stifle

This trick (called dynamic currency conversion) is commonplace in touristy places. The card scheme rules say that the customer must be given the option to choose which currency to pay in, and if not, the customer gains chargeback rights with the credit card company for the difference between the amount paid and the amount that should have been charged.

Paying in your card's currency is virtually always a bad idea; the rate I have been offered has always been worse than what I was eventually charged.

SkiAdcock

Well thanks to FTers I remembered that getting charged in local currency is always better, so I turned down the option of US$ when I was in FRA last week. Thanks all.

Cheers.

karch

It is reversible even if the receipt says it is not. I just had this happen in Ireland on a 05:00 check out. Contact the hotel directly. They have a form from their credit card processor that you can fill out and get a credit. This DCC is a scam as the hotel sets their own conversion rate regardless of the market rate. When you charge in the local currency, you will get the market rate. There is no convenience to bring charged in your home currency!

hco

Checked out of Marriott in Köln, Germany. Was offered to pay in KRW on my Korean CC. Desk clerk says: "It is more favorable to you". I was sceptical but thought that I would give it a try.

Rate was the worst on the whole trip and I was charged with foreign transaction fee from my bank anyway.

Always local currency from now on.

LoganFlyer

As a rare non-negative side on this one, I had my room at the Bristol (UK) Royal Hotel charged in US$, and they gave me the same rate my credit card would have (based on other purchases I made on said card on the settling date). They did add a 2.99% fee, slightly less than the 3% the Marriott Visa would have wanted--and, because the fee was added before conversion to USD, I got the 5 points/dollar on the fee as well as the room rate.

karch

Check your CC statement. My guess is that the CC got their 3% too.

Counsellor

I started to put this in the Courtyard Munich thread, but since it could be happening elsewhere I decided to start a new thread.

The last time I stayed at the Munich Courtyard, when I went to check out I noticed a sign near the cashier announcing that “direct currency conversion” (or some similar name) was being offered/used, under which the Euro amount of the invoice would be converted to dollars at their rate and, along with a conversion fee, charged to my credit card. This appears to be nothing more than the “Dynamic Currency Conversion” which has been mentioned in numerous threads here on FlyerTalk and is criticized by some consumer protection financial advisors (e.g., here) and discussions on other travel boards.

I told the desk I did not want to participate in this "offer" and that I wanted the actual Euro charge, no fees or conversion rates added, to be charged, in Euros, to my card. She said she understood and that I would be charged in Euros.

Nonetheless, when my bill was presented for signature, it did contain the conversion into dollars. I crossed that out and again told the front desk person that I wanted the charge in Euros. She agreed that it would be processed in Euros instead of the inflated dollar amount.

When I checked my credit card account on-line some days later, I noticed that I had been charged the inflated dollar amount rather than the Euro amount. I contacted the Courtyard, and at first they agreed that it should have been in Euros and said they would correct it. When no correction appeared after about a week, I again contacted Courtyard and this time they wanted me to write to the company (in Ireland, as I recall) that processed their currency conversion for them and submit all sorts of documents.

For the first time, they informed me of the details of their currency conversion "feature" -- they applied a currency exchange rate (did not specify where it came from), added 3%, and charged that against my card. They didn't care whether my card also charged 3% for foreign transactions or not -- indeed, they explicitly said that they didn't care and wouldn't refund that money. The only thing they would do is to refund any excess on the currency conversion (but not the 3% conversion fee), but only if I sent them all sorts of documentation including a charge on the same card on the same day that didn't go through them, and even then they would only refund the excess they had charged over the conversion rate charged in the other transaction (so maybe 1% of the charge).

I declined to go through that process, as I had never agreed to it, and after some further exchanges with the hotel (in one of which I had to point out that I suspected German law considered the Euro to be legal tender unless otherwise agreed between the parties to the transaction, and I had never agreed to pay anything other than Euros), the Courtyard agreed that participation in their conversion program was voluntary and posted a refund to my credit card account. So ultimately I was satisfied with the result.

But -- two things going forward:

1. At the time I checked out, I was not specifically informed that the program was "voluntary" nor was I asked to "opt-in" or agree to use their conversion rather than pay in Euros. I had to take the initiative to object, and even that didn't work at first, as the above summary shows. I would suggest that anyone staying there be alert when checking out and if you don't want to avail yourself of this "offer" you make it plain and at least cross out the converted amount when you sign.

2. I am extremely surprised that Marriott would permit such a thing. To my mind, this is an infringement on the customer, particularly one, like me, who uses the Marriott Rewards VISA credit card, which -- as we know, and as the Courtyard management should know -- has no fee for currency conversion or for foreign transactions. At best, therefore, this is simply an extra 3% charge for which the customer receives nothing (at least nothing I can see). As I say, I'm surprised Marriott allows such a thing.

BKKLEE

Conversion from Thai baht into US$ has been in effect at Hua Hin Marriott for years and you MUST inform the staff more then once that you want to have your bill in local currency (baht) and not have it coverted at 7.5% differential.

SkiAdcock

I've had the currency conversion offered at different properties, but it was always asked up front & I declined.

Counsellor, you might want to PM Marriott Concierge re: what you encountered (and it's ridiculous what you had to go through).

Cheers.

biggestbopper

Why not dispute probem charges such as this as a billing error with your credit card company?

MaineFlyer16

I had this happen to me when I rented a car from Hertz in Germany. Apparently, there was a line in the contract (in German no less ) that said "I agreed to pay in the currency of my home country." At the time, the Euro was at 1.41....and they used 1.49. I disputed with Capital One over the difference of about $7.75 (after getting nowhere with Hertz, including asking to be billed in EUR). Capital One wrote off the difference themselves rather than fight it. It really pissed me off that companies do this to customers! I filed a complaint with the FTC because I made my reservations through Hertz USA. It will probably go nowhere, but it is pure profit for them and most people don't notice--a complete ripoff!

nacho

Same here - Avis in France, I even have a copy of the contract saying that I want to be billed in Euro, still billed me in my home currency.

In the US too - Ross dress for less - I didn't even have a choice to opt out DCC.

This DCC is a scam and merchants love it because they get 1% of the profit (I found it on a page from the Danish payment company PBS).

So I really checked my bill right after the transaction, and bring some more cash - I rather get robbed by changing cash than this DCC scam.

If Marriott does this to me, I'll definitely file a complaint because this is purely unacceptable for a big and established chain like Marriott.

Counsellor

The company (in Ireland) said I had agreed to the DCC, accordingly there was no "billing error" and I couldn't dispute. As I see it (a) I have no contractual relationship with the company in Ireland and did not agree to the DCC -- which was what all this was about -- and therefore their rule didn't apply, and (b) I do have a contractual relationship with my credit card issuer and it says I can dispute.

But -- when I began researching this, I found that MC and VISA require the cardholder to be informed in advance and to agree to the DCC, and if that's done they will not accept a dispute. The catch appears to be that in some cases the "consent" is hidden (or in mouseprint possibly in a language other than yours) on the thing you sign for the charge.

In my case, as I had stricken through the "conversion" before I signed the invoice reconciliation, there was no way they could seriously contend I had agreed. I suspect, though, that anyone who signed the reconciliation without striking through the bogus conversion could be argued to have consented. This sort of "ambush" is why I'm concerned enough to post this as a separate thread.

Edited to add: The main reason I didn't simply dispute with the credit card issuer (although I would have as a last resort) is that my dispute would be only for the delta between what the credit card issuer would have charged and the amount the Courtyard -- or the company in Ireland, whichever -- charged, so about 3% to 5% of the bill. Most credit card companies have a "nuisance limit" where (unless the cardholder has been "abusing" the dispute right) the credit card company finds it cheaper to simply grant the credit for the disputed amount rather than to take the administrative time and energy to actually do a charge-back. I was concerned that the credit card issuer (Chase) might just grant me the few dollars in dispute without charging back to the Courtyard, so they would keep their additional "take" from DCC. In my mind, what they did was wrong, and they needed to disgorge the additional fee they took without just cause, if for no other reason than to discourage them from doing this to other people without getting their informed consent.

JEFFJAGUAR

Here is what I do if they pull this scam on me and refuse to void the transacton, not credit it. I circle the local currency amount. cross out the statement that I accept the conversion as final and write local currency not offered. I then will most assuredly dispute the bill and insist on a charge back If people began to do this, it might slow this cancer down.

I have noticed that it is becoming more prevelent in countries where it was never used before. Of course the scam originated in Ireland (so it's no surprise you had to deal with an Irish company) and had spread to Spain and Italy. It was also pulled on me in Scotland and Northern Ireland. This time around, a hotel I had stayed at for years tried to pull it on me and a Burger King in Dublin pulled it on me and refused to re-do the transaction properly in euro. The problem in Ireland was further complicated because the so called manager was one of those many eu citizen from Eastern Europe who work in many places in the UK and Ireland and whose English is somewhat limited (but eu regs allow them to seek employment). I did exactly what I indicated above and when I got home, I disputed the charge and asked that it be charged back. The rate on that day was $1.41 to the euro and they charged me $1.52. What gall.

I trust the issue will be properly resolved.

nacho

Same happened at CY Hamburg:

When we checked in the front desk associate took out a CC charge slip saying that we have been charged in advanced due to the rate is advance purchase (it wasn't an adp rate - let's not talk about this). We looked at it and it stated we were charged in DKK instead of EUR. Of course we disputed and the FD said that they can't refund us the money and Mr. Nacho refused to sign it because 1. it was the wrong amount, 2. we don't want DCC.

They got panic and still refused to refund us the $$$ and said, 'they will sort it out later'. Went to the room and 5 mins later they call and they said they will sort it out when we check out.

At check-out they still refused to reverse the charge and only gave us the difference in EUR and still wanted Mr. Nacho to sign the slip, and of course Mr. Nacho refused to sign. After some struggle we got them to try to reverse the charge in DKK and since the amount was very close we accepted it. Then they swiped the card and we ended up paying in EUR.

My advice: DON'T SIGN ANYTHING until you are sure what you are charged for. As long as you don't sign there is nothing they can do.