Online Travel Agents & Their Desperate Scams

[tourismtiger]

Attempted mugging in cyberspace

Last week my wife booked a flight on via Expedia and paid the Baht 62’000 by credit card using an account with a limited balance to defend against credit card scams.

Two hours after the booking had been approved Expedia BKK office email here and asked her to call to address a problem. She did. They complained that they could not make the withdrawal TWICE – which they say they needed to do in order to have some security for the ticket purchase.

The staff apologized when confronted by my wife (a tour and resort operator of 25 years), said they were uncomfortable with it, but that it was management policy. Management of course was unavailable for comment - perhaps they are too worried about the future!

The window of opportunity is closing

Not too long back the ‘online operators’ like Expedia invested only modest sums to invest in the key words they used to monopolise the online search space, gaining an unfair advantage over their bricks and mortar counterparts, culling jobs and destroying lives in the industry, whilst passing on just enough of the savings to the customer to be be a cheaper - but less fair deal.

Along came Google – a newer smarter online operator with a better grip on the market and does to Expedia and company what they did to the real tour operators. Naturally, Expedia (and others of that ilk) scream FOUL PLAY’. As the end comes the online players will get more desperate - so mind your fingers.

The truth is that the era of the online tour operator is drawing to an end. The window of technological advantage that they enjoyed for a decade or more is closing - like Walkman and Polaroid they will be condemned to history.

Vertical search engines with low cost paid for advertising space that allow a level playing field that includes direct access between the customer and the small tourism business owner (90% of the market) - who will take back what was effectively stolen from them.

They will draw their custom from the growing ‘cost conscious - do it yourself - responsible travel market’ who do not want to support a commission heavy distribution system, under which the product range is being rapidly reduced (in choice and quality) as the big players consolidate frantically to cut costs.

Those who are willing to pay for travel services – (instead of putting it all together themselves- and there are many of them) will go with specialized agents who understand their client's need for unique and rewarding travel experiences, who will focus on ‘service’ and profit from their support for a more ethical business model.

Hotels,and airlines, long frustrated by the stranglehold of the online tour operators will be able to sell their inventory to both direct buyers and reputable agents without fear of repercussion.

Ironically, the penetration of the internet that gave the online operator an unfair advantage can now be used just as effectively to expose the scams they perpertrate.

[ShopBoy]

?

[trd]

I have no idea what you are talking about. A Google search for airline tickets brings up 38,600,000 search results representing a mix of tour operators both big and small as well as individual airlines. How does that demonstrate a decline in the online tour operator. If anything it is expanding.

[CharlieH]

[WilliaminBKK]

If you don't like online agents why did you book with Expedia ?

Now as to the only thing I can see in your comment that may help other members, what actually happened with your booking is very straight forward. Almost all Expedia bookings are made via the GDS (Global Distribution System) when you entered PAY now the GDS obtained a hold on your funds this process is called JV'ing your credit card. A call was necessary in order for them to obtain an actual authorisation code from you bank/credit card. you may not have encountered this in your home country but Expedia and all others look and your IP and assess fraud.

The two step process may confuse many but it is in place to protect not only you but also the agent and airline from fraud. I personally would have thanked Expedia.

Edited April 13, 2012 by WilliaminBKK

[micky1965]

was that in English !!! if so i didn't get it .....

[tourismtiger]

So having Baht 62000.- deducted for the flight cost, and then being asked to pay an additional Baht 62'000.- as a guarantee is standard practice is it?

[WilliaminBKK]

So having Baht 62000.- deducted for the flight cost, and then being asked to pay an additional Baht 62'000.- as a guarantee is standard practice is it?

It was hard to understand your point in the rant.

Are you saying you were double charged ? ? or you assumed when you clicked BUY NOW your credit card was charged ? and then after calling them you were double charged ?

My post above explains what they did, BUY NOW was simply a hold on funds, your call to Expedia was the actual debit for your own protection. Just like when you hire a car they HOLD funds and then bill you the actual amount when you return the car.

If in fact you were double billed you can dispute the charge with your bank/credit card.

[keestha]

OP, good post.

I am a small hotel operator, and it used to be a source of frustration for me that people googling my hotel didn't find my website, but just the online operators, and ended up booking through the only one I was doing business with, so that of course I got less money for the room than what I would have got if they would have booked directly through me.

Two years ago, I completely remade my website, and since then at least if people knowing the hotel name google it, my website comes out on top.

What still bugs me, is that quite a few online operators list my hotel though I don't do business with them, and the customer who wants to book my place gets a message running like: "no offers for this hotel, but take a look at the following. alternatives".

[tourismtiger]

Expedia - Yes I am saying that the booking was made, paid for online and then confirmed by Expedia. The withdrawal request was then made by them to, and approved by the bank.

An email then arrived asking us to call their office. On doing so they said they required our credit card detail for an ADDITIONAL amount equal to the first. They explained it as a security requirement. We said no way. We have used online booking for years and never seen this before. I have the booking record, the email and the response from my bank to verify this.

The future - All small ltourism business owners - and many big ones - (review the comments of the big hotel chains on the matter) are increasingly frustrated by the monopoly of the online operators over the search results. My point is that although the online operators may be increasing in number now, the mainstream industry's consolidation - and their inability to handle special interest travel requests - is bringing about a reduction not an increase in products available to independent travelers, just as the desire for the unique travel experience is growing.

The advent of vertical search (will allow customers to exclude agents from the search process) and the widespread use of social media (will allow customers to review comment on small businesses) -and perform the credibility check that was missing until now.

I believe that the combination of all this will bring about the demise of the online tour operator.

[Derifo]

So having Baht 62000.- deducted for the flight cost, and then being asked to pay an additional Baht 62'000.- as a guarantee is standard practice is it?

It was hard to understand your point in the rant.

Are you saying you were double charged ? ? or you assumed when you clicked BUY NOW your credit card was charged ? and then after calling them you were double charged ?

My post above explains what they did, BUY NOW was simply a hold on funds, your call to Expedia was the actual debit for your own protection. Just like when you hire a car they HOLD funds and then bill you the actual amount when you return the car.

If in fact you were double billed you can dispute the charge with your bank/credit card.

When you pay for things online, some businesses deducts the cost twice. Example: 100 baht will be deducted twice - 55 and 45, or 69 and 31, etc.

You're usually asked to confirm the amounts, or you'll not be able to use the same card with that business again. It's to make sure you haven't stolen the card.

[NomadJoe]

So having Baht 62000.- deducted for the flight cost, and then being asked to pay an additional Baht 62'000.- as a guarantee is standard practice is it?

I have never encountered this and i have used Expedia plenty of times. I suspect this was some kind of oversight on their part and not standard practice. It certainly appears to be unrelated to the rest of your rant which I found very difficult to understand.

One thing Expedia did to me which really pissed me off is they wouldn't give me option of site credit after cancelling a flight even though the site clearly stated I could do so when I purchased the ticket. Nor would they mail me a check. They would only refund to the cc I used to make the purchase, which I had unfortunately already closed.

[bendix]

Does anyone yet have the faintest clue what the OP is talking about? It starts off as a confused rant, only to morph seamlessly into some sort of essay about online travel.

Seriously, there arent enough years in life . . .

[cardholder]

Pointless rant by the OP

[tourismtiger]

Last Post

As we could not get the staff at Expedia to put us in touch with the management I made the to post in this forum hoping to get them to respond publicly. I hoped they would, as most savvy online companies monitor the forums to keep track of and address issues that affect their image. They have not responded as yet.

Rant - yes I probably did - and felt better for it thank you.

My arguments may be difficult to grasp if you are not a small tourist business owner / operator, and thus disadvantaged by the system. If you did not understand them - it does not make them wrong. I'll leave it at that.

[Razzler1973]

Is that common for Expedia then as surely no one would use them if they were fleecing people on this double charge?

Some rental car companies 'ring fence off' a small portion of money on top of the rental but it's timed for 7-10 days in case there are additional fines, etc (which they will notify you about) but it saves them chasing you down. They do here anyway

Paying the same amount twice seems excessive though

[Roel]

What still bugs me, is that quite a few online operators list my hotel though I don't do business with them, and the customer who wants to book my place gets a message running like: "no offers for this hotel, but take a look at the following. alternatives".

Well an online hotel booking website obviously looks more professional if it offers 200 hotels instead of only listing the five they really do business with. If a customer tries to book one of the 195 hotels automatically an 'alternative' is brought to his attention. Another thing they do is offering often well known brand name hotels at very low rates. Of course you cannot really book these rooms but it should give the visitor the impression that this website offers good deals and they hope some visitors end up booking other hotels (against normal rates) through their website.

Edited May 21, 2012 by Roel

[FarangBuddha]

Most times, I book directly with the airline or hotel. Unlike the early days of the internet, there is rarely any price differential between using an online travel agency and booking direct and I feel the booking is more secure (in a sense of being honored) if made directly with the service provider. That being said, I have never had any problems using several of the major internet travel agencies to book hotels, but again, mainly use them for research, photos, reviews, and general pricing and then book directly with the hotel for the same price.

[cdnvic]

I'll often find what I want on a Travelocity or Flight Centre search then take it to my travel agent, who half the time can get me an even better deal, and she's only a phone call away if things go wrong.

[BabySun]

OP is right.I am not small hotel/tour operator,but often I am looking for info in google.I have habit of trying to remember my small favourite hotels tel. numbers - to exersise my memory and slow down the process..Often it doesnt work,so I search in google.My hotel has its own website - it comes out on page 23rd in search result - why not at the beginning?

First 10 pages are monopolised by crowd of on-line middle agents,it makes all idea of online search -

virtualy useless.

[krading]

I'll often find what I want on a Travelocity or Flight Centre search then take it to my travel agent, who half the time can get me an even better deal, and she's only a phone call away if things go wrong.

Spot on there.

[Lynmark]

Agree with keestha and BabySun, as a tourism operator also I've also found these on-line agents frustrating. They spend much of their resources hijacking the search results from Google etc using metatages, stacking pages and other "Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)" techniques, rather than actually providing much value to either operators/suppliers or their customers.

Yes, they will actually list a hotel by name even if that hotel or operator has either ceased or never even done business with them, and then suggest expensive alternatives.

They then ask operators, usually between 10 and 15 % commision (often more than tradional agents). But there are also indirect and hidden costs with using them like waiting for money or processing costs. On top of that, bookings via on-line agents (or "channels" as they call themselves) requires a lot of administrative time, and operators who do business with several will often end up paying for an expensive channel management scheme or booking system, and will need staff trined to deal with the pecularities of each channel.

Thats perhaps manageable for large hotels, airlines etc. But they can nevertheless can set up their own independant more reliable booking system on their own website, as most people will search for them by name. It is always more reliable for a supplier to deal with a customer directly than via a third party somewhere in cyberspace. Similarly, for changes or special requests, the supplier/customer are only a phone call or email away.

As many here can guess, its the customers who end up paying for on-line agents. Big operators simply bump up rack rates. Small operators simply make less or charge more (or will have found a workaround if they and the customer are both savvy)

Ultimately Google, if their company is really worth more than the hard disk their index is stored on, will do more to de-contaminate their search results (ie make the results more relevant) otherwise people will gradually migrate to do searches elsewhere.

I am a small hotel operator, and it used to be a source of frustration for me that people googling my hotel didn't find my website, but just the online operators, and ended up booking through the only one I was doing business with, so that of course I got less money for the room than what I would have got if they would have booked directly through me....What still bugs me, is that quite a few online operators list my hotel though I don't do business with them, and the customer who wants to book my place gets a message running like: "no offers for this hotel, but take a look at the following. alternatives".

OP is right.I am not small hotel/tour operator,but often I am looking for info in google.I have habit of trying to remember my small favourite hotels tel. numbers - to exersise my memory and slow down the process..Often it doesnt work,so I search in google.My hotel has its own website - it comes out on page 23rd in search result - why not at the beginning?

First 10 pages are monopolised by crowd of on-line middle agents,it makes all idea of online search -

virtualy useless.

[Lynmark]

That said, some on-line agents are better than others. Some have better payment arrangements or have a real person to speak to.

Some small operators who dont have good street exposure and/or are in remote location can benefit as customers able to find them. Some can also use them compete against big operators, and lay shame to the purported specials big operators offer.

Similarly small operators often get otherwise unobtainable new customers through on-line agents that lead to those customers returning or referrals. A good manager will let the customer know how to really get a better rate next time they return

Edited May 26, 2012 by Lynmark

[NanLaew]

What still bugs me, is that quite a few online operators list my hotel though I don't do business with them, and the customer who wants to book my place gets a message running like: "no offers for this hotel, but take a look at the following. alternatives".

Well an online hotel booking website obviously looks more professional if it offers 200 hotels instead of only listing the five they really do business with. If a customer tries to book one of the 195 hotels automatically an 'alternative' is brought to his attention. Another thing they do is offering often well known brand name hotels at very low rates. Of course you cannot really book these rooms but it should give the visitor the impression that this website offers good deals and they hope some visitors end up booking other hotels (against normal rates) through their website.

A lot of website owners pay good money to SEO specialists to get their website onto the first page of search engines. It is unfortunate that due to the dynamics of the internet and web-based commerce, there is little regulation of exactly how SEO is achieved. Sort of the equivalent of 'padding a cv' to make it more attractive but without any mechanisms to ensure that inaccurate or even fraudulent claims can be challenged. I too would be extremely upset if I was in keestha's position where fraudulent claims are being used by certain hospitality websites to channel business away from the door.

Edited May 26, 2012 by NanLaew