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Are Guest Reservations legit or a scam??

United Kingdom
399 posts
220 helpful votes
Are Guest Reservations legit or a scam??

Has anyone used a booking site called guest reservations.com? After searching for a hotel and using the usual sites I like to then look up the actual hotel and see what their rate is. Lately a site called Guest Reservations has been popping up which initially seems to be the hotels own site quoting great bargain prices with free cancellation - bit like booking.com.

But being suspicious I would like to see what folks opinions are of this site, is it legit or too good to be true and they're scamming people? I suspect the latter but would like to know if anyone who has used them & what were your opinion of them?

813 replies to this topic
Houston, Texas
Destination Expert
for Solo Travel, Houston
26,766 posts
131 helpful votes
1. Re: Are Guest Reservations legit or a scam??

Don't .... do .... it... There is actually another company out there "http://reservations.com", which also purchases SEO and search engine ads. I guess I say why should anyone disguise themselves as the property's website, if they are reputable? But many OTA's do this. It's a watchout. Next is their Terms & Conditions. Did you read them top to bottom? Pay close attention to the fees/taxes, pricing and terms, and cancellations/changes. Again, some red flags here.

https://www.guestreservations.com/about/termsofuse

Finally, look at anything reported on TA already or at consumer complaint sites. How about here?

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g32810-d80456-r644274715-Comfort_Inn_Suites-Oakland_California.html

https://www.bbb.org/us/de/wilmington/profile/travel-agency/guestreservationscom-0251-92004332/complaints

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g34438-i92-k13933807-Beware_Guest_Reservations_Getaroom_com_CCI_hotels-Miami_Florida.html

https://www.complaintsboard.com/guest-reservations-b132502/contacts

https://www.elliott.org/travel-problems/get-money-back-from-imposter-booking-site/

On the BBB page an address is listed. It's the address of a UPS Store (ie. just a rental mailbox). Run, run away!

Late addition: BTW, this took me all of about 5-7 minutes to look up. People complain afterwards, but rarely research beforehand. So, thank you for doing that first.

Edited: 2 years ago
Australia
38,543 posts
8 helpful votes
2. Re: Are Guest Reservations legit or a scam??

Legit but awful. Not a scam. Just a dreadful site, best avoided. If people don’t look at the website address carefully after googling a hotel name they somehow believe they are booking direct with the hotel, but it’s a third-party booking site, with restrictive Terms and Conditions and hefty fees tacked on.

I have seen warning and complaint topics on them on some of the TripAdvisor forums if you wanted to search “All forums” about them.

A quick Google about guestreservations finds warnings and complaints:-

https://www.elliott.org/travel-problems/get-money-back-from-imposter-booking-site/

Don’t believe the cheap headline price from these random sites. It’s better and safer booking directly with a hotel or using a well-known reliable booking site like maybe booking.com, Expedia or Hotels.com.

United Kingdom
399 posts
220 helpful votes
3. Re: Are Guest Reservations legit or a scam??

Thank you both for your replies, and for confirming what I found on another site soon after I posted on here. I have been led to their website twice now thinking it was Holiday Inn's site and another hotel one today. They're very convincing until you look more closely but I can see how people have been caught out by them. I shall be avoiding at all costs!!

Australia
38,543 posts
8 helpful votes
4. Re: Are Guest Reservations legit or a scam??

Yes, best to avoid them. Not sure what you mean by being “led to their website”?

Obviously the company chose their name carefully to make people think it’s the guest reservations department of a hotel they just Google searched. They wouldn’t call themselves “be careful we are not the hotel .com”. They want people to make false assumptions and not do more than briefly glance at the website address. It’s great that you stopped for a minute and looked more closely and recognised they are in fact a booking site.

On these forums we often have people say “I was on the hotels own website and I was hacked and redirected to this awful company. I thought I was booking direct then after paying got an email from ……company and there were extra fees I didn’t know about”. Of course they were not on the hotels official website and were not hacked.

The common factor in many of the stories from the forums is getting onto these sites after googling a hotel and just clicking one of the first search results, or having something pop-up. I suggest finding the official IHG brand website (which includes the hotel chains like Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express etc) and bookmarking it in your computer so you will be taken directly to it in future, or maybe download their official APP.

It’s hard making bookings sometimes and we all need to be so careful and slow down.

United Kingdom
399 posts
220 helpful votes
5. Re: Are Guest Reservations legit or a scam??

When I say led to their website this is what I mean; search for a certain hotel then the first in the search engine says that hotels name.guest reservations leading anyone looking to book direct with the hotel to think they've gone straight to the hotels booking page. Only when you look closely do you then realise its not the hotels own page. Its very misleading as you say. They must be doing well to be paying to be at the top of every seach engines list! I will not be using them though and pleased I looked further into them!

California
76,383 posts
477 helpful votes
6. Re: Are Guest Reservations legit or a scam??

The link at the top of google says AD.

The website has the guest reservations name in the address, not the hotel site

When you get to the checkout area and the terms and conditions it is quite clear who you are paying

And the few I looked at don’t look anything like the real site. Do you have an example of a page of theirs that really does look like the real site?

And yes, these companies do make good money off of careless people to be able to buy those spots on search engines. Lots of careless folks out there to take advantage of.

Edited: 2 years ago
Wales, United...
Destination Expert
for Bargain Travel, Cruises, Swansea, Cardiff, Carmarthenshire, Neath, Port Talbot
123,470 posts
365 helpful votes
7. Re: Are Guest Reservations legit or a scam??

Fair play, whitbyabi, you came to ask about them so you weren't one of those that got caught out. But enough do fall for it to make it worth the company's while.

For my own part, I'd like to think I wouldn't be one of those victims. I've Googled a hotel name frequently enough but I have never seen the words guest reservations in the list of results. I shall always remain vigilant, of course.

8. Re: Are Guest Reservations legit or a scam??

Tripadvisor staff removed this post at the original author's request.

What are forum guidelines?
 
penna
Destination Expert
for Marrakech, Morocco
39,594 posts
26 helpful votes
9. Re: Are Guest Reservations legit or a scam??

Wow no 4 or 5 star reviews and three 2 and 3 star reviews and a whopping 107 1 star reviews all saying run far and run fast from this company.

7 posts
10. Re: Are Guest Reservations legit or a scam??

I just got scammed out of €54, booking Hampton Hotel at Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

I went to Hilton. Com, the booking page had web address https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/lpljlhx-hampton-liverpool&

I booked in emergency as flight had been cancelled.

Of course, I only saw the extra costs when the invoice arrived after the booking was confirmed and made, and the charge deducted.

I thought and was led to believe by the email address that I was making a direct booking with Hilton.

I wasn’t.

Be warned.

.

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