Cha-ching.
The sound of billions lost from online booking scams. Let’s say you booked and paid for your hotel online – does your hotel really have the reservation?
If you’ve shopped for hotels online then you’ve probably seen the message ‘only 1 room left’ or ‘there are 50 people looking at this hotel’ – ways to manipulate consumers. Perhaps you did make a reservation only to find ‘no room at the Inn’ as the research shows that 1 out of 4 had a problem with their reservation.
What’s the solution?
1. The AHLA created a ‘Search Smarter‘ campaign to encourage consumers to take more time and be more aware of the site they’re shopping. For example, some third-party sites include the name of the hotel in their link, but it isn’t the hotel site.
2. Booking direct with the hotel or all-inclusive resort is another way to avoid issues. Signing up for hotel loyalty programs is also a good idea. Hotels guarantee their rates and in many cases, it’s lower or the same as third-party sites.
3. Contact a skilled travel advisor. They will have the most up to date information and rates directly from the hotels & resorts, and in most cases, you won’t have to pay in full at the time of the reservation.
The government may also get involved in an effort to protect consumers with the Stop Online Booking Scams Act of 2019, which was initiated in July 2019.
Have you been scammed booking a hotel? Let us know in the comments.
Don’t Miss:
Top Travel Scams and How to Avoid Them
[Checklist] – Finding Deals on All Inclusive Resorts
More Reading:
New Research Shows Fraudulent, Misleading Hotel Bookings Rob Consumers of $5.7 Billion Annually
Bipartisan bill would crack down on online hotel booking scams
