This hotel applied dynamic currency conversion without disclosing it to me, resulting in about a 5% overcharge.
Check your charge receipt carefully before signing it! The receipt should only show Euros; if it also shows an amount in dollars (USD), insist that they void the charge and do it again without currency conversion.
Better yet, avoid the hassle and take your business somewhere else.
Thanks for reporting. Paying in the local currency is always the best bet (whether with cash or credit card).
We have gone to Europe for a month for 12 of the last 13 years. We find more and more of the places we stay, mostly B&Bs, only accepting cash payment or giving a discount for paying in cash. Some want their money when we register so we always let them know that we will be accumulating their fee via ATMs and it might take a day or two to come up with the necessary cash. This has never been a problem and if it had, I would have made reservations elsewhere. Also, more and more restaurants and small stores want cash payment. Last month, in staying at a B&B in Amsterdam, where we have stayed before, with a bill of 650E, the owner said to make sure we pay up before we checked out - easily done.
I agree - 7 of the 10 places we stayed at on this trip were paid for in cash, which is a significant increase from prior trips to Europe. One interesting trend this time around is that we paid a deposit to 2 of them via Paypal and could have potentially paid the entire amount that way if we needed to.
However, the main purpose of this post was to alert readers to the sneaky tactics of this particular hotel and hopefully avoid them.
Unfortunately the DCC on the sly is also becoming more common. We had it done to us in by a hotel in Granada, after I said to charge us in euros; and by Hertz in Catania. The receipt from the latter said that I had agreed to it. This was printed in miniscule type in very light ink, and I hadn't been asked. I only discovered it after returning home. I now scrutinize all receipts VERY carefully.
We're booked into this hotel in a few weeks, so a great big THANKS for posting!
An update - when we checked out at Hotel Michelet Odeon last week they asked us whether we preferred to be charged in Euros or US Dollars. I'm glad we knew the right answer :)
