How the New Hotel Scam Works

A new form of scam has been discovered by fraudsters posing as guests who have already checked out of a hotel without officially going through the checkout process.

Nathan and Eleni Weisser recounted their scam experience to Michelle Couch-Friedman, a columnist for the Consumer Rescue section of the travel website Points Guy. The couple was supposed to stay for one night at the London Hilton hotel before heading to the Greek islands. They left the room without officially checking out since they had linked their credit card to the room and had already paid for the stay using loyalty points.

As the columnist describes, the story would have ended with the couple doing an unofficial checkout by leaving the keys in a lobby box. The travelers headed to the airport for their flight to Greece, unaware that a fraudster was watching them. The scammer then entered their empty room and called the reception to request an extended stay.

The fraudster stayed in the room for two nights and racked up an $800 room service bill. However, the hotel refused to acknowledge that it was a scammer impersonating the couple, insisting that the couple had extended their stay.

Eventually, the couple, in order to convince the hotel, had to threaten to publicize their experience on Points Guy and send proof such as Uber receipts to Stansted Airport and confirmation from Ryanair that the Weissers had boarded their flight on the day the scammer extended the stay.

The hotel admitted that "an individual gained access to the room after your departure" and apologized, waiving the extra charge and the loyalty points used for the extended stay. Additionally, they clarified that the extension, which would normally be done at reception, was made over the phone because the scammer claimed to feel unwell, and they reported the incident to the police.

Such scams are becoming increasingly common as the digitalization of hotel transactions leads more and more travelers to head straight to the airport, bypassing the checkout process at reception.