Cheapest way of paying bills in fiji

Hello canny travellers,
We will be in Fiji for 3 weeks and have been told we can pay our accommodation, meal and activity charges by credit card but will be charged 6% extra if we do. Short of carrying loads of cash, is there a cheaper way to pay our bills?

Some service providers charge a premium for credit cards and some don't. I have not seen 6%. Most are 2.5% or 5%.
Cash is the only other way 'on the spot' and many only take cash anyhow.
If you pre-book a resort you may be able to pay by direct debit. Ask them.

Cheers,
Peter

It is illegal to charge a surcharge of credit card payments in Fiji. This has recently been discussed on TripAdvisor. Have a look at this link, particularly post #8 which quotes a reply from one of the banks regarding the issue.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g308257-i10203-k4377764-Mana_credit_card_fees-Mana_Island_Mamanuca_Islands.html

Nevertheless, an increasing number of resorts etc are attempting to do it. I think there will be some backlash, particularly as other charges such as VAT have increased. In addition, not all tourists are made of money and there have been earthquakes, floods and a general world recession which affects discretionary spending.

We'd all like to know - (so we can avoid it) - who told you and where are you staying? You may find you get more informed answers from that.

if you plan inadvance and know your plans you can book and pay before arrival into fiji which ensures you get in as some of the resorts are quite small, i was told by one resort to seek out travel agents in advance as they had deals on offer that direct booking with the resort didn't have which we then found to be true. I used travelonline.com but you'll need to do so before 27 April to get 20% off on many places.

Thanks for the advice everyone. We are staying at a small B and B in Taveuni, and I was wrong about the 6% charge----it is 5%, but the owners are allowing us to direct transfer our accommodation fee intotheir bank account, so we will avoid that particular charge. I may gently explain about the credit card charge being illegal once we are settled into our accommodation if it doesn't look as though any applecarts will capsize with that conversation. Travelonline seems only to have specials for the veeeeeery expensive resorts on Taveuni, lots on Viti Levu though!

the credit card fees are just an add on the house needs to pay the bank if you pay that way, direct deposit where possible and you have no need to pay it, i did today and saved $80 on cc fees. you dont get the freq flyer miles but you do get $80 in your pocket!