Posted in Travel News July 12, 2018 by Sophia

The Trick That Hotels To Sell Rooms That Might Actually Be Illegal

As local travel experts, we know what travelers are looking for when it comes to finding the perfect accommodations for their next trip. To compile our lists, we scour the internet to find properties with excellent ratings and reviews, desirable amenities, nearby attractions, and that something special that makes a destination worthy of traveling for.

You know when you’re browsing online for hotel rooms and see a bright, blinking alert that there’s only “one room left” at a particular price or hotel? Yeah, that’s probably not true.

Even worse, this kind of “pressure selling” could even be illegal.

According to a report released last week by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the U.K., booking sites are blatantly creating a false sense of urgency and concealing true availability to sell rooms.

The booking sites may also be featuring some hotels higher up in search results not because those hotels match the customers criteria, but because those hotels have paid the site to be on the first page of results.

Furthermore, travelers should be wary of last-minute fees and fine print that could inflate the advertised price of a room past the bargain rate initially offered.

Though the study was conducted by a U.K. government agency, the booking sites investigated are popular in America as well. Click here for more information about the research results.

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