Currency Switching

[Juergen43]

Who can shed some light on this situation?  

$Australian Dollars  Vs US Dollars

I booked a property in Australia with the booking fee listed in $AUD.  My wife is an Australian citizen; she booked a property in Australia; she paid with an Australian Credit Card (American Express) that is processed through an Australian bank (Westpac).  No currency exchange required. 

Credit card statement arrives and the amount being charged has increased by $AU 1797.00 plus $US 151.83 for a conversion fee. Airb&b has switched the currency from Australian to US dollars. What happened?  

What action might be open to me to ensure the transaction processes as intended all in the local Australian Currency?  

[Frances3408]

@Juergen43.

Its worth asking Westpac and AMEX what all their current card fees are, given Westpac closed their AMEX branded card a few years ago (to new customers).

When the Reserve Bank changed the interchange fees from a flat dollar to a % it made larger transactions much dearer. I found this old article that might help https://www.pointhacks.com.au/rba-interchange-decision-analysis-201605/

Sounds like the US fee part is entirely due to AMEX (as its a US company but I am guessing)

There is no reason for ABNB to process the OZ booking in $US unless the host has requested it (which you have advised was not the case).

You might need to change that card.

[Juergen43]

@Frances3408 thank you for reading and replying. I did read the article via the link. It all is good information. 

To us, the issue is that my wife logged on from within Australia - found the booking - all in AUD currency, forwarded me the link, I logged on with my account to book from US and the same dollar amount switched from AUD to USD.  I didn't notice that the "AUD"  was missing.  I paid with her Australian credit card, and when we received the statement, the transaction amount was in $US, meaning the exchange rate now was factored in plus a conversion fee.  Have you heard of this before?

Is it worth trying to discuss with Airbnb? 

Thanks again for your kindness.

[Frances3408]

@Juergen43. It sounds like your computer's overseas location meant the ABNB site changed to the US default site (I was not aware of link forwarding and that payment was made physically overseas when I commented above as you said she booked and paid).

I am not an IT expert so yes, do contact ABNB support so see if they can help.

Also, have you tried contacting the host (via messages) to explain- perhaps the booking can be cancelled and re done (by your wife) with their support and ABNB. The only people who will benefit from this are ABNB, AMEX and Westpac.