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There’s a scary scam that travelers need to be aware of, and the Better Business Bureau says the scariest part about it is that the scammers don’t find you, you fall right into their trap.
According to the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), there are an estimated 480 hotel bookings made online per minute. And while it’s convenient, and often appears to be a good deal, the group says there are some “serious concerns” that consumers need to be aware of when it comes to booking travel accommodations online.
A recent survey for the AHLA found that 6% of travelers who booked a hotel room online later discovered they had used a fake site. The group estimates 15 million hotel bookings have been made on rogue websites — scamming $1.3 billion from consumers per year.
Read more: Hotel booking: Third-party sites vs. booking direct
The BBB and the Federal Trade Commission are now issuing warnings about this increasingly costly problem.
The problem is that these fake booking sites can look just like real hotel booking sites.
According to the BBB, fake sites use real hotel sites’ logos, designs and photos to fool users into thinking they’re doing business directly with the real company or hotel. The URL may include the name of the real hotel, and some groups even have staffers available to answer calls made to the number on the website — ready to give you enough information to convince you to book and still hide the fact that you aren’t booking through the real hotel website.
Read more: The best travel booking websites
Plus, booking a hotel on your smartphone can make it even more difficult to spot the real players from phony sites.
According to the AHLA, here’s what consumers experienced in scams by rogue booking sites:
Read more: Clark’s Travel Booking & Planning Guide
So if the fake sites look just like real ones, how can you avoid them? The BBB is urging consumers to be mindful of certain indicators of fake sites when booking accommodations online.
Here are a few things to look out for and some tips from the AHLA for avoiding potential scams:
If you’ve been a victim of a hotel booking scam, contact the Federal Trade Commission to alert them about the issue. Go to ftc.gov/complaint to file a complaint.
This post was last modified on March 22, 2017 3:05 pm
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