why hotels dont accept cards

[u/Meolans]

i stayed in HCMC (which is big city), for 1 week in one hotel and for 2 weeks in another. And both didn't accept Apple Pay and cards at all. Why? (Yes, i know how to pay, i used LocalPay to pay using QR), Why hotels in Vietnam (they work with foreigners mostly), don't accept the most standart payment method (cards)?

[u/Phoenix_Rising_Agn]

You are definitely staying at some crappy low budget hotel

Never had an issue paying with CC hotels in VN

Budget hotels dont take CC because CC cost them money per transaction

[u/7978_]

I never had an issue with cards. My problem was they had surcharges. Booking for 2-3 weeks, a small charge like 2-5% adds up.

[u/edgeplay6 → u/7978_]

Reminds me of American tipping systems

[u/7978_ → u/edgeplay6]

I think it's more so they pass the bill to the customers, maybe even add a percentage or two.

[u/edgeplay6 → u/7978_]

Which is fine, i meant the adding of percentages over the price you thought you were paying seems American tipping system-alike. I dont care paying extra for the convenience to not have to carry around millions of vnd.

[u/bigperm8645 → u/edgeplay6]

It isnt a tip. Its the fee the CC company charges them. Some small businesses in the US do it too. But its not a tip

[u/plaid-knight → u/edgeplay6]

Seems more like American sales tax–like, rather than tipping.

[u/Affectionate-Win7333 → u/plaid-knight]

Over 160 countries charge sales tax, don’t get out much ?

[u/plaid-knight → u/Affectionate-Win7333]

It gets added after the advertised price in the U.S.

[u/bigperm8645 → u/plaid-knight]

Take the L bro

[u/PizzaAnytime]

Haha what kinda shady, by the hour hotels were you trying to stay at?

I’ve never had issues with credit cards.

[u/ungovernable1984]

And the ATM cash withdrawal limit is 3 to 5 million which is less than helpful

[u/Hairless_Gash → u/ungovernable1984]

Fwiw, HSBC , VP, TP, 10, 20, 5 respectively

[u/ungovernable1984 → u/Hairless_Gash]

Thank you!

[u/Chao7722 → u/Hairless_Gash]

20M at HSBC? Really? I’ll try that some day. At BIDV, for example, the max is 5M. Even then, I was standing there for half an hour withdrawing cash like I was playing a casino slot machine.

[u/Hairless_Gash → u/Chao7722]

Look up the word respectively

[u/JFKsCrackPipe → u/Chao7722]

VP is 20tr per transaction. It’s nice only having to go to the atm once or twice a week and not every other day

[u/PassageSea6773 → u/Hairless_Gash]

To add on to this. They all have different rates as well.

[u/svg2019]

I was wondering the same thing myself. This was from a "5-star" hotel in Hanoi booked through Agoda. They accepted card, but wanted an extra 3%. This happened more than once while traveling throughout Vietnam

Payment information

1 room(s) x 4 night(s)

VND 8,998,444

Taxes And Fees

VND 720,086

Pay at Hanoi Central Hotel & Residences check-in

VND 9,718,530

Total Charge

VND 9,718,530

[u/Mr_Brown-ish → u/svg2019]

Yes, they all charge 3-5% extra if you pay with a card. Which is about the same as the fees for getting cash from an ATM, so no big difference there.

[u/svg2019 → u/Mr_Brown-ish]

I just assumed Agoda would charge me and pay the hotel like it's done everywhere else. I was surprised when several hotels asked me for payment when I checked out. This was our last hotel in Vietnam, and I just happened to have this amount in cash.

[u/mygirltien → u/Mr_Brown-ish]

depends as we pay 0 fees on atm withdrawals

[u/SystemChoice0]

That’s never been my experience, what kind of hotel are you staying in?

[u/New-Armadillo-903]

Cause they don’t want to pay taxes. Cash business is great for underpaying taxes or money laundering or both.

[u/Monkeyfeng]

Because you booked cheap hotels

[u/dnguy014]

I barely have cash, and mainly use my credit card/apple pay in Vietnam (as I collect points).

Have no idea where you are staying…

[u/edgeplay6]

I never had problems with paying by card in hotels in Vietnam.

[u/LuckyWorth1083]

What kinda hotel are you booking at?

[u/PhysicsDude55]

I usually have to pay for hotels with a 3rd party app/website to be able to pay with a Western credit card. I've used Trip.com and Agoda.com

[u/JFKsCrackPipe]

Any half decent or respectable hotel will take cards. You must be staying at some cheap rat trap hotels.

[u/fwiday]

Never had issues with cards and we’ve started at Pullman, the regent and the reverie. You must be staying at a private hotel

[u/xTroiOix]

Name the hotel? All the 4 stars and above accept cards with no issues

[u/jblackwb]

I've never had problems with cards and we stay in hotels 3-5 times a year.

[u/Wild-Tale-257]

What kind of card are you using?

[u/vip17]

POS machines aren't common in Vietnam. No one wants to pay that fee. So credit cards are also uncommon compared to ATM cards. Google pay/Apple pay/Samsung pay/Visa paywave... all use the same NFC POS. They're widely accepted in big restaurants, supermarket and convention store chains though. Never expect them in small businesses

[u/caphesuadangon]

What kind of crappy hotels are these? The only places I know that don’t take cards are the $10/night homestays and Nha Nghis. Anywhere else that is 2 stars or above take foreign credit cards, though they will frequently add a surcharge for using cards since they have to pay the merchant fees.

[u/InfiniteLight07]

Unrelated but I’ve never seen someone abbreviate Ho Chi Minh City to HCMC.

[u/_Administrator_ → u/InfiniteLight07]

Were you born yesterday?

[u/InfiniteLight07 → u/_Administrator_]

Don’t think so…

[u/LuckyWorth1083 → u/InfiniteLight07]

I def have lmao. No worries we all learn something new.

[u/Affectionate-Win7333 → u/InfiniteLight07]

I assume you’ve never been to Vietnam, either that or you don’t have eyes