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- Hotel scams cost Americans nearly $4 billion a year.
- By booking directly with your hotel or by using a travel agent, you can avoid many of the worst scams out there.
- We asked experts to describe seven of the worst hotel scams customers fall for.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Hundreds of new hotels pop up around the world each year.
With so many choices, the risk of getting scammed has never been higher.
According to the American Hotel and Lodging Association, fraudulent bookings cost US consumers $3.9 billion a year. If you want to avoid contributing to that statistic, you should train yourself to recognize the hallmarks of the most devious hotel scams.
While using a travel agent or booking directly with a hotel and reconfirming with a manager are the best ways to make sure you don’t get taken advantage of, with some diligence you can ensure you get the room you wanted for the price you agreed on.
Here are seven of the worst scams you might encounter when booking a hotel.
Some hotels add staggering hidden fees to your bill
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No one likes hidden fees, whether it’s for a concert ticket or a hotel room.
Unfortunately for consumers, hidden fees are legal, and in some cities, unavoidable.
In Las Vegas, for example, it’s a longstanding tradition for hotels to add a hefty "resort fee" to your bill, meaning a $60 room can actually cost upwards of $100, according to Jeff Russell, an entertainment travel consultant at Aspen Travel.
Some hotels, unable to claim "resort" status, have rolled out "amenity fees," he said. These mandatory daily charges supposedly pay for their pool, fitness center, or dining regardless of whether you actually use the amenities.
In some cities, there are also union-required porterage fees that can add $10 to $20 to the room, even if you carry your own bags. Other hotels add a daily fee for dining, again regardless of whether or not the guest eats, or even wants to eat, at the hotel.
These fees allow hotels to advertise lower rates without eating into profits. They’re usually listed in the fine print of your booking agreement, but whenever staying in a nicer city, call the hotel and ask. Otherwise, your final bill could end up hundreds of dollars more than originally expected.
Don’t be duped by an ‘ocean-view’ room that doesn’t actually face the ocean
Flickr / PortoBay Hotels & Resorts
Most reputable hotels can be trusted to accurately describe the views from the room. However, when paying a great rate for an "ocean-view" room at a lower-priced hotel, you may end up seeing very little ocean. The same holds true for city views.
"’Ocean-view’ simply means you get at least a sliver of a view from somewhere in the room," Russell told Business Insider. "An oceanfront room actually faces the ocean."
"If a hotel lists both an oceanfront room and an ocean-view room, know for a fact that the ocean-view will not be looking right out on the ocean," he said.
Some hotels will at least denote "partial ocean-view," though a glimpse of blue water out of a corner window could count as "partial."
A good tip when booking a room for the view is to look at price. A room with a full view of the ocean is usually at least $50 to $100 more than a standard room, Russell said. For a commanding view of a city, make sure your room is located on a high floor.
Some hotels use vague language to describe their rooms
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This scam is a result of both cultural differences and vague terminology. In some cases, it may be an honest mistake, while in others, language is intentionally left ambiguous to confuse the customer.
The best example is the European double room.
In the US, a double room almost always means a room with two double beds. But in Europe, it could also mean a room with two twin-size beds, like a college dorm; or even a room with just one double bed.
Other issues arrive if you try to bring more people than you mentioned in your booking form, like if you book a room under your name but your spouse joins you, or if you book a "family room" but don’t tell somebody at the front desk that you actually need multiple beds.
Russell said he has seen clients who booked their own travel arrive in Europe to find a room type different from what they thought they’d booked. While hotels may even acknowledge the ambiguity, he said he’s "seen them refuse to accommodate their new needs or charge exorbitant fees for adding a person."
According to Russell, these fees should be somewhere in the fine print. If you have to change room type, though, many hotels will charge you the current rate for booking a whole new reservation.
"And they don’t have to do you any favors there," he said.
Usually you can avoid this by looking closely at the rooms on their website. If that fails, call the hotel directly and ask.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Ryan Ariano)