When booking a hotel online, it’s normal to expect a few surprises upon arrival. What one might not expect, however, is for their hotel to not even exist.
In a now viral video, TikTok user Karlie (@karlierodriguezzzz) claims her mother booked a hotel using the website bookaroom.com. Upon the family’s arrival at the supposed hotel, Karlie claims no such accommodation could be found.
The video currently has over 3.8 million views.
@karlierodriguezzzz Seriously who uses BOOKARO0M.C0M what even is that
♬ original sound – ESOSA||CONTENT CREATOR
This is not bookaroom.com’s first controversy. On review site Trustpilot, the site has an average of 1.8 stars out of five, with reviewers claiming that they were accidentally double booked, that the site misstated prices, and had poor customer service, among a host of other issues.
Review sites like sitejabber, where bookaroom.com has an average rating of one out of five stars, offer a similar range of complaints.
Across these review sites, many users alleged that the site misrepresented itself as an actual booking destination for hotels rather than a third-party intermediary.
It should be noted that these complaints are directed at bookaroom.com. However, the website redirects to hotel reservation site The Cairn Collection, which boasts high ratings and does not seem to have the same issues. There is another URL, book-a-room.com, which claims to operate under a subsidiary of online travel agency Priceline and may host the company’s official site.
However, many viewers on TikTok speculated that the creator’s mom booked through a fake site, noting that the TikToker listed the booking site as “bookar00m.c0m,” with some “o” letters replaced with zeros.
While one commenter claimed alleged scammers removed the site, others suggested the family used the up-and-running site book-a-room.com to book the nonexistent hotel room.
In the comments, several users were critical of older people with less internet experience’s ability to sniff out an online scam.
“Never understood how mid age adults can’t see if something is a scam or not,” one commenter wrote.
“Personally I don’t allow my parents to make any online expenses without my supervision,” another offered.
“Does no one help [their] parents w/ booking anything?” a third asked. “I always help my mom bcs I would be mad if she got scammed.”
Others argued that the best way of booking a hotel room is almost always going through the hotel itself. At the very least, users said, one should always call and confirm the booking with the hotel after completing their reservation.
“Husband works for a hotel… please call the hotel immediately after booking with a 3rd party, to confirm,” one commenter advised. “He has seen this too often.”
“DONT book third party,” another claimed. “The hotel i used to work at we had 26 rooms & EVERY busy weekend expedia would overbook us & ppl wouldn’t have anywhere to stay.”
We’ve reached out to Karlie via Instagram DM and book-a-room.com via the website’s contact form.
Source: https://www.dailydot.com/irl/bookaroom-hotel-scam/