San Francisco’s City Attorney says GuestReservations.com and BookOnline.com pose as authentic hotel websites in order to charge exorbitant rates
Credit: Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- A lawsuit claims two hotel booking sites mislead travelers with inflated prices and deceptive website designs
- The city attorney says price differences on GuestReservations.com and BookOnline.com reached up to 85% compared to booking directly through hotel websites
- Booking Holdings, a major travel company, is accused of aiding the “scam” by supplying hotel data and inventory
A new lawsuit filed against two hotel booking sites claims the companies scammed travelers into paying exorbitant prices for hotel rooms — in some cases, up to 85% more than the rate when booking directly with the hotel.
The complaint, filed by San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu against GuestReservations.com and BookOnline.com, says the sites pose as authentic booking outlets and scam travelers into paying significantly more.
To lure consumers, the filing says the websites purchase online search engine advertisement links located at the top of the search result page to appear as if they are the hotels’ own websites. It further claims the companies use “deceptively named” web addresses like hotelname.guestreservations.com or hotelname.bookonline.com.
Credit: Getty
To show a substantial price adjustment, the city attorney simulated a Google search for “palace hotel [San Francisco]” on an iPhone on July 1. They say the top result, from Guest Reservations, was located higher than Palace Hotel’s own website hosted by Marriott.
During the simulation, the filing says Guest Reservations’ price for a king room was $595 ($543 + $52 in taxes). On Marriott’s own website, the rate for the same room and date was $381, including taxes, per the complaint. That represents about a 56% difference in price.
Credit: People of the State of California v. BookOnline.com, LLC, et al.
They also conducted the experiment for a room with a more flexible cancellation policy. A room refundable until July 5, per the filing, would’ve cost $775 on Guest Reservations’ site. On Marriott, a room refundable until July 5 would’ve cost $419. That’s an 85% price difference.
The complaint says BookOnline.com operates similarly. In a simulation, the city attorney found Book Online’s rate at $526, or about 38% higher than the price on Marriott. The lawsuit further claims Book Online did not have any refundable offerings. PEOPLE has reached out to Guest Reservations and Book Online for comment.
The lawsuit further claims Booking Holdings, the company behind travel brands like Booking.com, Priceline and Kayak, “aided and abetted the hotel booking scam” by acting as the websites’ hotel room inventory supplier.
“Booking Holdings provides substantial assistance to the website defendants by providing them with access to hotel data—locations, descriptions, photographs, availability, rates, etc.—and facilitating booking and payment through an application programming interface,” the complaint says. “This assistance enables the website defendants to engage in their deceptive scheme.”
Booking Holdings receives revenue each time a consumer books a room through a partner platform rather than the hotel directly, the lawsuit says, adding the company “has a financial incentive for its partners to sell rooms.”
In a statement shared with PEOPLE, a Booking Holdings spokesperson says they are “aware” of the complaint and are actively reviewing it. They added: “We take consumer protection seriously and believe the lawsuit lacks merit.”
Included in the lawsuit were 15 consumer complaints allegedly recorded across sites like the Better Business Bureau (BBB), Reddit and Trustpilot over the last five years.
“I would leave a 0 star review if possible. Bookonline is a scam and their practices are very deceptive. They make their page and url look like the hotel you are trying to book with. When you book with them you pay way more than what the room should actually be . . . . Avoid this site at all costs,” one person allegedly reported to the BBB on May 8, per the complaint.
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“We’re asking a court to end these unlawful business practices, to secure restitution for Californians who are overcharged, and to impose civil penalties to ensure that companies don’t repeat misconduct,” Chiu said during a press conference on July 29, per SFGate.
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