I have reserved a room in London using Priceline.uk.co and I have charged it to my credit card. The Priceline site only allows you to use your credit card to reserve. My reservation indicates the 'total price' my card will be charged. A couple of days after reserving my room, the hotel sends me an e-mail telling me that if I have paid with a credit card, then they will charge me an extra 1.9% or $5, whichever is greater, when I arrive. Can they do this? I had no choice but to pay with a credit card. There is no mention of any extra fees for this hotel, unless I wanted to pay extra for breakfast. I e-mailed Priceline.uk.com about this, and they replied to take it up with the hotel. What do you guys think?
Message edited by: GeorgiaBulldawg on 2009-10-12 23:00:16 CDT
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Did the hotel charge your credit card for the room or did Priceline? I believe that the Priceline in the US charges your card and not the hotel. If your Priceline did the charge then if the hotel would try and charge the extra fee you could simply dispute it. I believe you pay Priceline and Priceline pays the hotel at least I think thats the way it works here.
Are you certain you've charged the stay to your credit card, rather than simply leaving a cc# to confirm your reservation? If you haven't yet paid for your stay, you may be expected to pay at the hotel desk upon check-in. This changes the nature of their request and reduces Priceline's role in the equation...
wisewalletCT said:That is probably a fee thru your credit card for foreign currency exchange"A couple of days after reserving my room, the hotel sends me an e-mail telling me that if I have paid with a credit card, then they will charge me..."
A foreign transaction fee would come from the CC, not the hotel.
wisewalletCT said:That is probably a fee thru your credit card for foreign currency exchange
My credit card has already been charged for the room, plus a foreign currency exchange fee of 3% was charged, in two separate transactions. The hotel e-mailed me in a separate e-mail, apart from Priceline's confirmation e-mail, that they will charge me a credit card fee, for using a credit card to pay for my reservation. Today I talked to both a Citicard rep a Mastercard rep, and they both said this is a merchant violation. I will wait until I actually travel to the hotel in a couple of weeks, and if I asked to pay the extra fee, then I will let the credit card company resolve it for me when I return.
Message edited by: GeorgiaBulldawg on 2009-10-12 23:14:57 CDT
Why did you use Priceline Europe rather than Priceline US? The hotel never sees your credit card no matter which website it is. It's charged to the Priceline credit card, not yours. So, if they are going to charge anyone, they should be charging Priceline which you should tell Priceline as well.
You have not made it clear if this was a "Name Your Own Price" bid or an advance-purchase rate.
Message edited by: CalItalian on 2009-10-12 23:35:01 CDT
CalItalian said:Why did you use Priceline Europe rather than Priceline US? The hotel never sees your credit card no matter which website it is. It's charged to the Priceline credit card, not yours. So, if they are going to charge anyone, they should be charging Priceline which you should tell Priceline as well.
You have not made it clear if this was a "Name Your Own Price" bid or an advance-purchase rate.
Doing a hotel search found me this deal in London. This was an fixed purchase price. Probably should have tried Priceline US, then maybe I would not have gotten hit with the foreign currency fee of 3%. First time I have ever seen this fee after many years of travel. Used a new credit card this time.
keep the email for evidence. I suggest you take care of it now instead of wait when you finally get there. Since you have evidence, you certainly have the right to dispute and win.
GeorgiaBulldawg said:First time I have ever seen this fee after many years of travel. Which fee are you refering to? The foreign transaction fee? If so, most credit cards charge 2-3% for transactions reconciled in another currency.
The fee the hotel the hotel is saying it will impose upon you for using a credit card is different. As someone else mentioned, to date, you have not used a credit card to pay the hotel; price_line (presumably) did. If you check-in and leave a cash deposit, such a fee should not apply to you. Whether such a fee violates the agreement between the hotel and the credit card clearinghouse is of no moment because you are not a party to that agreement. Bringing it to the attention of the hotel may get the fee waived, however.
It is also worth noting that the hotel does not have your credit card info. And unless you are required to present a credit card at check-in (which makes its credit card fee complusory) it will never have your credit card info.
Message edited by: isles1 on 2009-10-13 15:41:09 CDT
isles1 said:GeorgiaBulldawg said:First time I have ever seen this fee after many years of travel. Which fee are you refering to? The foreign transaction fee? If so, most credit cards charge 2-3% for transactions reconciled in another currency.
The fee the hotel the hotel is saying it will impose upon you for using a credit card is different. As someone else mentioned, to date, you have not used a credit card to pay the hotel; price_line (presumably) did. If you check-in and leave a cash deposit, such a fee should not apply to you. Whether such a fee violates the agreement between the hotel and the credit card clearinghouse is of no moment because you are not a party to that agreement. Bringing it to the attention of the hotel may get the fee waived, however.
It is also worth noting that the hotel does not have your credit card info. And unless you are required to present a credit card at check-in (which makes its credit card fee complusory) it will never have your credit card info.
I have used a DeltaAMEX Skymiles for many years at hotels across Europe and have never been charged this currency transaction fee. I pay whatever the agreed upon price is when I reserve online and no more. This time I am using a Citi AAdvantage card. Citi says they have always charged this fee, and she even mentioned she has heard DeltaAMEX does not charge this fee. I will wait until I check-in and see whether I am required to pay any fee for using the credit card. If asked to pay, I will try to refuse to pay the fee, though they may not let me have the room. However, I think they will require me to give them a credit card, in case I incur any fees while staying there, for phone calls, meals, etc. However, if they charge me this fee because I used a credit card to pay for my room when I made the reservation, I will take it up with the credit card company upon my return and let them fight it out with the hotel.
Message edited by: GeorgiaBulldawg on 2009-10-13 19:01:38 CDT
GeorgiaBulldawg said:isles1 said:GeorgiaBulldawg said:First time I have ever seen this fee after many years of travel. Which fee are you refering to? The foreign transaction fee? If so, most credit cards charge 2-3% for transactions reconciled in another currency.
The fee the hotel the hotel is saying it will impose upon you for using a credit card is different. As someone else mentioned, to date, you have not used a credit card to pay the hotel; price_line (presumably) did. If you check-in and leave a cash deposit, such a fee should not apply to you. Whether such a fee violates the agreement between the hotel and the credit card clearinghouse is of no moment because you are not a party to that agreement. Bringing it to the attention of the hotel may get the fee waived, however.
It is also worth noting that the hotel does not have your credit card info. And unless you are required to present a credit card at check-in (which makes its credit card fee complusory) it will never have your credit card info.
I have used a DeltaAMEX Skymiles for many years at hotels across Europe and have never been charged this currency transaction fee. I pay whatever the agreed upon price is when I reserve online and no more. This time I am using a Citi AAdvantage card. Citi says they have always charged this fee, and she even mentioned she has heard DeltaAMEX does not charge this fee.Different cards have different terms. A few of the cards I am aware of that do not have foreign transaction fees are Charles Schwab Visa and most Capital One cards. DeltaAMEX must be another. Anyway, the foreign transaction fee is a legit fee, and likely has a heading all its own in your cardholder agreement.
The credit card use fee at the hotel seems like a glaring attempt for the hotel to recover the fees it incurs when it submits a charge to a credit card. Certainly not customer friendly, nor is it a type of fee one would expect, at least not here in the States. Hopefully you do not have to pay it.
All credit card issuers have different terms & conditions for each country. What is not allowed in the US may be perfectly ok elsewhere. I stayed at a very nice Rydges property in Sydney, Australia in July. At the reception, they have a notice which clearly states they will tack on a 2% surcharge for credit card transactions, none for debit cards or cash. One thing I have also noticed is that debit cards are far more popular outside the US with a lot of the same consumer protections available.
Message edited by: bozo007 on 2009-10-13 23:00:08 CDT
isles1 Which fee are you refering to? The foreign said: transaction fee? If so, most credit cards charge 2-3% for transactions reconciled in another currency.
I charged another hotel room in another city on this European trip on my credit union credit card and no 'foreign currency fee' was charged to me, using this card. So it depends what who is the issuer of the card that decides whether you get charged this fee.
GeorgiaBulldawg said:isles1 Which fee are you refering to? The foreign said:] transaction fee? If so, most credit cards charge 2-3% for transactions reconciled in another currency.
So it depends what who is the issuer of the card that decides whether you get charged this fee.That is exactly what I said above. Read the terms and conditions of each card.
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