Hotel in Spain charged us too much -can anyone help?

[doordings]

Booked a hotel in Spain and it was 743 euros
I worked this out around £635ish pounds
We paid and £723 has came out of bank
Then obviously 3% charge from my bank (which I knew about )
I'm confused how 743 euros has came to £723 pound
Is it correct ?

Was there a gap between you booking it and then paying for it? You usually pay the exchange rate at the time of payment, so if you booked it say a few months ago but are only paying for it now then the price could vary.

Was there a tourist tax to pay, on top of your accommodation fee?

Did you not get a receipt/invoice broken down?

We paid when checking in
On our hotel confirmation it said the amount £743 included £48 icic
So there was nothing else to add on

In future would we be best paying in cash ?
So pay the euro amount in cash rather than card ?

Could the extra be a tourist tax? That will vary by where you stay, number of nights and number of people but you should be able to find out.

What might have happened is that the staff member put 743 into the card reader, asked if you want to pay in Euros or £s, youve said £s and thats what its charged you.
What does the paper invoice say?

@SeeingRainbowsInTheGloom no there's no tourist tax in Gran Canaria

@Soontobe60 oh actually I did say pounds
But I thought it would be the £635 /£645
As that's what I converted the euros too

Why did you not question this with the hotel while you were there if you paid on checking in? Who did you book it with? Did you pay any booking fees? Deposits?
You booked it expecting it to cost 743 euros?
It has actually cost more?
Why didn’t you ask them when you paid it?

That's probably your fatal error - the vendor can pick the rate in those instances. Always pick the currency of the country you're in, then you'll get the bank rate, which is likely closer to the one you've noted (notwithstanding time differences between when you checked and when you paid, and which rate the bank has at their prevailing rate at the time)

@Bobbyelvis4ever oh I didn't have a clue
I stupidly thought it would be easier for me having a British bank account to pay in £

@Smartiepants79 at the time he said the correct euro amounts so I just typed my pin
It was only when checking my bank
I booked through the hotel website

Always pay in the local currency!

Yes by paying in pounds you'll have paid a conversion fee twice!

It's expensive to not understand this, as you've found out. There's a whole industry built up around fleecing tourists, in Europe at least, and probably in other areas where visitors use different currencies to locals. I once saw a cash machine that took a 10% cut, hidden in the exchange rate if you withdrew pounds instead of Euros.

Always pay in the local currency and also get a card that doesn't have any fees or exchange rate loading. You save loads over time. Have a look at:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money/