Skip to footer

How to spot a hotel booking scam

Scammers are getting better and better at mimicking the look and feel of trustworthy websites, but there are things you can do to protect yourself against booking a hotel with a fraudulent site.

|
Travis Rowan/Paia Inn via AP/File
A beach house at a popular boutique hotel in Paia, Hawaii. According to the American Hotel and Lodging Association, over 2.5 million fraudulent hotel bookings are made each year.

Scam hotel booking sites have been popping up all over the internet, and while they might look JUST like your favorite online travel agency, looks can be deceiving. Scammers are getting better and better at mimicking the look and feel of trustworthy websites. But there are things you can do to protect yourself against booking a hotel with a fraudulent site.

This problem has become so prevalent that the FTC wrote an entire blog post on the subject in which they recommended booking directly with the hotel chain. Another way to be sure you're navigating to the right webpage is to use the URL on your rewards card. Most major chains will simply be the brand name plus a .com, likeStarwood.com or Hilton.com.

According to the American Hotel and Lodging Association, over 2.5 million fraudulent bookings are made each year. Sometimes, you'll still get a room, just not the one you thought you booked. Imagine arriving on vacation with a family of five thinking you booked a two-room ocean-side suite, only to be presented with a room holding one queen-sized bed and a view of the parking lot.

One fraud prevention tactic I like to use is to call the hotel directly with the cheaper rate online. Many hotels will match a rate lower than their own, or even give you some money back with a "Best Price Guarantee." To take advantage of this, book a room directly through your hotel chain, and then send them an email within 24 hours with a screenshot and link of the lower price you found. Usually they'll match the price, and sometimes even give you a premium, like Starwood's 20 percent bonus or 2,000 Starpoints.

Here are four ways to spot a hotel booking scam:

  • Even if the site has official logos, it could be a fake.
  • If the price seems to good to be true, it probably is.
  • Check the URL - it's usually BrandName.com, not BrandName.WeirdWebsite.net.
  • Major booking sites will have a secure connection - HTTPS.

Here are some official links to OTAs that will not scam you on your next trip:

Hotels.com

Expedia.com

Priceline.com

Hotwire.com

This article first appeared in Brad's Deals.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to How to spot a hotel booking scam
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Saving-Money/2015/0811/How-to-spot-a-hotel-booking-scam
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe