Tips to Protect Travelers (Buyer Beware)

Protect Yourself

Protecting Yourself from Travel Scams: Key Tips for Verifying Advisors and Payments

Scams are on the rise in every industry. This is certainly the case for travel.

The first scam is making sure you are working with a reputable agent/advisor. We encourage you to take a look at their profiles online and also see if they are members of any governing body. CLIA is the Cruise Lines International Association, and if you are cruising, I think this is a bare minimum. Then you have ASTA, which is a general body for travel advisors, so hopefully, the tour and resort advisor is a part of this organization. Also, look for local chamber and BBB associations. Incidentally, we are a part of all of these.

Most advisors in North America are not going to have you PayPal, Venmo, or write them a personal check. Some advisors charge planning fees, but the vast majority do not. For the most part, advisors taking credit card information are immediately using it to pay your deposit and/or payments directly to the cruise line, tour operator, resort, or the third-party company they are using to bundle air and hotel, etc., like Apple, Pleasant, Vacations Express, or Expedia, to name a few.

After you have started a relationship and booking with the advisor, in most cases, they are the ones contacting you to remind you of new payments; at the least, they are generating the request from the cruise line or tour operator, etc. So ALWAYS reach out to them to verify before paying anything online or over the phone. This is the other big scam. We, as advisors, think that some operatives are paying attention to social media posts and online groups, especially on FB, Reddit, etc., where groups are made to talk about your upcoming cruise. It is not hard for those entities to gather your email and/or phone and then ask for payments related to your travel. So again, check with your advisor FIRST.

Please ask your advisor first before making payments if you are not sure if it has originated from your advisor.

Anything missing? Or want to tell your story, please comment below.