Fraud and scams in organized trips abroad

Abdennour Mazoz
Aug 18
2 min read

Recently, a negative trend has spread among some travel agencies: changing the hotel without consulting the customer and without giving them the chance to accept or refuse the new hotel, under the pretext that the travel fee is non-refundable and that the new hotel is of the same category as the one originally marketed.Does the travel agency have the right to change the agreed hotel without the customer’s consent, and how can you avoid this?

In reality, the travel agency did not change the hotel, but simply promoted in its tourist offer another hotel than the one it had actually contracted with. The agency makes agreements with a poor-quality hotel at the cheapest rates, then selects a beautiful and elegant hotel to use in its advertising to lure victims. Customers often learn the name of the real hotel only after making the payment, and sometimes only upon arrival.

Why does the travel agency change the hotel after payment?

This is a cheap and illegal strategy based on fraud and deception to increase profits unlawfully at the expense of the customer’s comfort. The travel agency makes extra profit from the price difference between the hotel promoted in their advertising—usually a well-known, elegant, and expensive hotel—and the one they actually contracted with, which is often a cheap, rundown hotel unfit even for accommodation.

The fraudulent agency usually justifies this change by claiming that, at the last minute, they discovered the promoted hotel was of poor quality and that, out of “love” for the client, they sacrificed their own time, money, and effort to find a supposedly better and more expensive hotel, even paying the difference themselves. In reality, their only concern is maximizing profit through this dishonest trick.

These fraudulent agencies never care about the customer’s comfort, evaluation, or satisfaction. Their only obsession is profit at any cost. What’s worse is that they are convinced this method is legitimate and a sign of “smartness” or “cleverness.”

How do fraudulent travel agencies protect themselves from legal action?

Usually, the dishonest agency avoids issuing a travel contract or delays handing it over, leaving the customer powerless. They also withhold the hotel booking, providing only the flight tickets, since there is no way to scam through those.

Such agencies do not respect laws, ethics, or customer satisfaction. Their only law is profit.

Sometimes, they include vague clauses in the contract, such as the right to change the hotel to another of the same category. But are all hotels of the same rating equal? Of course not.

Religious view: These practices are forbidden and the money earned is considered unlawful, as it comes from deception.

Exceptions: If the hotel cancels the agency’s booking at the last minute, a professional agency will find an equivalent or better hotel and cover any extra costs.

How to protect yourself: