If you are planning an upcoming trip, keep an eye out for hotel booking scams. BBB Scam Tracker continues to receive reports of travelers falling victim to lookalike websites. Always confirm you are on the right website before making hotel reservations.
How this scam works
You search for hotels in the city you plan to visit. Among the top search results is what appears to be an official hotel website or a legitimate travel booking agency. When you click the link, you find a website with professional photos from the hotel and reasonable pricing.
Everything looks normal, so you decide to book a room. You enter your credit card information and check out. However, when you review your credit card statement, you notice you’ve been charged a much higher rate than you agreed. It turns out that you weren’t on the official hotel website after all! You accidentally clicked on a third-party site without affiliation with the hotel.
One consumer reported this experience on BBB Scam Tracker: “When searching the web for a particular hotel, like [company name redacted], the hotel’s logo appears on their website. You think that you are contacting the hotel that you searched for, but you are not. They are a third party that operates under the guise of being associated with the hotel. They told me they handle overflow calls for the hotel, not true. In addition to the cost for the hotel, they assess a $16 “service” fee without advising you.”
When you contact the company to cancel your reservation, you may not be able to get through to anyone. And even if you do, they’ll likely tell you you’ve made a non-refundable reservation. The best they can do is cancel your reservation and charge you for it anyway.
How to avoid similar scams
- Only book hotels through official websites. The best way to avoid this kind of scam is to check and double-check you are on an official hotel website before you enter your credit card information. Scammers are pros at building fake lookalike websites to fool you into giving up your information. Look closely at the URL to ensure you are on the hotel’s official website or a booking agency you know and trust.
- Only make reservations through secure websites. You’ll also want to ensure websites and their payment pages are secure, meaning they start with https:// and display a padlock symbol. If a web page isn’t secure, don’t enter your personal information and close the tab.
- Watch out for misleading ads. Look at search results carefully. Just because a website is the first result on the page doesn’t mean it’s legitimate. Watch out for high-ranking ads that scammers could sponsor.
- Research businesses you aren’t familiar with. If you find a booking site that looks professional but you haven’t heard of it before, proceed with caution. Search for reviews on third-party websites and keep a close eye out for reports of scams. Never share your personal information with a person or business until you know they are trustworthy.