Online hotel booking specified $47/ night in “taxes and recovery fees” – actual taxes per night were only $11.
Online hotel reservation charged $15 / night for parking – but upon arrival we discovered parking was free and un-ticketed . $15 charge for nothing.
USFS campsites offer 50% discount for America The Beautiful pass holders when paying in person, but reservations.gov does not honor the discount. Also reservations.gov charges a 10% booking fee. A $13 campsite in person costs $30 /night booked online.
When visiting a popular tourist town, public parking was $6 / day. Using the recommended app to book daily parking rates were charging $20 — a > 300% increase.
In the end we booked in person to avoid the scam. We saved over 50% on the hotel and 75% on daily parking. This was just a single 5 day trip.
What other online booking scams have you encountered? How do you get around them?
You have different price on reservation and different at the counter when you pick up the car key. At the time of picking up you already paid 10% fee online, so its not worth to cancel.