zymm

I have an upcoming booking at the JW Marriott in Auckland, and the hotel charges a 2% fee for paying by credit card. I've seen a lot of these fees popping up at restaurants recently, but this is the first time I've seen it at a hotel. Seems a bit ridiculous, especially considering how many co-branded cards Marriott has. Have other Marriott properties started adding this fee?

Harv62

Will they take a personal cheque? Do they prefer small unmarked bills if not?

I assume they actually want debit cards only. If more hotels go this route it’ll make for a nice list of hotels I’ll never stay at.

notquiteaff

Apparently Marriott doesn't allow this practice in the US and Canada...

https://frequentmiler.com/marriott-n...the-us-canada/

But this practice appears to be spreading: Not a Marriott, but a Hyatt has recently been found to do this... and to make it worse, not disclosing it.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/35941609-post97.html
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/35959163-post102.html

margarita girl

Totally normal for all of Australia and NZ. Stock up on Marriott gift cards before you go (especially if you can buy them at 20% off). The most ridiculous part is some of them don't accept cash either (IC Sydney comes to mind).

Out of my Element

Maybe 40% of places we ate or stayed in NZ back in the fall had surcharges like this.

puchong

And then they get you on the exchange rate they use to convert your prepaid card to their local currency - BINGO

FormerLurker

But presumably the scam conversion fee isn't as high as 20%, so theoretically you're still ahead. So my question is: where are you able to get the gift cards at a 20% discount? The last time I remember seeing that was several years ago during COVID. Is that still an ongoing promotion somewhere?

margarita girl

Not my experience! My Marriott gift cards get exchanged at rates almost identical to the XE rate, sometimes even in my favour. I’ve been lucky enough to use gift cards almost exclusively since 2020 when Marriott started selling them at a discounted rate.

The most recent promotion was in Dec 2023 when lots of people received emails inviting them to buy up to $3000 worth of gift cards at 20% off. (It was posted here somewhere.) I had lots of friends/family members that had the offer so I was able replenish my stash.

Edit: discussed here. Start at post #293.

Happy

It is LEGAL in Australia and New Zealand. The legislation passed several years ago was in the spirit of having those who use CC to bear the merchant fees. And it actually works.

In fact many restaurants would put up a sign if paying by cash, you get a 3% discount.

What practiced in US and Canada, having non CC customers to bear the merchant fee in the form of higher price because they do not get cash discount, does not mean other parts of the world would be the same. Here in US many gas stations have lower price for paying cash, just sayin.

Happy

That is not the case. Hotels which charge scam conversion fee usually are hotels outside of the Australia and NZ where CC surcharges are legal. My experience of hotels charging scam fees are ALL in Hong Kong, the SkyCity Marriott which is owned by the casino Ho's daughter, and the Sheraton Macau. So I did not use GC there. However Courtyard Sha Tin very professionally applied my GC, better than many US-based properties!

Yeah, we had $120/$300 last year followed by a $50/$250 but we passed because we did not have actual need in the next 6 to 8 months. This year we have $60/$300, and would try to get it because we have multiple pay nights in Mar / Apr, Europe and US. Hence can make use of such.

notquiteaff

It’s legal in the US, too, if done right. Fortunately it’s not as widespread and Marriott doesn’t allow their properties to do this as a matter of policy.

As for having those who use CCs to bear the merchant fee, how about gym fees? Pool usage fees? If I don’t use the pool at a hotel, why should I pay for the upkeep of it? And I like stairs, so how about an elevator fee?

General credit card surcharge discussion: Credit card surcharging in the USA.

ElevatorEnthusiast

As a rule, you should assume that a CC surcharge will be applied at hotels in Australia and New Zealand - many restaurants had the same (but not all).

Happy

The examples you cited are of different nature, most of them are facilities whether you choose to use it or not, is your own choice. Basically the analogy is Apple to Orange to me.

Credit cards are different animal - as a starter, not everyone can get a credit card.

Personally I have no qualm on the surcharge, as long as the merchant does charge less with cash. Those who want to avoid the surcharge can use cash.

In particular, CC is very prevalent in US, even in our neighbor Canada, it is far less prevalent. In Australia and New Zealand, CCs charge quite a hefty fee to own it. CCs ownership in Europe also is quite low comparing to what we saw in US.

Here in US due to the scale and the competition, CC payments are much much more preferred than other forms of payment, hence the merchant fee is kinda moot. However in other parts of the world, merchant fee is a very sticky point, that is why AMEX is very hard to use outside of more expensive restaurants / hotels.

We once had a 3 weeks trip in Italy / West Australia / Hong Kong - I was only successfully used AMEX card to pay for restaurant bills 5 times, granted we dined at local fares even though many of them were in the so-called Mid-Range. Upon return and when my AMEX Gold up for another year, I Xed the card, as our dining out is primarily done on trips which 100% are international, the Gold card is a joke when trying to use it to pay at restaurants in so many places.

Another example is Arco the gas station chain in California has long been only take cash for refill yet their gas is quite a bit cheaper than other brands. There is one of the examples that the merchant chose to pass the saving to the customers.

EuropeanPete

The payments market works differently in different countries. It is what it is. As consumers, unfortunately not all of us get to live in the U.S. where the small business pays, but the consumer earning 500,000 miles a year on a middle class income otherwise wins.

ElevatorEnthusiast

Off-topic, but I still laugh at the restaurants in Chicago that charge a 3% surcharge but will not accept cash. Just increase your prices by 3% on the menu…