Do you rely on online travel platforms and agencies for all kinds of holiday bookings? Despite having a wonderful reputation in the industry, even the world’s leading companies sometimes end up providing poor services and hamper customers’ trips miserably. Renowned travel vlogger Tanya Khanijow experienced a huge scam after booking a hotel on Booking.com. Let’s take a look at her ordeal.
Travel Vlogger Complained About Booking.com For Fake Hotel Listing
Tanya shared the entire incident with her Instafam on her Instagram stories. As she shared on social media, she travelled to Varanasi to celebrate the iconic Dev Deepawali festivities. To explore this holy city in this peak season, she made hotel bookings about a month ago using Booking.com. She booked two rooms at a property named Astra Luxury Rooms and Cafe spending almost ₹26,000.
Unfortunately, the hotel was a fake listing on the online travel platform. Though reviews and details were highlighted on the platform, the property did not exist IRL. As a long-time Booking.com user, she trusted the platform and did not check Google Maps before paying for her bookings. Any property with the same name does not exist in the entire Varanasi and turned out to be a hoax listing.
The travel vlogger’s recent experience with booking hotels on Booking.com is a major example showing how online hotel booking scams continue around us. Even after having all kinds of necessary information, the property turned out to be a fake one, just to fraud interested customers and charge as much money as possible.
Also read: What Is Quishing Scam And How To Stay Aware & Safeguard Yourself From It?
What Happened Next?
After realising the online hotel booking scam, the travel vlogger tried contacting Booking.com. Despite attempting to raise the issue, she was not provided any assistance by the platform. “Neither did I get help with an alternative hotel, nor do I think I am getting money back,” wrote Tanya.
The fake hotel listing is still live on the online travel platform. Unfortunately, people unaware of the hoax will fall into the trap and end up losing a lot of money to book this non-existent property.
Have you faced similar experiences while booking hotels on online websites?
Cover Image Courtesy: Instagram/ Tanya Khanijow (@tanyakhanijow), Canva
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