Jack Taras and his friends thought they would be checking in to the Occidental Grand hotel on the Dominican Republic’s postcard-perfect Eastern shore for Spring Break. But when Taras, a 19-year-old sophomore from Providence College, arrived at the resort, he was greeted with the hotel industry’s latest trick: he was walked down.
SCAM
Kay Schroll says she lost $6,820 — the price of two cruises — when she bought travel insurance through Legendary Journeys, but then had to cancel her vacations for health reasons. Her case is just one of many that have landed on my desk since the bankruptcy of Prime Travel Protection, the Colorado company that offered these unlicensed policies.
Florida’s Department of Financial Services has confirmed it is investigating travel agencies that sold insurance underwritten by Prime Travel Protection, a Colorado company that filed for bankruptcy protection last month and left thousands of travelers uninsured.
When Gary Moll disembarked from a recent cruise in Santo Domingo, he encountered a fishy fee he’d never seen: Uniformed agents offered a $10 “Tourist Card” to passengers coming ashore. Are these cards for real? Moll doubts it.
The all-inclusive Mexico vacation fax scam is nothing new. Is this one — or not?
Just when you thought you’d seen every car rental scam in the book — and if you’re a regular reader of this blog, you probably do — along comes another clever way of separating drivers from their money. Call this one the flooded engine rip-off.
Carole Hunter thought the $1,950 for a weekly rental in San Francisco was too good to be true. She was right. The condo didn’t exist.
So who is Prime Travel Protection Services? I asked that question yesterday after one reader lost two cruise vacations when his insurance claim wasn’t honored by the company. This morning I got a call from Jerry Watson, the president of Prime Travel Protection, with the answer.
What do Prime Travel Protection Services, Travelers Protection Services, Vacation Protection Services and Trip Assured have in common? They may be the same company.
You’ve probably heard of hotels overcharging you for what you eat or drink. You know, $10 for a bottle of water. Six bucks for a candy bar. Here’s the latest twist on that scam — a hotel that charges you for what you don’t consume.
Here’s a warning for anyone who pays for their gas with a credit card: Read the terms of your sale very closely. More gas stations are tacking on a surcharge for anyone who pays with plastic.
Thinking of buying a cheap airline ticket voucher online? Oh no you don’t.
You probably already suspect that the weights used at the airport check-in counter are less than accurate. But what happens when a passenger catches an airline in the act of tipping the scales?
With fuel prices near $4 a gallon, car rental companies are turning to a little-known practice called gas reclamation to squeeze every last penny from their vehicles. In the process, they may be squeezing their customers too, according to a car rental insider who has performed degassing services for a major agency.
You already know that if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. But clever scammers also know that you have an “override” button. Like invoking a well-known travel brand. Or using the name of a trusted media outlet.
Poof! There go your hard-earned points. Employees at budget hotels are using a variety of strategies to deny travelers their rewards, including typing the wrong name in a guest’s reservation or failing to include important frequent-stayer information.
Are high hotel occupancy rates offering hotels yet another opportunity to secretly profit from you? Consider the practice of “walking” — transferring a guest to another property when the inn is full. Most reputable resorts “walk” their customers to a comparable hotel. But what if the second place costs less than the first, and the property simply pockets the rate difference?
