A RECOMMENDATION by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to abolish the ability for businesses to issue surcharges on eftpos and credit cards has been labelled “inherently unfair” by House of Travel Chief Operating Officer Grant Campbell.
Speaking with Travel Daily about the RBA’s policy suggestion released yesterday, Campbell said that accepting credit card payments imposes a direct and unavoidable cost on businesses.
“It is inherently unfair to restrict businesses from recouping these costs when they are a direct consequence of the payment method chosen by the consumer,” he explained.
“For travel advisor businesses, which typically operate on tight margins, the ability to recover these costs is especially critical.”
Campbell also noted that such a change would disproportionately impact travel advisors, in that transactions often extend into the thousands of dollars.
“This context is critical as card fees can be a high cash value as a result, which would heavily impact the feasibility of some travel advisors if they had to absorb them – this is not comparable to paying a few cents as a card fee for a coffee.”
ATIA labelled the RBA proposal “deeply disappointing”, warning such a move could lead to higher consumer prices and reduced travel advisor services. AB
