You better check which website you’re on the next time you’re booking a trip.
A new study conducted by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) reveals that 6 percent of consumers who have booked hotels online have had the experience of thinking that they were booking directly with the property, but were actually booking with an online hotel booking website posing as the direct website.
Even more troubling, that works out to be 15 million hotel bookings that have been affected by these rogue websites — or $1.5 billion lost to bad bookings.
Of the 1,017 respondents, 20 percent weren’t even sure if they had been scammed. Fifty-six percent say they prefer booking directly with the hotel.
Getting a room that was different than expected, being charged unexpected/hidden fees, not getting rewards points, getting charged an extra booking fee, unable to get a refund for cancellation, having a lost or cancelled reservation, and having their identity or personal information stolen are among the inconveniences that consumers who have booked through an online travel company booking website have experienced.
