Made a booking with large hotel chain via an OTA. No prepayment at the time of reserving, pay at the hotel. fine print on the OTA and on the hotels site read all cards attract a surcharge. I thought there was some precedence that businesses have to provide a way of paying without a surcharge because of something to do with having to display the full price? Have I misunderstood and made this up in my head?
Can Hotels in Aus Not Offer an Option to Pay without a Surcharge?
txb on 15/05/2023 - 10:15
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Didnt display the price though
Hotel dosent display the full price with surcharge on their own site but says there is a surcharge. Is this just disingenuous hidden pricing but still within the rule?
Pay by cash on arrival?
no they dont handle cash at the concierge, that unfortunately doesn't work, had been to recent one.
You don't even know what hotel he is staying at? How do you know it won't take cash?
"If there is no way for a consumer to pay without paying a surcharge, the business must include the surcharge in the displayed price."
the only way I could think of is probably bank transfer… but that’s probably still open to fraud too but with no protections
I thought there was some precedence that businesses have to provide a way of paying without a surcharge because of something to do with having to display the full price? Have I misunderstood and made this up in my head?
That only applies for paying rent (not sure if that's every state, but it's a rule here in Victoria), there has to be a fee-free way of paying rent.
No it applies to businesses selling goods and services as well. The advertised price must be achievable, if there are no fee free methods of payment than the lowest price advertised must include the surcharge for the cheapest method of payment.
Yeah, you're right, I didn't read the link above. I was thinking the way OP worded it, that they have to provide a way of paying without a surcharge, was just a rental thing. But really it comes down to interpretation (if it's in the price then technically there's no surcharge).
It'll either be cash or EFTPOS (SAV/CHQ) at the desk. If the payment is to be done after the completion of the stay then they'll have to accept cash. Legal tender cannot be denied to settle debt.
Most hotels will let you pay with EFTPOS at checkout, and the auth on your card will drop off along with the surcharge.
if you pay with Visa/MC debit this would still apply, you need to press SAV/CHQ
not many hotels in Australia accept cash anymore, but they all accept Eftpos
https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/pricing/card-surcharges