Planning a holiday? Experts warn Ontario residents to beware of third-party websites

Be aware of third-party sites when booking hotels An Ottawa woman wanted to book via a hotel's official website, but ended up booking via third-party site for more money and no refund.

As pandemic measures ease, more people in Ontario are ready to book a holiday and that may include a hotel stay.

However, when booking online, experts warn to be careful you don’t accidentally use a third-party website, which may charge higher fees and come with added restrictions.

“I'm so upset. It's the principle more than anything," said Ottawa resident Joyce McGlinchey, who used one of the third-party websites recently.

McGlinchey plans to attend a convention in Edmonton this summer and went online to book four nights at the Westin Hotel in Edmonton.

McGlinchey said she Googled the hotel and thought she was on Westin’s website when booking her stay, but she said she instead somehow ended up on the third-party website called Reservations.com.

Instead of paying the convention rate of $983 with an option to cancel within 48 hours of arrival, she was charged $1,283 immediately and told there were no refunds.

"I phoned them right away and I said please cancel this and they said it was not cancelable and non-refundable," McGlinchey said.

McGlinchey is now worried she will lose her money if the conference is cancelled.

When searching online, many people type in the name of the hotel and the place they’re going to in a search engine like Google and believe the hotel's website would be the first thing to pop up.

However, often people will get a third-party website, which may charge added fees and have different refund polices than the hotel itself.

“It may look like the website you were intending to be on, but be careful and look at the URL link in the address bar to make sure you are really where you want to be,” said Angela Dennis, the president of the Better Business Bureau of Central Ontario (BBB).

The BBB receives complaints often about third-party websites and the main issue is usually that people end up spending more than they planned to.

“Consumers are paying additional fees for this when if they had gone to the site they intended to, they wouldn’t have to pay those additional fees," Dennis said.

When booking a room, you may want to call the hotel directly or make sure you're on the proper website and paying in Canadian funds as third party websites may have an added layer of fees and restrictions if you need to cancel.

A spokesperson for Reservations.com told CTV News Toronto that they value excellent customer service and transparency. They said they have offered McGlinchey a refund.

"Excellent customer support is our utmost priority and we’re just as upset that Mr. and Mrs. McGlinchey's experience was not as expected. That is always unacceptable. So we understand their complaint," the company stated. “Please note that cancellation policies are governed by the respective hotels and rates booked by the customer and are clearly displayed during various stages of the booking process. Our websites are proudly branded with the Reservations.com logo and design bearing no intentional resemblance to any specific hotel or brand. In addition, we have no redirect capability whatsoever to involuntarily direct customers to our website.”

“That said, we do realize that sometimes misunderstandings can happen and our business model is to respond and resolve customer issues as quickly as possible. That’s why we issued a full refund as soon as we learned about it. In addition, we would like to offer Mr. and Mrs. McGlinchey a $500 voucher for their next hotel reservation with us as an opportunity to earn their satisfaction and trust with Reservations.com.”

McGlinchey was relieved to get a refund and said “[the company was] sorry for what happened and understood why I wanted a refund and it actually was credited to my credit card this morning."

Experts warn people to be careful if they are searching for concert tickets, car rentals or airline seats as they are also sold through third-party websites, which may also charge higher prices and be more difficult to cancel when trying to get a refund.