Somewhere on your hotel website there may be a small line that reads “A 1.5% surcharge applies to all card payments.” It could be at the bottom of a restaurant menu PDF, buried in your function terms, or tucked into a booking confirmation email that was written five years ago.

From 1 October 2026, that line is out of date. Card surcharges are ending in Australia, and hotels have more places for surcharge wording to hide than almost any other type of business.

Following its review of retail payments, the Reserve Bank of Australia has decided to remove card surcharging. From 1 October 2026:

• Businesses can no longer charge a surcharge for paying by eftpos, Mastercard, Visa or American Express, on credit, debit and prepaid cards.
• There is no exemption for business size, and business to business payments are included. That matters for corporate accounts, group bookings and function invoices.
• Invoices issued before 1 October but paid on or after that date cannot carry a card surcharge.
• Other charges, such as weekend and public holiday surcharges, booking fees and service fees, are not affected by the change.

A cafe has one menu and one terminal. A hotel has rooms, restaurants, bars, room service, a spa, conferences and events, parking and gift vouchers, each with its own pages, PDFs, terms and systems. Surcharge wording can sit in any of them:

• Accommodation: booking engine terms, rate and package descriptions, cancellation and payment policies.
• Restaurants and bars: menu PDFs, drinks lists, set menus, room service menus and table reservation pages.
• Spa, wellness and experiences: treatment menus, price lists and booking pages.
• Conferences, weddings and events: function packs, proposals, quotes and terms of trade.
• Gift vouchers: your online voucher checkout, voucher descriptions and terms.
• Guest communications: booking confirmations, pre arrival emails and invoices.
• Third party listings: menus uploaded to Google Business Profile, restaurant booking platforms and review sites.

1. Search your own website

Type site:yourhotel.com.au surcharge into Google (using your own domain) to see every indexed page and PDF that mentions the word. Repeat for terms like “card fee”, “merchant fee” and “credit card”.

2. Let AI do the heavy reading

Menus, function packs and terms documents are long and easy to skim past. Share them, or your page links, with an AI assistant and ask it to do the reading for you. For example:

"Review the following pages and documents and list every reference to card surcharges, credit card fees, merchant fees or payment surcharges, including the exact wording and where it appears."

3. Check your payment systems

Removing the words is only half the job. Ask your finance team to confirm with your payment provider that surcharging is switched off in your booking engine, payment gateway, POS terminals and any online checkout from 1 October.

4. Update your templates and documents

Review confirmation emails, invoice templates, function packs and proposals, and replace older PDFs on your website with updated versions. Old PDFs are often still live and indexed long after a new version has been uploaded.

5. Tidy up third party listings and on property signage

Refresh menus on Google Business Profile and booking platforms, and let front office, restaurant and bar teams know so signage, receipts and verbal scripts match.

Genuine booking and service fees are still allowed. However, the ACCC has been clear that businesses should not try to avoid the new rules by relabelling a card surcharge as another type of fee, and that doing so may be misleading conduct. If a fee exists only to recover card payment costs, it is best treated as a surcharge and removed.

Most HyperGift solutions do not charge a surcharge, but a small number do. The quickest check is to add a voucher to your cart and look for a surcharge line at the checkout. If you find one, our team will remove it for you, and your finance team will need to switch it off in your payment gateway. We have put together a simple step by step guide here.

Guests increasingly expect the price they see to be the price they pay. Removing surcharges gives you a cleaner, more trustworthy booking and dining experience, and with lower card costs coming through the RBA reforms, it is a good moment to review your pricing, payment plans and provider fees at the same time.

☐ Search your website and PDFs for “surcharge” and related terms

☐ Review restaurant, bar, room service and spa menus

☐ Check booking engine, rate, package and function terms

☐ Confirm surcharging is switched off in your gateway, booking engine and POS

☐ Update email templates, invoices and proposals

☐ Refresh menus on Google Business Profile and third party platforms

☐ Check your HyperGift checkout and contact [email protected] if needed

Need a hand reviewing your website before 1 October? Talk to your HyperHotels account manager or email [email protected].

This article is general information only and is not legal or financial advice. For advice on your specific pricing and fees, please speak with your payment provider or a legal adviser, and refer to the RBA and ACCC guidance.

Erica brings 20+ years of experience at OmniHyper, having been part of every chapter since joining in 2006. As Studio Manager, she oversees project delivery and keeps people, processes and priorities moving in the right direction. She’s known for her calm, organised approach, and getting things done.