Charge It . . . but Check the Math

DeLuca of Planet Payment claims the company's "disclosure and consent" method of informing customers is "very different from the abysmal experience" we had in Ireland. He provided us with a presentation that details how salespeople are to be prompted by the technology to ask, "Would you like to pay for this in your home currency?" Then the presentation continues, "If customer asks for exchange rate or final cost, sales clerk provides information." The clerk is then directed to enter the customer's currency choice into the system.

This is definitely a step up from our Irish experience. But nowhere on Planet Payment's prompt screen, or in a sample customer flier, does the company mention that you'll be anteing up a 2.5 to 3 percent premium for the convenience of paying in your home currency.

A Service to Consumers?

Hotels are taking to DCC in a big way. Fexco's Crowley says his company provides DCC services to the Ritz in London, the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas and chains such as the Marriott, Intercontinental and Accor groups. The Starwood hotel chain is in the process of rolling out DCC for all its Asia-Pacific properties, using Planet Payment's system,according to Corporate Communications Manager Hwee Peng Yeo.

Yeo said in an e-mail that the company is "fully committed to the disclosure and consent requirements of Visa and MasterCard regulations." She outlined a procedure whereby customers will be asked at check-in whether they would like to pay in their home currency, based on the exchange rate in effect on their checkout date. Cardholders will then be requested to acknowledge their choice on the registration card, she noted. At checkout, she said, customers will be presented with both the local-currency price and their home-currency price and can opt out of the conversion.

Don Taylor, associate professor of finance at the American College -- a Bryn Mawr, Pa., institution that provides education, certification and degrees for financial advisers -- answers consumer questions for Bankrate.com, a Web site that provides credit rate information and other financial content. "You're taking a risk that you're not getting a competitive conversion rate if you're using DCC," Taylor said. "You're just adding another level in the transaction process for people that are looking to make a margin -- and they're looking to make that margin off of you."

Of course, as Planet Payment's DeLuca suggested, some merchants might forgo their financial gains from DCC and provide it merely as a service to consumers. But so far, no one we contacted is aware of this occurring.

Expect to encounter DCC in more countries, from more merchants. Planet Payment says the company plans to roll out its service in three more countries before year's end. "The market will continue to grow," the Nilson Report's Robertson said. "It's inevitable."

Gayle Keck and R. Paul Herman are freelance writers in Arlington.

Keck will be online to discuss this story Monday at 2 p.m. during the Travel section's regular weekly chat onhttp://www.washingtonpost.com.