Hotel charged more than price on a lastminute.com booking

vjc3

So I merrily confirmed my booking for a hotel in Seville at a price of £383.96 on lastminute.com. Quoted as €431.50 when confirmation email came through (checked exchange rate and this worked out as equivalent).

The hotel has since charged me £402. When I queried this they sent a copy of the transaction receipt which showed a 2% mark up on the exchange rate. This was done without my permission- is it allowed? Surely I should be charged the £283.96 I was quoted by lastminute.com when I booked? Help!

CM66

Did the hotel charge you in Euros or GBP?

Westin

The hotel in Spain will be charging you in Euros. The actual equivalent Sterling rate will vary depending on when the payment is taken - it is not fixed necessarily at the time of the booking.

The 2% sounds like your bank transaction fee. Lots on MSE on how to reduce or avoid the fees on overseas card spending.

zagfles

Westin wrote: »

The hotel in Spain will be charging you in Euros. The actual equivalent Sterling rate will vary depending on when the payment is taken - it is not fixed necessarily at the time of the booking.

The 2% sounds like your bank transaction fee. Lots on MSE on how to reduce or avoid the fees on overseas card spending.

OP said

The hotel has since charged me £402. When I queried this they sent a copy of the transaction receipt which showed a 2% mark up on the exchange rate.

So the hotel did not charge in Euros, they charged in GBP. The transaction receipt would not show any exchange rate markup or GBP if they charged in EUR.

OP - to answer your question - no the hotel are not allowed to charge you in GBP unless you authorised them to. However, unless you were using a fee free card you might find your bank will charge a similar markup or more.

Assuming it was a VISA or MasterCard you can check the rate the bank would have changed here, you'll need to enter you bank's fee which will be in the summary box, website, or T&Cs for the card:

https://www.visaeurope.com/making-payments/exchange-rates

https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/consumers/get-support/convert-currency.html

The booking site would likely have said the rate is approximate and would depend on the exchange rate when payment is made. The contracted price would have the EUR price.

If it works out cheaper via your bank, and you didn't agree to the the hotel applying DCC, demand a chargeback from your bank. They'll probably give you the difference.

jpsartre

zagfles wrote: »

OP said So the hotel did not charge in Euros, they charged in GBP. The transaction receipt would not show any exchange rate markup or GBP if they charged in EUR.

You may well be right that this is what happened but it isn't clear from the OP's post IMO. The £402 may simply refer to the GBP amount that has been taken from the OP's card.