Beware scam potential when booking a hotel room, experts say


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SALT LAKE CITY — Imagine booking your hotel reservations online, packing your bag, finally getting to your destination only to find there's no room for you.

It has become such a large problem that the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission have been asked to investigate.

Every minute that goes by, some 480 hotel rooms are booked online, according to the American Hotel and Lodging Association. It estimates that 2.5 million bookings every year are no good.

"A lot of times we have guests think they've done everything right," said Jordan Garn, executive director of the Utah Hotel & Lodging Association. "They think they've booked the room with the company website. They show up at the front desk, unfortunately, and there's no record of this purchase of a room this night."

Here's the problem: Increasingly more rogue booking sites are popping up on Internet searches for hotel rooms. These websites have the same look and feel you've seen from hotel chains you know and trust.

"They'll try to put logos for certain hotels they're trying to mimic," Garn explained. "They'll put the name of the company of who owns the property into the URL, all in an effort to mislead and trick consumers into buying the room night with them."

Some of these rogue sites will take your money without booking a room. And if you actually get a room, chances are you won't end up with the one, or the amenities you wanted.

Jane Driggs, president and CEO of the Utah Better Business Bureau, said, "They have their own booking sites, even their own call centers — everything the public is looking for, so that we think it's a real website."

Making matters worse, Driggs said, is the use of mobile phones to book rooms. Their smaller screens can keep the giveaways of a rogue site hidden.


"It's so easy to look on your phone and say, 'Oh, there's a hotel in the next town.'" The words are pretty small, easy to fall for it." - Jane Driggs, Utah BBB

"So you're looking for a hotel and you're driving. It's so easy to look on your phone and say, 'Oh, there's a hotel in the next town.'" The words are pretty small, easy to fall for it," Driggs said.

So what are the giveaways? Driggs said make sure it's a secured site. If it doesn't show "https" or the lock in the URL bar, don't book it. Also, make sure the URL matches the name of the hotel.

"The name of the hotel, (then) .com, usually how it's done. It's not going to be a website.com/ with the name of the hotel," she said.

Garn of the Utah Hotel and Lodging Association says to call the reservation line to see if they know what they're talking about. Ask about amenities, nearby restaurants and other details they should know.

Other questions you should ask: "What is the refund policy? What is the cancellation policy? With whom are you speaking?" Garn said.

He advises travelers to book their rooms directly with hotels.

"You know exactly who you're dealing with. It's a lot easier to hold them accountable," he said.

When making reservations, you should never pay more than the first night's stay up front. Don't use your debit card. That's your actual money, and it vanishes in a scam. If you use your credit card, you can get it reversed and the scammers don't get the money.

And, keep checking your credit card statements so that bogus charges don't suddenly appear. After a thief has your confirmed credit card number, they can charge anything.

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Bill Gephardt

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