Warning about hotel booking scams during National Day

Taking advantage of the large number of tourists flocking to Hanoi, many websites and fanpages impersonating reputable hotels and homestays have been defrauding tourists and illegally profiting.

Hanoi is ready to welcome visitors on National Day, but people also need to be careful of scams.

On August 26, the Hanoi Department of Tourism issued Official Dispatch No. 1233/CV-SDL-VP to the People's Committees of wards and communes regarding propaganda and warning tourists about fraudulent room booking tricks during the National Day holiday on September 2.

The National Day celebration on September 2nd is an occasion for domestic and foreign tourists to flock to Hanoi in large numbers. This is a good opportunity for tourism in the capital. However, problems also arise when taking advantage of this occasion to commit illegal acts for personal gain.

The document clearly states: Recently, on the internet, many subjects have appeared impersonating websites and fanpages of hotels and homestays to defraud and appropriate tourists' property.

Specifically, these subjects mainly use tricks to impersonate famous hotels and homestays by using real names, logos, and images to create fake websites or fanpages with a large number of followers; list super cheap prices to promote the psychology of rushing to book rooms immediately; request to transfer deposits in advance via personal accounts or e-wallets, then notify "errors" and ask victims to continue transferring more money to appropriate.

The Hanoi Department of Tourism also provides some instructions on how to identify and avoid fraud when tourists book rooms online. Accordingly, when a hotel or homestay has many websites or fanpages with the same name, tourists need to check carefully, these websites and fanpages often have the following unusual signs: newly created, recently renamed but posting massive advertisements, shocking discounts; administrator positions in countries other than Vietnam; using many fake accounts (newly created, blank avatars) to comment, give good reviews...

Therefore, the capital's tourism industry recommends that when booking a room, visitors should ask the hotel or homestay to provide information about the phone number, address, and business license. Check the business or individual account receiving the money to make sure it matches the information on the business license.

Before transferring money to book a room, people need to call the hotel or homestay directly to check. Absolutely do not continue to transfer money multiple times as requested by the hotel or homestay.

Tourists also need to book rooms through reputable travel businesses licensed to operate travel services (find business information at website https://quanlyluhanh.vn) or reputable booking platforms.

To ensure safety and security for tourists and preserve the capital's tourism environment, the Department requests the People's Committees of wards and communes in the city to propagate and warn tourists and residents about the above-mentioned scams; the Department of Accommodation Management and the Department of Travel Management notify accommodation establishments and travel agencies to post warnings about room booking scams on their websites and fanpages; the Tourism Information and Promotion Center posts warnings about room booking scams on the Department of Tourism's website and fanpage.

JIANGNAM

Source: https://nhandan.vn/canh-bao-bay-lua-dao-dat-phong-khach-san-dip-quoc-khanh-post903855.html