**Warning** Credit card rip-off in UK Hotels!!!

D

DT

Guest
When using your credit card to pay for hotels in the UK, you should be aware of a scam some "reputable" hotels are using to extract extra money from you!!!

Recently I stayed in two UK hotels. When I was checking out, I was presented with my invoice in pounds sterling. I duly handed over my visa card which was processed and I was given a slip to sign. I understood I would be billed in pounds sterling.

When I received my Visa statement in the post I discovered that the hotels in question billed me in Euros! Fair enough you might say...it's more convenient isn't it? Well no...not when the hotel's exchange rate costs more than the rate that would have been charged by Visa.

The amounts were as follows:

Jurys Inn Newcastle:
Total Bill £84.00
Total cost to me at THEIR exchange rate: €127.29
What would have been billed to me at Visa's rate €125.16

McCausland Hotel Belfast:
Total Bill £135.00
Cost to me at THEIR exchange rate: €205.63
What would have been billed to me at Visa's rate: €201.79

Notice a pattern here? Funny enough...the hotels rate worked out more expensive than Visa's on the day rate which would have been billed to me if the transactions went through as Sterling transactions.

At no time was I told I would be charged in Euros, nor was I given the option to be billed in Sterling. The Visa invoice I signed in Jury's Inn was particularly deceptive!

It had the total in sterling in bold letters. The credit card transaction details were in tiny print. All I saw was "please debit my account by the amount indicated above"..the only amount I saw was £84.00!!

Today on closer inspection of the Jury's invoice I noticed the following (small print) details:

"DCC amount : 00127.29 DCC currency : EUR Exch. Rate : 1.515 Transaction type : SALE"

And on another line... "I have chosen to pay in the currency shown". I thought this referred to the £84 sterling!

This tiny print was mixed in with 6 lines of similar print about approval codes, terminal ID's. It was anything but clear. Especially the final amount billed to me....they disguised €127.29 as "DCC amount : 00127.29". If that's not a scam..I don't know what is!!

To be fair to the McCausland hotel, their Visa slip was clearer, but I signed it with one eye on the clock thinking of catching a flight. Again, the invoice they presented to me was in Sterling, and they did not offer me the option to pay in Sterling.

I know some people might say..what's the big deal, it's only three or four euros overcharged per transaction, but that's not the point! It's the principle!!!! It's the rip-off culture again!! If this "service" of billing customers in Euros is so great..why don't they TELL customers that it's an OPTION!!! You know why..they don't tell cause they make more money that way! They're doing this to all their Euro customers...it all adds up to a lot of money.

I phoned both hotels about this...I got voice mail in the McCausland. Jury's told me that they charge in Euros because it's "more convenient" for customers, but if I want to be charged in Sterling in future I should tell them before they swipe my card!

BTW, I phoned AIB Visa about it...they didn't want to know...."it's between you and the retailer". AIB would serve their customers well if they would warn us about this scam.

Foot note...nice to see an Irish company like Jury's ripping off their Irish customers in the UK when we pay with our credit cards! I guess they just want to make us feel more at home!! ;)

If you've stayed in a hotel in the UK recently...for pig iron's sake..take a look at your credit card statement and check if you were billed in Sterling or Euros. If billed in sterling...compare the rate charged against the rate you were charged for other Sterling purchases with your C/C on the same day...and see how much extra your hotel cost you!

Finally (sorry this is so long!)....my advice is...when paying for hotels in the UK always ask to be charged in Sterling!!
 
Funny enough...the hotels rate worked out more expensive than Visa's on the day rate which would have been billed to me if the transactions went through as Sterling transactions.
I didn't think Visa had a 'day rate'. When I went chasing FX rates on other transactions, I was told that the rate varied at different times during the day.

You also need to check if the Visa rate quoted to you is inclusive or exclusive of the FX commission (between 1.5% & 2.75%) that card issuers add to FX transactions.
 
hotels.

Exactly. The rate changes during the day.

DT, you need to be a little more careful before accusing UK hotels of being ......

I always pay by cash in these circumstances and at least I know where I stand.
 
rate

Hi Rainy Day, I just checked two other transactions on my Visa statement, you're right about the rate being different at different times of the day...but they're not big fluctuations, they are 0.0005 of a difference.

I have this funny feeling that the rate of exchange used in UK hotels will always be inferior to the rate charged directly by Visa! Because it happened to me twice..both times their rate was more expensive, and both times they failed to give me the option to pay in sterling.

I assume the Visa rate I took for comparison included Visa's FX commission. I took a transaction of £76.50 sterling which came up on my statement at the rate of 0.668998 and I was charged €114.35.
 
hotel rips offs

DT. I suspect the hotels just have the same rate all the time unless there is a major change.This is what shops in the north do all the time. ie Sainsburys were great value in the punt days always gave .86 sterling regardless of daily rate. When the Euro came in they gave .66 which was good for awhile then sterling slipped down and .66 looked poor so they changed to .73 and this looked ok for a while now it looks positively brilliant. Havn't been down in a few weeks so dont know if this is still the rate. when they do change it, it will remain static unless theres an other big swing.
The hotels were always going to be on the winning side anyway!
 
rates

You said it cuchullain...the big hotels aren't going to lose out on a currency transaction... their customers are!! My main beef was that they didn't give me the option of paying in sterling.
 
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