How to Detect Popular Scams Targeting Travelers

A dream trip can quickly turn stressful if you’re not prepared for common travel scams, including booking your lodging. You’ve got your dates locked in, your destinations mapped out, and now it’s time to book a place to stay. A quick search pops up dozens of gorgeous-looking hotels, cozy inns, and short-term vacation rentals. Some may have suspiciously good prices. Before you reach for your credit card, pause. Travel accommodation scams are more sophisticated than ever, and even seasoned travelers can get caught off guard. Planning trips can build exciting anticipation of travel, but travelers need to be conscientious in all matters when organizing their itineraries. Most of the tips in this article are quick items that won’t slow down your trip planning more than a couple of minutes. And they can save a lot of frustration, time, and money. It pays to learn to detect scams targeting travelers.

Breakfast items (coffee, orange juice, and croissants) sit atop a map of Scotland with a travel guide nearby. — **Trip planning begins! Now, avoid the scams**. *Source: J Briggs*

1. Booking Accommodations

Scammers have gotten remarkably good at impersonating legitimate hotels and rental properties. They clone official websites, steal photos, and even mimic the branding of well-known chains. Consider the following warning signs and steps.

The URL Doesn’t Quite Match

A fake site posing as the ABC Resort might live at “abcresorts.reservations.com” or “abcresorts-official.net.” Look for misspellings, hyphens, or added words like “official” or “deals.” The real hotel’s official domain is always clean and direct (e.g., abcresorts.com). Small changes to legitimate-looking websites can be easy to miss when you’re quickly scanning Google. In some cases, these fake listings can even appear before the property’s official site, making them especially convincing. The point is, don’t rush through search results when you think you’ve got the site you’re looking for. Read the entire URL before clicking on it!

The Price Is Too Good to Be True

A five-star resort offering rooms at $89/night during peak season isn’t a steal. It’s a trap. Scammers lure victims with unbelievable pricing. Always cross-check rates on legitimate platforms. If one site is drastically cheaper than everywhere else, treat it as a major warning sign. The old adage rings true: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

You Suspect Stock Photos on the Site

If any warning bells start to go off in your head, consider the photos on the sites. Right-click any property photo and run a reverse image search on Google Images. Scam listings frequently use stock photos or are stolen from real hotel sites. If the same image shows up under a completely different property name, you’ve found a fake.

In addition to websites, fake images are increasingly appearing on social media. Such images often inspire travel planning. So, be alert. Recently, someone showed me a striking photo on a state park system site that was identical to one used by another state’s site, hundreds of miles away. And who knows? That beautiful tree with branches reaching over a trail in the photo? It may have actually been AI-generated. It’s upsetting that this goes on, but it’s a reminder to be aware and, more often, to question things that appear especially alluring.

You’re Asked to Pay Off-Platform

This is a major red flag for a scam! If a “host” or “hotel” contacts you asking you to wire money, pay via gift cards, or send payment through Venmo, Zelle, or cryptocurrency instead of the official booking platform, don’t go any further. Legitimate businesses never ask for payment outside of secure, established channels. For example, on short-term booking sites (like VRBO or Airbnb), all communication between you and the property host goes through the app. Payment does as well. No outside emails or texts.

Use Google Street View and Maps

Paste the listed address into Google Maps and switch to Street View. Does the building actually exist? Does it look like the photos? Fake listings sometimes list addresses for empty lots, residential homes, or entirely different buildings. This quick check has saved countless travelers from a vacation bust. This scam is one I’ve heard about from other travelers: everything looks great on the short-term rental site, but the property isn’t always what it appears to be online.

Search the Property Name + “Scam” or “Reviews”

A quick Google search of the property name alongside words like “scam,” “reviews,” “fraud,” or “complaints” can surface warnings from other travelers. Also, check TripAdvisor or other traveler reviewed sites, as real travelers are usually quite vocal about bad experiences! Most legitimate reviews include details about the property, such as cleanliness, location, and staff interactions, rather than simply stating that a property was “great” or that they had a “fun time”.

A man speaks on the phone while looking at his laptop. — **A safe bet: verify you’re on the lodging’s official website and book directly with them.** *Source: David Hahn*

2. Where and How to Book Safely

Book Directly with the Hotel or Inn

Although some hotel aggregation companies offer inviting prices, it’s always best to book directly with the property (and some offer good rates when you do). Besides, if anything goes wrong or the room you thought you were going to get is unavailable, you have recourse through the hotel or inn since you booked directly with them.

I’ve heard from someone who booked through an aggregation site and had issues at the hotel that weren’t addressed after check-in because the reservation wasn’t made directly with them. I always book hotels and inns directly (and also on short-term vacation rental sites).

There are large booking platforms such as Booking.com, Expedia, and Hotels.com that often offer dispute-resolution processes and some level of consumer protection. If something goes wrong, you have a third party to contact. Lesser-known or brand-new booking sites often don’t offer that protection.

Verify the Website’s Security Certificate

Look for “https://” at the start of the URL and a padlock icon in your browser bar. When you shop online, you always want to make sure you’re on a secure website. The same goes for any website (like hotels and inns) that expects payment. Looking for the secure designation in the URL field takes a quick glance, but it can save you heartache down the road.

Always Pay With a Credit Card

Using credit cards is the safest way to purchase almost anything, including booking travel. That’s because credit cards offer chargeback protection. So, if you’re defrauded, you can dispute the charge with your card issuer. Debit cards, wire transfers, gift cards, and cryptocurrency offer little to no recourse once the money is gone. Paying with a credit card is a non-negotiable rule for me when booking travel.

Save Every Confirmation and Receipt

Screenshot your booking confirmation, save confirmation emails, and note your reservation number. If a property claims they have no record of your booking upon arrival, having documentation is your best defense.

I save my confirmation emails in a folder (on my email platform) titled for the destination. It looks something like this: “2027 England,” making those emails easily searchable by year and destination. Before a trip, I create a Notes document on my iPhone with pictures of each confirmation (e.g., accommodations, tours, cooking schools) in the order we’ll travel. (No need to carry a lot of paper confirmation documents.) The same could be done using Google Drive, saving the document for offline use so it’ll always be available while on the go.

**Always use a credit card to book accommodations and tours.**

3. Protect Your Personal and Financial Information

There are more tips to consider when booking with official hotels, inns, short-term rentals, and guided tours. These relate to keeping your personal and financial information secure.

Never Book on Public Wi-Fi

Coffee shops, airports, hotel lobbies, and other public Wi-Fi networks are hunting grounds for data thieves. If you need to book, check, or change reservations while traveling, use your phone’s mobile data or a reputable VPN (Virtual Private Network) to encrypt your connection.

Use Strong Unique Passwords

Create unique, strong passwords for every travel platform you use. If one site suffers a data breach, you don’t want the same credentials used to unlock your email, bank, or other accounts. It may be tempting to reuse passwords because they’re easy to remember. Don’t do it! Keep your personal information safe. In fact, you may want to consider a password manager for general use.

Enable Two-Factor Authentication

Turn on two-factor authentication (2FA) for all booking platform accounts and your email. Even if someone gets your password, they won’t be able to access your account without the second verification step. It takes a couple of minutes to set up and could save you a massive headache (if you get hacked). Actually, this safety measure is a good tip for all your accounts, such as health care portals and financial accounts.

Add Fraud and Transaction Alerts on Your Travel Credit Card

If you don’t have one yet, consider getting a travel credit card for its benefits, such as travel planning assistance, travel insurance, airport lounge access, reimbursement for known-traveler programs (like TSA PreCheck and Global Entry in the U.S.), and fraud alerts. These cards can be a great convenience for travelers. Whatever credit card you’re using, though, set up transaction notifications so any unauthorized charge pings your phone the moment it happens, giving you the fastest possible window to dispute it.

For example, when I’m not traveling, I set my credit card to notify me of any transaction above a certain dollar amount. But when I’m traveling, I change the setting to alert me for every transaction, so I’m immediately aware of some nefarious credit card activity.

Legitimate booking sites need your name, payment details, and contact info. That’s it. Be wary of any platform asking for your passport number, Social Security number, or date of birth during a standard booking. This information isn’t required.

I had this very issue happen on an upcoming trip. After booking a guided tour, I received an email saying they’d need my passport number to access a certain iconic site on the tour. I shared my privacy concerns, and they suggested I purchase a ticket directly from the venue for a specific date and time (when the group would be visiting the site). I may have overreacted, but I feel better knowing that my passport information is safe.

Final Thoughts

When my husband and I decide on a trip, I dig into trip-planning mode almost immediately. I research accommodation options (hotels, inns, short-term rentals), key sites, hidden gems, and guided tours. (That’s when I really get excited about an upcoming trip!) Concurrently, I am aware of what to look for to avoid travel scams and to keep our financial information safe.

The tips mentioned above may seem like a lot to consider, but you probably already know some of them, and the others take just moments to implement. And that is time well spent, because the benefits (no issues with booking, getting the accommodations you expect, keeping your information safe, travel peace of mind) are all worth it. Happy travels!