“What can go wrong if you pay for the reservation with someone else's card?” — you can ask. Our friend didn’t know either.
After booking a hotel room on her name, Julia used a friend's card to pay for it. At this moment the situation got a little out of control. The hotel representatives had some suspicions because the name of the card holder and the name of the guest were different. And in order to protect themselves and prevent possible fraud, they called Julia back and asked to confirm the payment. For this, she had to duplicate card data, even Card Security Code, in a special form.
And here the fun begins. Representatives of the existing banks unanimously shout: “Never tell anyone your card data.” And, of course, Julia remembered this, so she flatly refused to provide confidential information. On the other side of the phone they assured that “everything is OK, this is just a formality, because you just need to call the numbers 734.” (To make you understand, this was exactly the same CVV code indicated on the same card of a friend.)
So, it was situation that prompted us to tell you about the intricacies and rules of working with booking.com. In fact, the service keeps your data safe and transfers it only to the hotel that you personally booked. But everything happens, and there are a lot of unscrupulous people in the world. That’s why rule #1: get an additional card for online payments. It should have a limit in normal times, for example, 10₴, and when booking a hotel, set the amount necessary for the operation.
Such a simple scheme will not allow fraudsters who receive your data to cash out money.
booking.com is a service where hotels for every taste and color are collected. Representatives of the hotel business demonstrate their offers, and guests look at options, choose the suitable one and book.
The main booking process takes place on the resource, so it may seem that booking is responsible for the order. But this is not so: booking is only an intermediary between a client and a hotel.
In other words, booking.com only collects offers for tourists and then provides information about the reservation to the hotel. Everything else, from the cost to entering the correct data, falls on the shoulders of the hotel representatives.
In this case, of course, you can involuntarily think: is it better to rent an apartment?
The hotel may require your card details if you chose to pay in advance at the time of booking. This is necessary for the hotel to deduct funds for accommodation.
If you choose to pay later, the hotel gives you a “guarantee” of the reservation. In other words: you will be provided with a room if you promise to pay for it. The guarantee can be supported by the reputation of the hotel and the booking.com system itself. But there is rule #2: if the client forgets to inform about the cancellation of the reservation or does it,but late, then he must pay a fine.
This is the reason why the hotel needs your card details.
When you submit to booking.com, your data is transmitted over the protocol, protecting against intruders who cannot decrypt them. A big danger is when the hotel receives the data.
Rule #3: prepayment directly to the hotel. You can always start a search with the filter ‘Reservation possible without a credit card’ by sorting only those offers where it is possible to make a reservation without a credit card. To guarantee the reservation, hotel representatives will offer you to transfer to a bank card. Thus, no one will know your data.
For example, the Business hotel Bossfor (one of the Ribas Hotels Group hotels) provides this opportunity to guests. After booking, the manager will contact the client and ask you to make an advance payment in any convenient way.
Of course, worrying is normal, especially for your hard-earned money. But this does not mean at all that one should stop trusting and undergo a total conspiracy theory.
Your data will be safe only with you — yes. But many hotels, in particular the Ribas Hotels Group chain, are happy to meet their guests. Therefore, sometimes you can safely contact the hotel directly with a request to book a room. So it will certainly be calmer.
Have a nice rest!
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