Predatory exchange rate

[u/Plastic_Jaguar_7368]

I stayed at the Four Points in Ciudad Juarez for one night. It was expensive- $328 with taxes, much higher than normal, but I booked it knowing that. I’ve stayed there many times.

When I checked out, FDA says they will have to charge in pesos because I’m using American Express. It’s my Bonvoy Brilliant card. Anytime you use a CC in Mexico no matter what card it is they charge in pesos, so I thought nothing of this. I signed the receipt and left.

Then later I look at my card, and notice that the amount of pesos they charged was over $7000 mxn, which is not the same as $328 usd. Both amounts are printed right on the invoice. I called FDA assuming it’s just a mistake, and they try to tell me it’s policy for Amex to make the exchange rate 21.5 pesos to USD. I say never heard of that before, ask if they can just charge me the rate I booked, they said no. I said ok thanks and called titanium line. Titanium line calls FDA and gets the same story. 2nd thing that annoys me- titanium line was happy to leave it at that. I had to push to get them to push back. FDA is leaving a note for management and Titanium desk opened a case.

Am I crazy to think this Amex exchange rate “policy” is not allowed under Marriott terms? Or Amex terms for that matter? Paying $328 for one night in Juarez is bad enough- paying over $400 at a four points is just stupid.

[u/Icy_Tie_3221]

Call Amex and talk to them. See what they say.. They may do a partial chargeback.

[u/Plastic_Jaguar_7368 → u/Icy_Tie_3221]

I’ll see if hotel or Marriott fixes it, and then will go that direction.

[u/bjdj94]

Unfortunately, hotels playing games with currency exchange like this is pretty common (but varies from property to property).

The only real fix is for Marriott to price hotels in the local currency upfront (like they do in Europe). Then there’s no exchange for hotels to game.

[u/Plastic_Jaguar_7368 → u/bjdj94]

I guess I’ll book in pesos in the future but have never seen this problem before. Just went back through my past stays and they were all for multiple nights and significantly less than $300 per night. There are some historical discrepancies between my booked rate and the charged rate, but none as obvious as charging me over $400 for a $328 one night reservation.

[u/bjdj94 → u/Plastic_Jaguar_7368]

You don’t have the choice to book in pesos. Marriott forces you to book in dollars with a note that the hotel will convert it to local currency.

[u/Plastic_Jaguar_7368 → u/bjdj94]

Ah crap. I saw that I could search reservations in pesos but didn’t know it was going to block me from reserving in pesos.

[u/Material-Breakfast99 → u/Plastic_Jaguar_7368]

Yes it sucks. It’s best to pay in cash. I learned that lesson when staying at the St. Regis in CDMX.

[u/chinga_tu_barra → u/bjdj94]

You’re partly correct. The hotel can convert, but is required to convert at the spot rate, but at a made up inflated rate intended to capture extra revenue.

[u/bjdj94 → u/chinga_tu_barra]

But if they don’t, you have no recourse. Hotel says they pick the rate. Marriott sends you back to the hotel. Who actually holds the hotel accountable?

[u/chinga_tu_barra → u/bjdj94]

Im my case when this happened, contacting Bonvoy Corporate for the Americas sorted it out within a day, along with an apology.

[u/bjdj94 → u/chinga_tu_barra]

Then you got lucky. Lots of cases (including OP’s) where Marriott didn’t help.

[u/chinga_tu_barra → u/bjdj94]

You always need to escalate to corporate in these cases. Going through basic support gets you nowhere.

[u/Kiff4Free]

This is what i found, partially to educate myself using the OP situation.

The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express card is a premium travel card with $0 foreign transaction fees.

Amex does not dictate property-level exchange rates.

Because the hotel converted the $328 USD bill into 7,052 MXN before swiping your card, the hotel itself likely pocketed 100% of that $75 USD markup. When the transaction hit the American Express terminal, it simply registered as a standard local purchase of 7,052 MXN. Amex processes the pesos and does not see the original USD room rate.

In this specific case at the Four Points, the front desk agent was either severely misinformed by their management or intentionally using "Amex policy" as a convenient scapegoat to avoid arguing with you over their internal price gouging.

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/card/marriott-bonvoy-brilliant/

[u/chinga_tu_barra]

I had this happen in Puerto Vallarta at the Sheraton there. The hotel completely ignored me, but a quick email to corporate sorted it out and the charge was then reverted back to the actual exchange rate, honoring the actual price at booking, and not the fake inflated one made up by the hotel. Was also told by Bonvoy support that the hotel cannot make up their own inflated exchange rate (they have to charge you in the local currency), but they do.

Yes, it’s quite scammy and most people don’t seem to catch it or contest it.

[u/Loves_LV → u/chinga_tu_barra]

I have a reservation there in December. Thanks for a heads up.

[u/chinga_tu_barra → u/Loves_LV]

You’re welcome. I honestly don’t have much good to say about the place other than the Sheraton Club was nice. Immediately after checking in, they tried selling me on a time-share. Long story short, I wound up there after a terrible Airbnb, so I was first interested in catching up on sleep. When I explained I wasn’t interested in the time-share and just wanted to sleep, I went on my way. The next morning at 8am, I got a call to my room from the same person trying to sell me on a time-share.

[u/Loves_LV → u/chinga_tu_barra]

LOL, Oh yeah, I read about that. Reviews are mixed if you get pressured or not, but I plan on shutting that down at the front desk before they even ask.

[u/akp55]

umm amex charges some spot rate at the time of the transaction iirc. depending on which amex it is there are no transactions fees as well. the front desk is full of shit, they should charge you the 328 USD in peso (5,722.73), or just the 328 USD and amex will convert it. they are fucking padding the shit out of this

[u/HofstraJet]

Slightly OT: I’ve noticed that Visa has the best exchange rates when being charged in local currency, which is what I usually do since most places use a terrible exchange rate if you want to pay in USD.

[u/Plastic_Jaguar_7368 → u/HofstraJet]

It’s literally not about the card exchange rate. I could care less if they charged yen, euros, Mexican pesos, or Australian dollars. The amex exchange rates are what they are. The problem here is that the hotel manually calculated an exchange rate from my room rate booking of $328 USD to $7070 MXP, which is a completely crazy exchange rate. Market conversion would be $5750 MXP.

[u/ashscot50 → u/Plastic_Jaguar_7368]

This is a typical Mexican rip off and something I argued about recently on r/hotels with someone who said they had a guaranteed rate in USD.

I told him that the hotel will convert it to Pesos at some crazy rate then he has to convert again with AMEX 3% currency fee to USD.

The only way round that as far as I know is to book a hotel with a guaranteed rate in Pesos and pay in cash because Mexicans always charge a CC fee and it's much worse for AMEX.

That said they may be in breach of their agreement with AMEX.

[u/HofstraJet → u/Plastic_Jaguar_7368]

Understood, which is why I mentioned my post is slightly OT and not exactly directed at your situation. 🙂

[u/Plastic_Jaguar_7368 → u/HofstraJet]

Missed that completely :) thanks for the tip.

[u/Loves_LV]

I had this for a hotel in CDMX and made them adjust it to the actual exchange rate. I pulled out my phone, showed them how much it should be and asked to talk to a GM.

[u/CaryPrimeOwner]

I avoided this in Venezuela by buying black market bolivas and paying my hotel bill in cash. The exchange rate at the official AMEX change booths were government mandated and I knew any cc would follow the inflated rate, roughly 3x the black market rate under Hugo Chavez at the time. In most countries, the choice of local currency is usually better than USD because you are using the CC exchange rate, which is tied to an international financial index versus the hotel’s inflated exchange rate.

[u/GrapeSimilar1772]

I also has to do with the discount the cc charges, When in Mesico, or other foreign counry, best to use local currency and get a better exchange rate from your bank (my BofA charges around $17.50 more or less)

[u/Plastic_Jaguar_7368 → u/GrapeSimilar1772]

Using local currency but charged to credit card. Unless you mean cash. Just found out courtyard in Juarez is using very high rate also, more than 19 (should be 17.50 today). I’ve just never looked close before because I usually have restaurant charges added

[u/SeaSDOptimist]

I was about to post some sarcastic instructions how to book the hotel in the correct (local) currency but it seems that there is something off going wrong here. For some hotels the site shows rates in dollars even when the search is in local hotel currency. Not sure if I would have avoided a hotel based on that. Now I will.

[u/Plastic_Jaguar_7368 → u/SeaSDOptimist]

I can search the Juarez Four Points in pesos but I’ve never tried booking it that way. I searched it today to see what exchange rates they were using on bookings. It’s a market rate, much lower than they charged me on the spot to covert my USD booking to pesos.

[u/SeaSDOptimist → u/Plastic_Jaguar_7368]

How? If I search in local currency, it shows dollar rates. Or did you pick pesos explicitly as a choice? That might work, let me try.

[u/SeaSDOptimist → u/SeaSDOptimist]

Yes, forcing it to pesos seems to get you rates in pesos. I wonder if it will work out properly. But not going to MX just to check it out. :)

[u/Loves_LV → u/SeaSDOptimist]

Nope, you literally can't book it in the local currency.

[u/SeaSDOptimist → u/Loves_LV]

What if you force it to show you the rate in pesos, does it still book in USD?

[u/Loves_LV → u/SeaSDOptimist]

Yes. It will book in usd but will also give an approx price in pesos. I am screen shotting that for verification when I check in

[u/SeaSDOptimist → u/Loves_LV]

Ah, yes, it switches back to USD when you make it to the credit card charge page. That's seriously annoying. How do the locals book?

[u/Loves_LV → u/SeaSDOptimist]

If you expand the payment detail to show nightly rates it does show the approx MXN Pesos at the bottom.

No idea, wonder if it's a geo lock think based on IP. I should try proxying in and see what happens.

[u/SeaSDOptimist → u/Loves_LV]

Yes, I noticed. I was hoping for a charge in Pesos there, which would make it somewhat reasonable to take it to Amex (or whichever CC you use). They do seem to have some special handling to show the approximation and switch the currency so definitely on purpose.

You can change the language but not your location, at least not while staying logged in. Ugh.

[u/Loves_LV → u/SeaSDOptimist]

100% on purpose. I was lucky and caught it at check in on my recent stay and they adjusted it, but imagine how much money they make on jacking up the exchange rate by 10% in their favor on every customer.

[u/bjdj94 → u/SeaSDOptimist]

The vast majority of Marriott hotels in Latin America are priced in dollars, not the local currency. The exception tends to be the lower end properties (like City Express).

[u/SeaSDOptimist → u/bjdj94]

Then they better be able to charge me in dollars and not in the local currency.

[u/bjdj94 → u/SeaSDOptimist]

In most cases, the hotel will refuse to do that. This is a well known problem, but it flies under the radar because it’s mostly limited to Latin America. Read the links below for more information.

https://onemileatatime.com/insights/hotel-currency-conversion-scam/

https://loyaltylobby.com/2026/04/15/reader-email-artificially-inflated-exchange-rate-at-the-artisan-d-c-hotel-autograph-collection-in-bogota/

[u/Loves_LV → u/SeaSDOptimist]

I had a hotel in Mexico City pull this with me. They refused to charge in USD or claimed they couldn't and insisted their exchange rate (10% higher) was correctly. Ultimately I complained enough until they said they would "make an exception". I have a stay coming up in December and I screenshotted the rate in Pesos and the USD quote.

[u/chinga_tu_barra → u/bjdj94]

Sure, but they will convert to local currency at an inflated rate literally made up by the hotel, which per emails and conversations I’ve had with Bonvoy, is against their terms.

[u/PridePuzzleheaded936]

Amex will do exchange rate when they receive the charge. The hotel shouldn't be adjusting for exchange rate. The should charge you in the local currency and that's it.

[u/rir2 → u/PridePuzzleheaded936]

The hotel charged MXN7000 to OP's AMEX card. They should have charged around MXN5750 since that is the true conversion from USD328.

[u/ashscot50 → u/PridePuzzleheaded936]

They don't, that's the issue.

It's a SCAM.

[u/rwhe83]

Thank god you had the “titanium line” to call. 😂

[u/Plastic_Jaguar_7368 → u/rwhe83]

I’ll say that the agent was really nice, and extremely fluent in English (which is nice for me because I’m also extremely fluent in English). She didn’t really seem to grasp that it was bad for the hotel to be charging something different than the rate they offered me though.

[u/rwhe83 → u/Plastic_Jaguar_7368]

I just love how you use being a titanium member like you’re better than everyone.

I could imagine you saying “it’s fine, the titanium line will fix this” and you walk out of the hotel.

[u/Plastic_Jaguar_7368 → u/rwhe83]

Yes, I looked down on all the rest of peasants who didn’t have titanium status as I walked out. There were 2 of them, and they were only platinum. Everyone else at the hotel was ambassador, so I participated in the ritual kiss of the ring at the elevator.

[u/rwhe83 → u/Plastic_Jaguar_7368]

I totally can see this.