Travel - Scammed a bit but sorted - Orb>>.

So, booked a Hotel through what appeared to be the major chain hotel

fair enough.. got total £268.70 paid, got email confirmation total £376,70..

Phoned Hotel customer services who confirmed reservation BUT,, you booked through a 3rd Party. They emailed me that it was from an Online travel agent, when I contacted them , they said no it was from a second site who booked with a prepaid card. The other site booking reference was ok but the invoice came from a third site who had added the fees.

Contacted credit card people.. have a screenshot of total before paying...

After a bit of research found the email of the 2nd site CEO and emailed a polite missive showing the extra charges and requesting a refund of the additional charges,

Last night got an email saying a gesture of refund of the extra charges would be made.

no admission it was wrong. All the above websites except for the hotel chain are part of the same holding group. won't name but one is A.... B... and P and a 4th behind the scenes connected to the 3rd who are responsible for the additional charges

I really thought I had booked on the USA chain website,

Lessons have maybe been learned.

Edited by Orb>>. on 11/09/2025 at 08:51

Travel - Scammed a bit but sorted - Falkirk Bairn

I had a look and the parent company has a spider's web of companies registered around the world. Many, as you say, are well known names.

Well spotted - even if they issue refunds for many they will be pocketing huge sums in the form of bank charges, foreign exchange charges, admin charges ............ even a £few pounds here and there will add up massively with the daily volumes they process.

The £100+ they charged you I would decribe as fraud.

Travel - Scammed a bit but sorted - Orb>>.

Update...

Checked my credit card statement online a few minutes ago and the "extras" have been refunded.. The surprise is that the debit payee was the hotel as is the refund.

weird...

But sorted now and that card blocked.