Hyatt hotels in Australia have updated their card payment surcharging practices following an investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission into alleged excessive surcharges at Hyatt Regency Sydney.
The regulator began investigating after receiving consumer reports about card payment surcharges at the property and subsequently engaged with Hyatt Hotels Corporation regarding the issue.
“Businesses are reminded they must not charge a card payment surcharge that is in excess of their cost of accepting the type of card that is being surcharged,” ACCC deputy chair Mick Keogh said.
The ACCC said it was concerned that Hyatt Regency Sydney had been charging debit card surcharges at a rate higher than its cost of accepting those payments, potentially breaching the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.
According to the regulator, debit card transactions at the hotel allegedly attracted a surcharge above Hyatt’s acceptance costs unless customers inserted their card into a payment terminal and selected ‘chq/sav’.
Following the ACCC’s intervention, Hyatt has rolled out technological and policy changes across its Australian portfolio to ensure debit and credit cards are treated differently regardless of how a card interacts with a payment terminal.
The changes are designed to ensure consumers are not charged card payment surcharges above Hyatt’s actual cost of accepting those payment types.
The development comes as the ACCC continues to actively monitor compliance with Australia’s card payment surcharging laws, with a particular focus on businesses that may be charging more than their legitimate payment processing costs.
In April 2025, the regulator encouraged businesses across multiple sectors to review their card payment surcharge practices to ensure they were not exceeding the cost of accepting card payments.
“The ACCC expects all businesses to comply with the law and ensure their payment systems and staff are informed of different card types and apply the correct surcharge amounts for each, as it can vary between credit cards and debit cards,” Keogh said.
While the Reserve Bank of Australia continues a broader review of merchant payment costs and surcharging, the ACCC said it will maintain oversight under the current legislative framework.
The central bank launched a public review of merchant card payment costs and surcharging in October 2024, examining the fees businesses face when accepting credit and debit card payments and whether the current surcharging system remains appropriate.
Hyatt cooperated with the ACCC during the investigation and implemented the necessary changes promptly to address the regulator’s concerns.
Under Australian law, excessive card payment surcharging is banned when a business charges more than the cost it incurs to accept a particular payment type. The Reserve Bank sets out the categories of costs businesses are permitted to include when calculating these acceptance costs.
The ACCC has taken enforcement action against several companies in recent years over alleged excessive card payment surcharges, including Nine Entertainment, RedBalloon, Cruisin Motorhomes, Fitness First Australia and Lloyds Auctioneers and Valuers.
In a separate case, the Federal Court of Australia ordered CLA Trading Pty Ltd, trading as Europcar, to pay penalties over excessive card payment surcharges.
