Beware the holiday booking site rip-off
Websites continue to dupe tourists despite warning
TRAVEL booking websites are continuing to dupe customers with dodgy discount claims and hard-sell tactics – despite being told to clean up their acts.
The Competition & Markets Authority named and shamed Expedia, Booking. com, Trivago, Hotels.com, Agoda and Ebookers for employing unfair practices.
The sites were ordered to stop using measures that could mislead customers, such as not displaying the full cost upfront, giving a false impression of a room’s popularity and making dishonest claims about room discounts.
The CMA gave the firms until September 1 to resolve the issue, but Which? is now concerned that some of these firms are continuing to mislead customers.
It identified how Trivago offered a deal with Expedia to stay at Paris’s Millesime Hotel for £244 in February, which was advertised as a saving of 63 per cent. However, this claim was based on a comparison with the most expensive price – £675 – available on another site, rather than the average figure available.
And, even worse, when a Which? researcher clicked through the details on what appeared to be the priciest site, the actual cost was £240 for the same room, making it £4 cheaper than Expedia.
A spokesman for the consumer group said: ‘From September, all savings must be genuine - so a sales pitch like this from Trivago could land the company in court.’ Pressure tactics such as ‘one room left at this price’ and ‘booked four times in the last 24 hours’ can manipulate customers into parting with their cash quickly by giving the impression that the offer is time-limited.
Which? found that such claims may not be genuine. For example, Booking.com was advertising ‘the last’ double room with private external bathroom at the Balmore Guest House in Edinburgh, when in fact there were another seven dou
‘Getting away with it for years’
bles available, all with ensuites, for the same price.
They said travellers should use filter searches for price and location to sift out sponsored links until the new rules take effect in September. And it suggests tourists should contact hotels directly by telephone to secure the best deal.
The editor of Which? Travel, Rory Boland, said: ‘These sites have been getting away with dodgy sales practices for years and while the regulator’s intervention is a positive step, millions of holidaymakers are still going to be duped this summer before any changes are made.
‘You’re usually better off calling the hotel directly for the best rate – even if it can’t beat the price it will usually offer an incentive, discount or even a bottle of champagne to sweeten the deal.’
Expedia, which owns a range of brands including Hotels.com and Trivago, said: ‘We have a two-decades’ old commitment to putting travel data and details in the hands of consumers, knocking down barriers to searching, planning, and booking, all with the best interests of consumers in mind – to make travel easier, more attainable, more accessible and more enjoyable.’ Booking.com, whose brands include Kayak, said it has not admitted any ‘infringement’, but has agreed to change how it works.
A spokesman said: ‘We are constantly optimising the consumer experience on our website and mobile apps in an ongoing effort to deliver a best-in- class experience for our customers.’