The problem of “rogue” hotel booking websites is bigger than previously known and is creating enormous problems for both travelers and the hotel industry.
A recent survey done for the American Hotel & Lodging Association found that 6 percent of travelers who had booked a room online thought they were booking directly with the hotel, but later found out they had used an imposter site. Based on this survey, the group estimates 15 million hotel bookings were done on rogue websites last year with $1.3 billion going to these fraudsters.
Prior to this survey, the group estimated the problem to be much smaller: about 2.5 million hotel bookings a year.
It’s just astounding,” said Maryam Cope, the association’s vice president of government affairs. “Travel and tourism is a growth industry and online booking is a huge success. Whenever there’s success, the scammers come out of the woodwork and try to prey on consumers, and I think that’s why we’re seeing such large numbers.”
The rogue sites are cleverly designed to look like the hotel’s site or a legitimate online travel agency. The scammers who run these bogus sites hijack the name, logo and even real pictures of the hotel. Their URL typically includes the hotel’s name, so it will pop up when you do a search.
The creators are so good that the Better Business Bureau reports that even the savviest travelers have fallen for this scam.
“Some sites even include a ‘call now’ button staffed by call center employees who have a whole script to hide the fact that they aren’t actually with the hotel of choice,” Mary Power, the BBB’s president and CEO. wrote in a blog post this summer. “These bad players are extremely skilled in the art of deceiving unsuspecting consumers.”
Fake Hotel Booking Scams Stir Up Turmoil for Travelers
Smartphones have made the problem worse because small screens can “mask phony sites, making it more difficult to identify details that aren’t quite right, like a phony URL or toll-free number that look like the hotel’s direct reservation desk, but are really from a third party,” Power wrote.
Wind up booking with a disreputable site, and you may not get the reservation you paid for. And because the hotel didn’t get the money, they can’t refund it to you. Worse yet, you could be giving your personal information to an identity thief.
“Book with the wrong website and it could ruin your vacation or business trip and be mighty costly,” said Steve Danishek, a Seattle-based travel expert. “In the worst case scenario, you can show up at the hotel and they don't have a reservation or even a room left for you. Then what do you do?"
Other potential problems when booking with the wrong site:
- Charges for undisclosed fees
- Paying a higher rate than advertised by the hotel
- Inability to change or modify reservation
- Reservations that don’t reflect special requests
- No points with the hotel’s rewards program
It’s unpleasant for everyone
Imagine showing up at a hotel, confirmation email in hand, and the person at the front desk says you don’t have a reservation. Or maybe you booked a room with double beds to sleep four and the reservation the hotel received from that phony site was for a single bed.
