Expedia and Hotels.com currency issues

miltonmania

Just bought some accommodation in the USA through Expedia and Hotels.com (separately).

They quote the price (and its breakdown) in GBP and it shows as GBP at the checkout. When I pay, the debit to my card shows in USD for which I get charged a forex fee. As I do have a fee-free card, I would have of course have used that had I been told that the charge would not be in GBP. I spoke to my card company, and they are adamant that it is nothing to do with them (which is true) but I have to wait for 14 days before querying it.

FYI there is a VISA chargeback code 'unexpected currency' (and a similar Mastercard one) which allows a chargeback to be made if the charge was made not in the currency expected.

It is really annoying that they are misleading (probably thousands of) customers in this way with charges in differing currencies to that displayed at checkout. Anyone else affected should reply to this post.

I think that this is something that Martin should look into!

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6682407/expedia-and-hotels-com-currency-issues

Which hotel were you booking? Certainly some do state that the price is displayed in GBP for your convenience but you will be charged in the hotels local currency.

Any fees charged are your banks alone so there is no benefit to the merchants in charging in a different currency plus they are both global firms and how banks in differing countries deal with FX.

miltonmania

The service being provided is not relevant, the issue is quoting a price AT THE CHECKOUT in one currency and then charging IN ANOTHER. If you want to say $300 in bold and then say approx. £220 in a smaller less obvious font, then that is 'for your convenience'. Otherwise it is against the interchange rules.

flaneurs_lobster

Otherwise it is against the interchange rules.

Might be helpful if you could quote the source of these rules.

la531983

Been a few months since I booked anything on Booking.com but I am pretty sure it tells you before you hit the final button that the payment will be done in the local currency of the hotel, so I am not sure where the "misleading" is taking place.

la531983

Indeed, as per my last post, I am not going mad.

It indeed DOES tell you the transaction wont be in GBP - this was for a dummy booking in Spain (so in Euros)….

lon_don

Booked in August a Hilton hotel in Providence RI via Expedia (cheaper than reserving directly with hotel). I remember I double checked that the amount paid was in GBP as displayed on the checkout screen and not an indication. Then used my Amex (which is not fx fee-free) and as expected I was debited exactly the GBP amount shown.

born_again

People also forget that exchange rate is calculated on day of debit on their account, not day of purchase.

FYI there is a VISA chargeback code 'unexpected currency' (and a similar Mastercard one) which allows a chargeback to be made if the charge was made not in the currency expected.

Make sure that you have the T/C of purchase before taking that route, then expect to lose booking if you do.

Maegi

I think it's just bad wording/design.

When you prepay, you pay in the currency on the website (usually GBP with a UK ip address) but if you pay at property, it's usually the local currency value on the day.

Some hotels will unhelpfully default to DCC but you can usually request they charge in local currency.

SacredStephan

I've been caught out by this. Even on a hotel's own website they showed prices in GBP but changed to EUR at checkout with no warning. Now I check very carefully.

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82129432#Comment_82129432

That's a slightly different scenario from the one OP reports, where they assert that there was no clue at checkout…