Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide are to begin implementation of dynamic currency conversion (DCC) services throughout its portfolio of Asia Pacific properties, and use Planet Payment as its preferred DCC solution for the region. The DCC service provides international guests at Starwood properties the choice to pay for transactions at the property in the guest’s home currency with their Visa® or MasterCard®, rather than the local currency of the country where the property resides.
Currently, an international guest paying with a credit card, in most cases, can only have their charges posted in the local currency based on the location of the hotels. The conversion back to a guest’s home currency occurs after the transaction is completed by the card provider. That exchange rate and the actual cost of the bill is notÊ known to the customer until they receive a billing statement from the card provider. Starwood is aiming, in conjunction with Planet Payment and local banks, to provide the convenience of currency conversion back to the guest’s home currency as they check out of any hotel in Asia Pacific.

Whether traveling on vacation or business this added service would result in benefits that allow business travelers to simplify the expense accounting when on the road and leisure travelers to know exactly what they spent based on their planned vacation budget in their own currency.

Starwood selected Planet Payment as its preferred provider of dynamic currency conversion services based upon Planet Payment’s ability to provide secure, superior multi-currency processing solutions to multi-national hoteliers and retailers. Planet Payment’s DCC service is available through credit card “acquiring” banks throughout the Asia-Pacific region, and is integrated with some of the leading POS technology providers, including MICROS Systems, Inc., amongst others. This compatibility with technology providers and acquiring banks ensures that Starwood guests will have a common DCC experience at the front-desk at its properties throughout Asia Pacific.

Chris Scheidt, Vice President of Starwood Asia Pacific’s Six SigmaOrganization said, “Starwood is constantly striving to find innovative ways to improve our guest’s experiences. We want this to positively impact their lifestyle and further ease the challenges of international travel. With the tremendous growth in international travel within Asia Pacific over the past few years, we see this as a great solution for frequent international travelers who stay at our hotels. I know how challenging it can be to reconcile my own expenses at the end of the month. We have seen increased demand for this solution and the retail sector has already taken significant steps to provide its international customers this benefit. “
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