The risks of booking hotels or flights online

When booking hotels and airline tickets online, problems can arise that cause difficulties for consumers during their travel.

According to the Department of Competition and Consumer Protection, in addition to traveling on pre-arranged tours, consumers are tending to travel independently, in which consumers book their own air tickets and hotels, especially through online websites.

To meet this need, service providers today deploy a variety of channels such as: booking online on hotel/airline websites, booking on websites that aggregate services of different hotels/airlines, calling to book, etc. Besides hotels, many households with rental houses can also post information on websites so that consumers can find them.

Online transactions are thriving but there are also certain risks.

Regarding online accommodation booking services, this form helps increase interaction between hotels and consumers, allowing consumers to learn more about accommodation as well as find many different types of hotels/accommodations to suit their individual needs.

This service has contributed significantly to the development of the tourism industry, helping to save time for consumers and also helping hotels reach consumers better. However, because this is an online transaction, consumers are susceptible to risks while traveling.

In Vietnam, in recent times, although there have been no specific statistics on online booking/ticketing incidents, it can be seen that this situation occurs quite commonly, causing many difficulties for consumers during their travel.

The Competition and Consumer Protection Department - Ministry of Industry and Trade has received a number of cases related to online ticket and room booking when traveling, such as the case of a consumer booking a hotel room abroad (about 15 million VND/night) through a travel agency. Upon arrival, the hotel informed the consumer that the room had not been booked. It was not until late at night that the consumer found another hotel, and because it was peak season, the consumer had to rent this room for about 20 million VND.

Since all restaurants were closed at night, the consumer could only eat in the hotel room. The consumer claimed that although the previous hotel did not charge the guest for the room, the experience during the trip and the additional expenses had ruined the vacation. The consumer requested the travel agency to compensate for the difference in room rates between the two hotels, however, after several attempts to contact the company, the consumer received no response from the company.

Another incident was when a consumer bought two plane tickets (total value of 10 million VND) to go abroad through a travel agency. During the online booking process, the phone screen displayed an error message: “Server is busy, please try again later”.

Not receiving a confirmation email, the consumer turns to purchasing the ticket on the airline's website. When contacting the airline, the consumer is informed that there are two identical bookings and that cancellation is not possible. The consumer is concerned about whether the travel agency will issue a refund.

Consumers are tending to travel independently, so they often book their own flights and hotels.

The reason for problems when booking rooms and tickets online is due to technical problems. In some cases, even when consumers are quite careful in the process of booking rooms/tickets online, some technical errors still occur (such as system errors), leading to double charges.

In this case, the consumer is not at fault, but the consumer will have difficulty providing evidence of a technical error. If the travel agency does not proactively review the website, the problem will not be completely resolved.

In fact, there have been cases where consumers booked a hotel room and paid, but then the travel company declared bankruptcy. The consumer could not travel or could not get a refund.

In addition, when booking rooms and tickets through a travel agency based abroad, there are some cases where consumers cannot contact the company when there is a problem. Consumers may not be provided with necessary information such as refund and cancellation conditions, etc. As a result, consumers do not know how to choose between information from the travel agency and the hotel/airline.

Therefore, consumers need to clearly understand information about the website, including information about the company's contact address before making a transaction: During the transaction, consumers need to clearly understand where the company is located. In case the company has a domestic address, consumers can check whether the company has registered to do business online through the Ministry of Industry and Trade. In case the company has an address abroad, it is necessary to check whether the company can be contacted (phone, email).

Before completing a booking/ticket, consumers need to carefully read the terms of the contract, including cancellation fees and details of the booked items: When booking tickets directly at the counter, consumers can be advised of the terms of the contract. However, when booking online, consumers must proactively learn about these contents.

In these contents, consumers often ignore the content about the contract cancellation fee - this fee is very diverse depending on the schedule and cancellation conditions. In particular, consumers need to know that the information on the airline ticket cannot be changed. In case the airline ticket is booked with the wrong name, consumers cannot get a refund after canceling the ticket. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully check information such as full name, email and flight schedule.

Keep your booking/accommodation confirmation until the end of your trip: Your booking/accommodation confirmation is an important document that sets out the terms and conditions of your contract including cancellation fees. Consumers should check to see if they have received the confirmation email, read it carefully and keep it until the end of their trip.

According to VNN