Hotels warn fake deals on the rise

WA hotels are reporting a rise in the number of guests who wrongly believe they have paid for bookings after falling victim to fake travel websites offering discount deals.

Bradley Woods, CEO of the Australian Hotels Association.

In other cases, people are buying discount accommodation vouchers that do not arrive.

Although the hotels did not want to be named, the scale of the complaints was enough to warrant a warning from Australian Hotels Association WA chief executive Bradley Woods that if a deal on accommodation seemed too good to be true, it probably was.

Mr Woods said it was often difficult to tell fake online travel agency websites from the real thing because of their slick designs.

He said hoteliers had reported incidents where guests had arrived and presented what appeared to be booking confirmation from one of the fake sites, only to learn no booking had been made.

“These websites are often of such a high quality that it’s sometimes hard for consumers to distinguish between reputable and fake sites,” he said.

“Consumers need to remember if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is.

“In addition to fake (websites), consumers are also warned about buying discount accommodation vouchers that are supposed to arrive by mail but never do,” Mr Woods said.

“Australians are losing potentially thousands of dollars by not being vigilant and performing a few simple checks.”

Mr Woods said would-be guests should consider booking via a hotel website or a reputable online site.

Australians have lost $45 million to scams across the board, not just involving fake websites, this year.

Authorities have received 45,000 complaints.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says scammers who set up fake retail websites sometimes use stolen logos to fool buyers.

It says one of the biggest tip-offs to a fake site may be the method of payment, if it does not involve an established payment provider such as PayPal.

It advises avoiding any arrangement where a seller asks for up-front payment via money order, wire transfer, international funds transfer or pre-loaded money card.

Source: The West Australian, Kate Emery, July 18^th 2015
Originally published as: Hotels warn fake deals on the rise