Online reservations increasingly the target of scams
Fake apartments are no longer the only problem. Scams are increasingly appearing within the seemingly legitimate booking process, from hotel messages and payment requests to visa and travel authorisation websites.
A guest books a hotel via a well-known platform, receives a confirmation and, a few days later, a message with the exact date of arrival and the name of the property. The message states that they must reconfirm their card or the booking will be cancelled.
Precisely such a scenario is cited by the Austrian Arbeiterkammer, or Chamber of Labour, among current forms of online fraud in tourism. The problem is that the message no longer has to look suspicious. If a hotel account or an employee's login credentials have been compromised, the attacker can have access to actual booking details.
Fake accommodation still remains the easiest trap
Classic scams have not disappeared. The Arbeiterkammer is warning about advertisements for apartments and villas that do not exist at all or use photographs of real properties without the owners' knowledge.
A common pattern starts with an offer that is noticeably cheaper than the market rate. After the initial contact, the guest tries to get off the platform's official communication channel, most commonly to WhatsApp or email. This is followed by a request for an urgent deposit payment or the full amount directly to a bank account.
Such a change of communication channel is particularly risky because the user then leaves the platform's own protection and record-keeping system.
ETA and e-visa intermediaries exploit travellers' ignorance
A second example that consumer organisations are increasingly highlighting relates to electronic visas and travel authorisations.
The British ETA, or Electronic Travel Authorisation, is an electronic travel authorisation for certain travellers entering the United Kingdom. The problem arises when private websites that mimic the appearance of official government portals appear in search results.
Such intermediaries do sometimes indeed submit a claim on behalf of passengers, but they charge a significantly higher price. An even greater risk is handing over the passport number, date of birth and card details to an unverified company.
Platforms can no longer shift all the risk onto the user
The issue of responsibility is therefore increasingly shifting towards digital platforms. BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation, together with national associations, warned this year about the weak responses of large platforms to scam-related advertisements.
At the same time, the European Union's Digital Services Act, known as the DSA, already prescribes mechanisms for reporting and processing illegal content.
For Travel companies The implication is very concrete: account security, clear payment channels and rules for communication with guests are no longer just a technical issue. When the fraudulent content looks like a legitimate message from a hotel or platform, the reputational cost very quickly spills over to the actual service provider as well.
