SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Before you go on vacation for spring break this year, you probably want to make sure that you’re not headed to a destination that will land you into a tangled plot like the latest season of “The White Lotus” – or at least that there aren’t roaches in your bedroom.
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Andrea Sachs, travel reporter for The Washington Post, has been through the latter and lived to tell the tale. She joined KCBS Radio’s Liz Saint John this week to offer tips for travelers who want to avoid red flag hotels.
First, Sachs offered some beacons to help navigate the vast sea of booking options on the internet.
“Do we book directly with the hotel or do we book on one of the booking sites?” asked Saint John.
“It’s so easy just to type in a hotel name, you click on the first thing that comes up, and you need to not be hasty because there are so many scammers out there,” Sachs warned. “And they might have the hotel name, but like one letter is different. It’s almost like a Rolex that you buy on the street.”
She advised taking time to make sure all sites used to book trips are legitimate. Sending payment information through scam sites could result in losing money and not getting it back.
“Take a beat, take a minute. Just look at the website, make sure it’s legitimate and authentic. If there’s a phone number, call the phone number, make sure the hotel answers the phone. You have to be really cautious these days about not getting scammed. That’s the first red flag. First of many.”
To spot the next red flag, consumers should take a good look at photos of the hotel posted online.
“So, when you’re looking at photos – if they’re stock photos, if they look kind of, you know, overproduced or they’re showing like the breakfast tray or just… a very romantic picture, but not showing the exterior, not showing the rooms, that’s a red flag,” Sachs said.
Why are those slick photographs suspicious? Sachs said it indicates that the hotel might be hiding something if the images it shares are generic, rather than photos of the hotel’s actual exterior or rooms.
“I always cross-reference,” she added. “So, look on TripAdvisor or whichever review site you like or, you know, Instagram and see what actual guests are posting and then compare the photos that the hotels are posting to what real guests are posting.”
Along with checking out review sites and social media for photos, Sachs recommended reading reviews as well. That’s where another red flag might pop up – good reviews. Of course, a bunch of bad reviews are also an issue, but Sachs said that excessive positive reviews could be a sign of inauthentic ratings.
“It’s also important to see if the hotel itself… if the management is responding and not just to glowing reviews, but if they’re responding to mediocre or negative and kind of explaining why someone maybe had a bad experience,” she said. “And it just shows this commitment to having a good customer experience.”
If a traveler does end up at a hotel they don’t like – such as one Sachs checked into that had a room already occupied by a roach – there are some things they can do. Listen to the full episode here for Sachs’ tips for getting out of a hotel nightmare.
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