No matter where in the world your wanderlust (or career) may take you, one of the best things about traveling is staying in a hotel. There are so many beautiful hotels around the world with great service, amazing amenities, and striking architecture – and we’ve written about many of them. Even so, hotels can be a breeding ground for thieves and scammers. Here are the four top worldwide hotel scams:
Fake Menus
Great! A local pizzeria slipped their flier under your hotel room door, now you won’t have to look any further for dinner. False. You’re about to hand over your name and credit card info to an identity thief posing as a pizzeria. This run of the mill scam is so popular, it’s even seen at Disney World of all places. If you want some low-key food to order in, ask the hotel for a recommendation instead. Before ordering anything, always check with the front desk to see if these are legitimate restaurants, or use Google to find local restaurants, and pay in cash. Never use your credit card over the phone.
The Room Inspectors
Two people usually dressed up as hotel employees will knock on your door, saying they need to do a routine check of your room/smoke detector/etc. If you let them in, one will engage you in conversation to distract you while the other steals your valuables. Hotels never do room inspections while the guest is in the room. So, if this happens to you know it’s most likely a scam. Call the main desk and tell them what’s going on. This scam is very popular in Spain.
Credit Card Issues?
Another scary way to get your credit card information stolen is this common scenario; you give your CC info to the front desk to apply any room charges to, as always. Later, you get a call from the concierge asking to confirm your credit card info over the phone (a huge no-no), as there was a problem when they entered it. In reality, you’ve been contacted by someone who called the front desk and asked for a room number that happened to be yours, and they’re pretending to be the front desk to get your information and steal your identity. There’s no way to tell that the call is coming from outside the hotel, because the perpetrator puts on a professional front. To avoid this disaster, tell them you’ll come downstairs to confirm it in person. Then go down or call the front desk directly to make sure it’s legit. You may be half asleep and not in the mood, but it’s better than having your identity stolen.
Don’t Drink the Water
This scam happens a lot overseas. If you go to a hotel, usually in a third world country, you may see various signs around the hotel that say, “do not drink water” or “water not safe for consumption” and other things along those lines. When you go to the front desk to ask about the water, they’ll say that the water in the hotel isn’t safe, but they have fresh bottled water you can buy (at an obscene price). Or you might have bottled water already in your room upon arrival. When you check out of the hotel, you’ll see extra charges on your bill for the water. This is when your research comes in. In cases like this, the hotel is usually trying to scam you by making you buy their bottled water even though the water in your room is fine. Research to see if the city and country you’re in has safe drinking water or not. If it doesn’t, you’re still better off buying your own water locally than buying the hotel’s water.
Hotels can be one of the best parts about traveling, but always remember that scams can happen. Make sure to thoroughly research the country you’re visiting, and the hotel you’re staying at. Read hotel reviews to see what other people have experienced. If there’s ever a problem or a concern, don’t be afraid to go to the front desk.
One question I would have is how is the false pizza flyers getting into my room??
NEVER drink/eat/use the stuff in the hotel room minibar. You KNOW they are going to be WAY overpriced.
Most hotels will not scam their patrons. To do so would be cutting their own throats since word would get around and people would stop utilizing their services. The scams most likely come from employees or outside. Just use common sense.
Just curious as to why hotel staff would not remove unauthorized flyers when they clean the rooms? In all my years of travel, I have never seen flyers in the room except ones re: the hotel’s services. If we wanted info on local dining, the desk always gives them to us directly.
How about using cash instead of a credit card when ordering out? If they tell you over the phone that they don’t accept cash, if should raise a major red flag.
If your going to Cebu Philippines take my word for it the water is not up to standards i found out the hard way and the rest room at the sm mall dont have toilet paper (found that out the hard way too) but the Quest hotel gives free water as do most of the other hotels. Always check the website for the ones that do and where i stayed the mall was right beside it so i went to the mall and bought water also. Had a blast.
As for ordering food, most hotels I’ve stayed in there is always someplace to eat that is either in short walking or driving distance anyway. If not, just stick to one of the national chains and you should be fine.
Some hotels (not all) keep their room prices low-to-reasonable, AND THEN charge highway-robbery prices for Internet, the minibar, or [my personal favorite] laundry service, etc.
Visited Cancun years ago and was told by our travel rep not to drink or use the tap water. Only use bottled water. Our hotel provided bottled water for no additional charge. It was avail in our room in 5 gallon containers and set up on a dispenser with cold and hot buttons. Ice cold water for drinking and brushing teeth and hot for tea and instant coffee. Nice touch? Until we forgot my wallet one day while at the beach and made an unexpected visit back to the hotel room, where we witnessed housekeeping filling the 5 gallon jugs from the tap in the cleaning supply room.
OMG wow. Yikes!
So strange. Every time I visit a country where the water isn’t safe the drink, the hotel leaves complimentary bottled water in the room.