An Important Step Forward in Stopping Online Hotel Booking Scams

After months of intense work on Capitol Hill and with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), coupled with a major national media effort to warn consumers, the hotel industry achieved another significant milestone in Congress that helps put an end to online hotel booking scams that negatively impact our guests.

Spearheaded by Representatives Lois Frankel (D-FL) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), along with a bipartisan group of original cosponsors, legislation will be introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives this morning, with our support. The Stop Online Booking Scams Act is an important step forward in protecting consumers, and what we expect will create greater confidence, transparency, and enforcement measures to ensure rogue affiliates comply with the law, putting an end to these scams.

The Stop Online Booking Scams Act would:

1. Require third-party hotel booking websites to disclose, clearly and conspicuously, that they are not affiliated with the hotel for which the traveler is ultimately making the reservation – ensuring that websites that pose as a hotels’ websites are stopped from scamming consumers.
2. Empower state Attorneys General to pursue perpetrators in federal court with the same remedies available to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
3. Require the FTC to produce a report on the impact of these fraudulent sites on consumers and encourage the FTC to simplify their online complaint procedure for reporting hotel booking scams. 

We are working closely with Reps. Frankel and Ros-Lehtinen to raise more attention to this issue in the media. We placed a joint op-ed in today’s print and online editions of The Hill and reached out to reporters who have been covering the issue both nationally and locally. Click here to read our press release, click here to get a snapshot description of the legislation and click here to view an infographic that describes the scope of the consumer deception problem and outlines key provisions of the legislation. For a refresher on key talking points on this issue, please click here.

This is just another step forward in our ongoing fight to protect consumers and advance a message to book direct with the hotel. Indeed, since we launched a public awareness campaign nearly a year ago, that message has been heard in more than 500 million media impressions, including segments on Nightline and Good Morning America and conducted numerous activities to keep attention on this important industry issue:

• Our consumer deception poll revealed some 15 million bookings a year are affected by fraudulent websites and call centers posing as the hotel's website and nearly a third of consumers worry about booking on a third-party online travel agency booking site.
• AH&LA action led to two FTC blogs warning consumers and business travelers and led to scam alerts by AAA and the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
• Support from Congress including a key endorsement of this issue from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, along with Senators Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson and the entire Florida and Arizona Congressional delegations who all submitted letters to either the Justice Department or FTC urging action on this issue.
• AH&LA advocacy efforts led to the adoption of report language in the final 2015 omnibus package to encourage the FTC to look into deceptive hotel bookings by rogue online travel company affiliates, as well as the impact of consolidation in the online travel company market.

Through our advocacy work, significant media exposure, and your grassroots efforts, we have truly come a long way in educating lawmakers and the public on the scope of this problem and the security of booking directly with the hotel.

But we need your help in attracting further Congressional support for this legislation. We urge you to contact your Members of Congress to cosponsor the Stop Online Booking Scams Act, by clicking on this link.

This legislation is an important step in ensuring these fraudulent websites and call centers stop harming consumers. We will continue to work aggressively to secure more cosponsors in the House of Representatives and move this legislation through the legislative process.

Thank you for your continued support.