I've mostly stayed away from website redirects to hotel booking engines. When TripAdvisor first started this "service", one of the booking engines it was showing turned out to be a credit card scam site.
I've been planning now a trip to Osaka, Japan for March - hoping that we're in a post-vaccine period of increased traveling then. After entering my travel dates, TripAdvisor was proffering my usual hotel (Swissotel, Namba) at $157/night. So I clicked thru first to the "TripAdvisor Partner", booking.com. Cheapest room was $196/night. Clicking thru to "edreams.com" took me to an identical-looking booking.com engine, quoting a 11-day package price which was $230/night! The cheapest rate on the Accor/Swissotel direct website was $196 a night.
So click-thru booking from TripAdvisor was a scam like the rest. Fine.
I *DID* however report the issue to TripAdvisor management, Stephen Kaufer. I received a response from TripAdvisor Customer Relations team member Janine. Management response?
"Tripadvisor posts pricing, availability information and room types for accommodations based on data that is transferred to us from OTA's (I.e. Booking.com, eDreams, etc). If the information displayed on our site is incorrect, we would suggest that the properties contact their partners to inform them of any potential discrepancies so as to ensure that the correct information be sent to us by the respective OTA's."
Basically saying that TripAdvisor has NO responsibility for this information, and even attempts absolve the OTA's (booking providers) from any responsibility either! Making the absurd claim that the fault is with the individual hotel! This all while collecting a commission on the fraudulent rates!
Since in this case Accor/Swissotel is quoting the same rate as booking.com, it would seem that the issue is solely with TripAdvisor - they've just pulled this $157 rate out of thin air!
With Democrats coming back into power, I am hoping the FTC is renewed with people who genuinely want to work on behalf of consumers and stop what has become rampant online fraud. Meanwhile I've reported the whole incident to the
Massachusetts Attorney General's office.
TripAdvisor Room Rate quote
Actually rate at Booking.com over 30% than the bait-and-switch rate. Other rates different and higher. Much higher!