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CC refund by Hotel in USA - Exchange rate and Interest costs?
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johnson293
Posts: 492 Forumite
I recently travelled to New York and stayed at a Hilton Hotel in Brooklyn. On check-in, they took my credit card and charged a room hold deposit. There were no issues or charges on the room, and everything was fine on check-out 4 days later.
On returning to the UK, I received notification from my CC company that my account was at 95% of its limit. When I checked, the hotel had charged £820.68 to my card. So i contacted the hotel, who checked and found that they had made room charges to my card in error, and had issued a full refund. That was 4 working days ago ,and I am still waiting for the amount to appear on my account (they said to allow 3-5 business days).
However, I have had to make a payment on my account in that time, and obviously my account has accrued interest on the balance as it stands (at 95% of the limit). The dollar-sterling exchange rate has also improved since my visit (after the General Election).
The exchange rate at the time was charged at $1.274 to the £1.
My main question is, the hotel have refunded the amount in dollars they had charged me, but once it converts to sterling, it may be less than the £820.68 charged to my card due the exchange rate fluctuation, which is now approx. $1.32 to the £1, which means I may only get £792 back onto my CC account.
Is this correct, or should the adjustment be to the same amount, with the CC making up the difference? And if not, is there anyway I can claim back the interest charges and exchange rate difference?
Basically the hotel charged me in error for a prepaid room, but I could end up out of pocket because of it.
Incidentally, my brother-in-law travelled with us under a separate booking, and they have made the same room charges to his CC too, with his room also being prepaid for. So he is in contact with the hotel too, but may also be facing the same issue re: exchange rates and interest charged.
Cheers.
On returning to the UK, I received notification from my CC company that my account was at 95% of its limit. When I checked, the hotel had charged £820.68 to my card. So i contacted the hotel, who checked and found that they had made room charges to my card in error, and had issued a full refund. That was 4 working days ago ,and I am still waiting for the amount to appear on my account (they said to allow 3-5 business days).
However, I have had to make a payment on my account in that time, and obviously my account has accrued interest on the balance as it stands (at 95% of the limit). The dollar-sterling exchange rate has also improved since my visit (after the General Election).
The exchange rate at the time was charged at $1.274 to the £1.
My main question is, the hotel have refunded the amount in dollars they had charged me, but once it converts to sterling, it may be less than the £820.68 charged to my card due the exchange rate fluctuation, which is now approx. $1.32 to the £1, which means I may only get £792 back onto my CC account.
Is this correct, or should the adjustment be to the same amount, with the CC making up the difference? And if not, is there anyway I can claim back the interest charges and exchange rate difference?
Basically the hotel charged me in error for a prepaid room, but I could end up out of pocket because of it.
Incidentally, my brother-in-law travelled with us under a separate booking, and they have made the same room charges to his CC too, with his room also being prepaid for. So he is in contact with the hotel too, but may also be facing the same issue re: exchange rates and interest charged.
Cheers.
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Comments
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johnson293 wrote: »I recently travelled to New York and stayed at a Hilton Hotel in Brooklyn. On check-in, they took my credit card and charged a room hold deposit. There were no issues or charges on the room, and everything was fine on check-out 4 days later.
On returning to the UK, I received notification from my CC company that my account was at 95% of its limit. When I checked, the hotel had charged £820.68 to my card. So i contacted the hotel, who checked and found that they had made room charges to my card in error, and had issued a full refund. That was 4 working days ago ,and I am still waiting for the amount to appear on my account (they said to allow 3-5 business days).
However, I have had to make a payment on my account in that time, and obviously my account has accrued interest on the balance as it stands (at 95% of the limit). The dollar-sterling exchange rate has also improved since my visit (after the General Election).
The exchange rate at the time was charged at $1.274 to the £1.
My main question is, the hotel have refunded the amount in dollars they had charged me, but once it converts to sterling, it may be less than the £820.68 charged to my card due the exchange rate fluctuation, which is now approx. $1.32 to the £1, which means I may only get £792 back onto my CC account.
Is this correct, or should the adjustment be to the same amount, with the CC making up the difference? And if not, is there anyway I can claim back the interest charges and exchange rate difference?
Basically the hotel charged me in error for a prepaid room, but I could end up out of pocket because of it.
Incidentally, my brother-in-law travelled with us under a separate booking, and they have made the same room charges to his CC too, with his room also being prepaid for. So he is in contact with the hotel too, but may also be facing the same issue re: exchange rates and interest charged.
Cheers.
You make no reference of any foreign transaction charge that you would like refunded which is odd in the context of the rest of your post. Is this a travel type credit card?
Unfortunately you will have to accept the exchange rate on the day the refund is processed. It is bad luck that the rate has gone the way it has. If it had gone the other way, would you be complaining if you had made a profit?0 -
I agree with Ben - unfortunately you have to take the risk on the exchange rate.
HOWEVER Hilton is a worldwide global hotel brand - they should be able to pay you for their mistake whether this is a gift card or a free night somewhere else - be polite and ask for something when you know exactly the difference between what they charged you and you got back.0 -
The hotel doesn't set the interest rates.
You would need to check USA consumer rights to see if they are liable for the consequential loss due to their mistake.
You could email them and find out.0 -
Thanks for the replies. Hopefully the refund should clear tomorrow/this week and I'll see what the difference is (currently looking at about £30 less coming back than I was charged, with exchange rates). Obviously the main thing is to get the majority of the charge back.
Then I might drop the hotel a line and just see if there's any recourse they can offer, considering it was their mistake.
I just wasn't sure of the CC company might have some sort of cover for this kind of issue, and may be worth asking, but if not then fine.
As for the first reply and why I used a CC, I have always used a CC for hotel holds and never had anything more than a couple of hundred pound added as a pending charge until check out, then its disappeared. I never imagined they'd charge me the 4 night room charge again, when I'd booked and prepaid through British Airways Holidays. So I never expected an actual charge to occur on the card, and the subsequent interest for that extra balance.
Anyway, lesson learned, and something to look out for next time I stay at a hotel, particularly abroad, and leave a CC for room hold.0 -
I had a similar experience several years ago but the card charged was Amex. Luckily for me the hotel agreed to pay me the non-sterling transaction fee and Amex refunded me the difference in the exchange rate amounts so I didn't lose out.Thrifty Till 50 Then Spend Till the End
You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time but you can never please all of the people all of the time0 -
Where the retailer has made an error, they should (in conjunction with their processor) be processing a Reversal and not a Refund. A Reversal includes the same processing date as the original transaction and thereby the same exchange rate as the original transaction. The system is also set up to cover any forex loading that your issuer may have added to the original sale.
If it comes through as a Refund, it will, as you say, attract the exchange rate available on the day the Refund is actually processed by Visa/MasterCard and any forex loading will also be deducted from the converted amount. You could therefore end up quite a bit out of pocket.
Although the error was not down to your card issuer, it was indeed an error, so I can see no reason why they would not agree to make up any difference in amount out of their own pocket as a gesture of goodwill if the credit comes in as Refund instead of a Reversal.
The only real loss to your issuer will be the exchange rate difference as the forex loadings will be more or less just cancelling themselves out. I agree, any losses should be covered by the retailer but getting that sorted could be problematic.
When I worked in cards, we often paid the difference back ourselves as it was the cheapest solution - but only when it was established as a retailer error.
As for any interest charged, any issuer worth its salt should refund this too without quibbling - sadly, not all issuers are created equal.
Talk to your issuer and make sure you emphasise the fact it was definitely a retailer error and that you expect a Reversal rather than a Refund. See how you get on0 -
johnson293 wrote: »As for the first reply and why I used a CC, I have always used a CC for hotel holds .0
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Just to clarify. I didn't ask why you used a credit card. Using a credit card is obviously preferable to using a debit card. What I asked was why you used a credit card with an interest bearing balance on it.
Because its the only CC I have, and it had more than enough balance on it to cover the room hold I was expecting, which as stated was expected to be a pending charge, which would then disappear (as has happened at all other hotel stays when asked for a room hold on CC).
The room stay charges they added then knocked out over £800 of the remaining balance which I wasn't expecting.0 -
I had the same issue with Waldorf NYC. They charged me for cancelled reservation and it took ages to get back refund. However, no one wanted to refund me £20 difference due to currency exchange rate changes. I talked to the hotel who only wanted to refund exactly what they charged in dollars and Hilton wasn't interested in my complaint. So I ended up £20 short due to no fault of mine. Not to mention the hassle of calling NYC hotel directly and talking to them.0
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My refund from Hilton has gone back onto my CC account overnight, and it must have processed at the exchange rate last Tuesday, before the post election rate spike, as the its only a small amount under the £820 that's gone back on.
I'll just accept that, and am just glad that the majority of the charge has been reversed.
Cheers for all the comments/advice.0
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