Jurys Doyle Hotels – credit card exchange rate scam ?

Just back from a weekend in London, spent in the Jurys Doyle Hotel in Gt Russell St. Excellent hotel, excellent location and booked over the internet at a good rate of 89 GBP per room per night. No complaints and everything was great until it came to paying the bill. Then a little bird in my brain said: ‘Wasn’t there a post in Askaboutmoney by someone who in a Jury’s hotel in London was presented with a bill in euro and not sterling’? (I can’t locate this post but I’m certain that there was one). And sure enough my bill was in both GBP and EUR. Of course there was no way I could calculate what exchange rate they were using and moreover, while hotels typically use a spread and charge commission on foreign cash transactions, this was an electronic transaction so why were they providing a price in euro? I queried this and was told by the little prick behind the desk that my bill was in GBP and that the EUR amount was provided ‘for convenience’. OK I should have smelt a rat but I was in a hurry, check outs are chaotic at the best of times, I was in a good mood, etc., so I signed the slip which had the amount due in both GBP and EUR. When I was checking my receipts last night I discovered that the bottom copy said: ‘Please debit my account with the Final Amount in EUR shown’. I’m certain that this was not on the top copy that I signed. The exchange rate they used was 1 GBP = 1.5397 EUR; and as far as I can determine Friday’s closing rate was about 1.49, so on my bill this represents a rake-off of anything up to 10 euro extra. Needless to say I’m writing to my credit card company repudiating the EUR amount and demanding that the bill be settled as a normal foreign currency transaction at the exchange rate used by the credit card company on at the time the bill is presented. So if you are visiting a Jurys Doyle hotel abroad check your bill before you sign it to ensure there is no exchange rate rip-off. Has this happened to anyone else?

Done at the Inn.

A few weeks back parked my car in Jurys hotel Ballsbridge and took my car ticket at the entrance gate. I decided to check the time on the ticket and discovered that it was 15 minutes behind normal time. When leaving the hotel I noticed that when I came to pay for my parking at the paystation the time was correct. I had lost and been charged for 15 minutes that I didn't use. I eventually got someone to complain to and was told that they were aware of the problem but waiting for someone to come out and fix it. Amazing. I wonder did they try and make refunds to people that were overcharged. I haven't been back since but double check your times if you ever use their car park.