total bill will be 120,000 yen / $1300. We can stop by the airport in the AM and get more cash, but I'm not sure how much we will be able to get. Anyone have experience with Discover card being taken as a JCB card. Searching online shows that it may work.

This would leave me seriously screwed.

Which hotel is this? It would be extremely useful to know.

What hotel would this be, I'd like to know.

Backup plan might be cutting the days short and switching to another hotel that does accept Visa/Master. Though it's quite strange they would stop accepting visa but still accept those other cards, I've never heard of something like that happening before, but Again I'm no expert on those matters, but it does seem strange.

JCB cards are widely accepted in Japan. You should be okay with your Discover card. The only problem is that most merchants in Japan do not know the fact that Discover cards can be accepted through JCB terminals. They would most likely reject Discover card without even trying to scan your card. Do ask them to try Discover card.

JCB terminals also accept American Express cards.

I am still surprised at the hotel not accepting Visa and MC. It is probably a temporary problem that their processing machine may have been used for fraud or something.

I never knew that JCB would accept Discover. Learn something every day!

Thanks for the input. I will post the property after I check in just in case :). They at least said I didn't have to pay in full up front. I would hope so!!!! There is a 7-11 next door, so I should be able to draw cash every day assuming my card works.

Traveler checks?

You should look into travelers checks, also keep in mind that Japan is a cash driven society. if the chance a business accept cards, there is a usually a additional fee.

Nope they do not accept Travelers checks. I did get a bunch of cash, not a big deal as we will pay it as soon as we arrive. Depart in about an hour and a half.

Any ideas on the best place to exchange the dollars to Yen when we get there? The booth here at HNL charges a $6.95 fee and said the exchange rate was 88 yen/$. i.e. a $6.95 fee plus another 7% fee.

Ugh, that's a horrible rate. Get as much cash as you can from the Citibank ATM in the airport.

But really, a hotel that doesn't take MC or Visa? There has to be a story behind that. Perhaps one of their employees was using customers' card numbers fraudulently and with typical Japanese over-reaction, they banned the hotel from using those cards.

I would change your US dollar bills when you arrive in Japan. They will give you 92.76 yen for one dollar according to the current exchange rate. They will give you 94.76 yen for travellers checks. There is no processing fee in Japan. I would change at a bank in the airport. Banks are closed on Saturdays and Sundays and I would recommend you change extra money before weekends. Banks usually close at 3pm.

I actually did not know about it until I saw this.

Did you use a Visa or MC to guarantee your reservation or provide a deposit? If so, the hotel may normally accept Visa/MC, but your card might have been declined if the hotel tried to submit a pre-authorization request.

We learned in checking with the issuers of our Visa/MC and ATM cards that each had different rules regarding transactions in Japan. One VISA issuer required notification prior to travel to Japan, otherwise all charges originating in Japan would be declined. Another informed us that signature-based transactions were fine, but PIN-based transactions were not. Interestingly, we don't have these issues when traveling to other countries. We were told that there is a high incidence of fraudulent charges originating from Japan, hence the extra security.

I just used my Discover Card at a few places in Japan:
Prince Park Tower hotel (I understand many hotels accept Discover Card now in Japan), restaurants and stores in Tokyo. I was even able to get Cash at the JCB ATM machine in the airport (by the departure gate).

Just keep trying it! My understanding is that even if it is not accepted right now, it will be by later this year. (That's the buzz I heard in Japan)!

Welcome to FlyerTalk, simon09!