Be careful when making hotel bookings - Latest scams

[Gaybutton]

Suppose you booked a hotel room, paid for it, and then find out upon arrival the hotel not only never heard of you, but also has no rooms available for you.

When booking a room, make sure you are booking through a well established, reputable booking service or via the hotel itself. Even then, be very careful. Some scammers have created look-alike sites. I would recommend you book only by paying on arrival, never in advance. If the booking service tries to convince you to pay in advance, pay a deposit, or refuses to let you pay upon arrival, wrong booking service - and it's the kind to report to authorities.

And after you've booked, contact the hotel, even if it requires a phone call, to make sure they have and have accepted your booking. It may be more expensive that way, but that's better than arriving and finding out the only places available for you to sleep are the middle of the street or a hotel very far from where you want to be. For example, there is a very nice hotel at the end of my street and not very expensive. But I doubt any of you would want to end up staying there because it is nowhere near where you probably want to be or where you want to spend your time.

Remember - if an offer sounds too good to be true, then it isn't true.
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Chiang Mai hotel exposes hotel booking scams

By Pattaya Mail

August 19, 2023

A renowned hotel in Chiang Mai has filed a complaint to the police against scammers creating a fraudulent Facebook page to deceive individuals into making accommodation bookings and transferring money.

The manager of R1 Nimman Hotel Chiang Mai filed the complaint at the Phu Ping Police Station after a cybercriminal gang took images from the hotel’s official Facebook page, created a counterfeit page, and posted messages claiming to offer room reservations.

This led to several potential customers falling prey to the scam, thinking they were interacting with the legitimate hotel page and subsequently transferring money for room bookings.

Upon arriving at the hotel, these victims discovered that no such bookings had been made. Over the past month, nearly 10 people have fallen victim to the scammers.

The hotel advises customers to be cautious by checking the creation date of the hotel’s page. The real Facebook page has a longer history spanning several years, whereas a fraudulent page is created within a few months, aiming to scam victims in the short term before disappearing.

Legitimate bank accounts used for hotel transactions should carry the hotel’s legal entity name, not individual names.

https://www.pattayamail.com/thailandnew ... ams-438549

[Jun]

If I search for a property on google maps, I'm amazed at the number of booking sites that it sometimes comes up with & I've never heard of most of them.

[Gaybutton]

I'm amazed at the number of booking sites that it sometimes comes up with & I've never heard of most of them.

I would not recommend using any of those. Stick with sites you know are reputable - and follow the precautions mentioned in the article to make sure you're using a legitimate site, not a look-alike site. Again, no deposits and pay only when you check in.

In Pattaya, for the time being since now it is low season, still no Chinese, and the Russians mostly going to Phuket, you probably don't even need to book in advance unless you won't be coming until high season. For now, you most likely can just walk in to the hotel of your choice and have no problem getting a room.

[Jun]

I would not recommend using any of those. Stick with sites you know are reputable - and follow the precautions mentioned in the article to make sure you're using a legitimate site, not a look-alike site. Again, no deposits and pay only when you check in.

I stick to reputable sites, however, they are increasingly applying non-refundable terms. This is OK when I book a room for 1~2 days, at short notice when travelling around. However, if I am making an advance booking for 4~6 weeks over the peak season, I don't want to be tied down to paying for the entire booking in the event I'm forced to cancel.
When staying in Pattaya, the accommodation I have been using can be directly reserved by e-mail.

So far I've not had to cancel a hotel booking, but close relatives are of an advanced age.

The booking sites I have been using are Agoda, Booking.com & Hotels.com. Agoda & booking.com are the same company. This year, I have even booked hotels via Agoda and then found the hotel owner only listed it on Booking.com, yet they receive a booking.com confirmation of my reservation.

Hotels.com have drastically lost market share in recent years. Now, the only reputable sites listing certain hotels are Agoda & Booking.com. Reduced competition is not a good thing.