Avoid Scams When Booking Travel Online (or by Phone)

A friend of ours recently fell for an imposter booking site and now he wants his money back. Not only did they have an imposter site but they had a phone number that showed up in the search results that he called. We are no strangers to scams when it comes to credit via telemarketers or on social media but not everyone knows how bad it is when it comes to travel.

He found it by Googling “Hilton Doubletree Dallas Market Center” Instead of taking him to the official hotel site, the search results led him to a third-party company called Reservationstays com similar to another imposter site Guestreservations com and Snaptravel. They also gave a phone number in the results starting with (844) which sounds legit.

And that’s where all his problems began.

It looked like the hotel website — it definitely wasn’t

“When you click on this link, it appears to be the Doubletree Hilton website,” he says. “The photos and layout are the same.” He also went on to show me on his phone how it came up in Google search with a phone number and link. We called the phone number together on speaker phone.

They answered quickly and we asked for the specific hotel. They told us it was sold out but said they could offer us a 6pm checkout. He asked them if they would offer breakfast and the rep said they would even throw in dinner. We were trying so hard not to laugh as I have Diamond with Hilton and Titanium with Marriott and have never checked out later than 4pm. A 6pm checkout or even dinner most likely wouldn’t be possible for Paris Hilton herself.

He claims Reservationstays com charged him a deceptive $19 fee on top of a $138 room rate. In some cases the fees have been as high as $159. He can try to deny the charge on his credit card but he may end up having to pay the charge at the end of the day. After he tried to call the Reservationstays to speak to them about this charge they kept calling back from this 385-374-0300 number which also comes up as a telemarketer.

Don’t want to get fleeced by an imposter booking site? Careful where you click or who you call.

This story is a cautionary tale for the rest of us to look carefully before booking. There are sites out there that look legit but may not be. But you can easily spot them. Also remember to never give your credit card number out over the phone to any of these advertisements you see. Make sure you call the hotel direct.

How to avoid a scam travel booking site or phone hotline

• Do your research. It’s worth Googling the name of the website to see if anything has been written about it online. Travelers should also always check the small print before processing their transactions.
• Know your destination and book direct. Type the web address directly — and carefully. Bear in mind that some unscrupulous third party imposter booking sites have snatched up domain names with common misspellings of the companies they’re spoofing. And they’re waiting for you to make a mistake.

Reservationstays and Guestreservations com didn’t respond to messages asking about his case. The site describes itself as an intermediary focused on “connecting travelers” to bargains. “As an independent travel network, we can get you the same deals you expect with a bigger travel agency or direct from the hotel.

I tried to duplicate his reservation. The problem is when you search with Google or any other search engine that is paid for by advertisers the first thing you will see in the top spots is actual AD’s and not the true hotel website or phone number especially if it is a boutique hotel such as the Warwick or Sonesta chains. You will normally see ads based on what you have searched in the past and this will vary with everyone individually.

And while it’s true that Reservationstays and Guestreservations’s site does not claim to be an official Holiday Inn, boutique or Hilton site, it also doesn’t specifically say it isn’t. (There are clues, though, including the bright red notice that says, “Jackpot! This is today’s low rate,” and an annoying countdown clock that only gives you 10 minutes to make up your mind about your reservation. Just like what you would find on some other non-direct hotel booking sites.)

A spokeswoman for InterContinental Hotels Group, which owns Holiday Inn and Candlewood Suites, said it is not involved in transactions that customers make on third-party websites such as Guestreservations.

“We encourage guests to book directly through our channels for greater control over their reservations, and to access exclusive loyalty rates,” she added.

Signs You Might Be on a Scam Hotel Booking Site

There are a lot of third-party websites that aren’t linked to the hotels they market at all. This is fine, since most well-known booking sites are built to show you most of the hotels in the area so you can find the deals.

But some sites try to copy the overall look of a major chain’s site and will trick you into clicking on theirs instead of the real site.

Before you book a room, look for warning signs, like:

• A blurry or unofficial logo
• Prices that seem a little too low, even for a great deal
• Strange amenities such as a 6pm late check-out that no hotel would ever do with a third-party site
• URLs that aren’t straightforward – such as not having a .com behind the name such as hilton.com, warwickhotels.com or IHG.com. An example of a bad actor would be warwickmelrose.reservationstays com. You would see it come up with Warwick as the name in the link but it’s not the actual hotel nor is it a booking site unless it is warwickhotels.com.
• An HTTP URL instead of an HTTPS URL (the “S” shows that the link is secure), especially on the checkout page

A warning from the Federal Trade Commission about Scam Phone Numbers and Sites

The Federal Trade Commission issued a warning about imposter sites that seem to be posing as the real thing. The agency said it heard from customers who searched online and thought they were booking on a hotel website, only to find they’d unknowingly been doing business with someone else.

“For those times you’re looking to book directly with a hotel,” the FTC warned, “make sure that’s what you’re doing.”

Since then, the problem has gotten worse. It’s not the legitimate online travel agencies such as Expedia and Booking com perpetrating the scam, says Ari Lightman, professor of digital media and marketing at Carnegie Mellon University.

“It’s the sites deliberately set up to dupe consumers,” he says. “They’re becoming more lucrative for hackers trying to obtain data on individuals.”

You are always better off booking with something you know such as Hilton’s direct website or the Hotel Tonight app. You can tell that it is an ad as it will normally be marked slightly meaning you have to look very close to who you are booking or giving your credit card information.

Look at the website you’re on very carefully before booking. Some travel sites look legit but aren’t. Not only did our friend book by calling a phone number from this site listed in Google he also gave them his credit card over the phone and security code. He was charged a fee on top of the hotel rate. The hotel rate was actually cheaper booking direct. It was also not the hotel he had originally set out to book that this booking representative told him was sold out. It was not.

It’s not just Google: Event and convention sites are fooled by fake links or phone numbers they recommend

One example is the The XL Center “the center of sports and entertainment for Hartford and the state of Connecticut.” A legit website that lists the same 844 phone number with the Candlewood Suites an IHG hotel. The exact same number my friend called who charged his credit card an additional fee.

We did a google search for the phone number (844) 996-3737 and came up with this result . Notice the XL Center with Candlewood Suites Hartford below it. This is because Google scrapes snippets of sites to list in the results but XL Center was relying on their own search for the hotels phone number and not giving out the true phone number on their site. The event center did give out the legit link to the actual hotel. When you go to the XL Center website you will see the following:

As travel has become more frequent after coming out of a pandemic all of us are trying to find the best rates. Almost every search found several official-looking options. We came very close to using one of these sites by mistake several times when booking international trips. Airlines aren’t exempt from scammy booking sites that can lead to booking mistakes either.

Third-party websites are sophisticated as they can look almost identical to legitimate airline or hotel websites. Always verify you are on a secure webpage to make reservations or book travel.

Perhaps the best way to avoid these sites is to pay attention. If you’re booking an airline ticket, hotel room or getting a visa, read the website’s address. If you’re not on the official site, odds are you’re dealing with a third party. And that third party may try to rip you off.