Last night I did a WhatsApp video call with a couple of friends. In the course of the conversation mention was made of an upcoming hotel stay in Hannover next winter. I made my room reservation months ago and had given it no thought since.
After discussing the reservation the conversation moved on.
This morning I received a WhatsApp message purporting to be from the German hotel concerning said reservation. The message said information was missing and invited me to click a link. Apparently if I didn’t provide the info, the booking would be cancelled.
I ignored the invitation to click the link and logged into Booking.com on a different computer. No messages. The booking had been confirmed months ago and there was no mention of any need to supply more information.
For good measure, I phoned the hotel and they said all was well and that they would NEVER contact me by WhatsApp.
Is it possible something was listening in on our video call on WhatsApp? Or was today’s attempted scam just a coincidence?
I suspect coincidence, at least in timing. I’m not at all convinced that booking.com doesn’t have a significant data security issue as this is a common story.
No idea what is going on… but if OH orders something from Amazon France or Germany… we will start getting messages from “delivery firms” about “failed delivery” etc etc… and that happens even before the article has been dispatched.. so there are pirates within the system.. somewhere, of that I’m sure.
OK thanks.
It’s been a bad day on the tech front all round. I merely sent a question about parking to a prospective host on the Airbnb app and it started bombarding me with messages to “Complete the booking”. The app seems to have got more aggressive since I last used it. Problem is I’m never quite sure whether what I’m complaining about is a new development. Or just a case of me moving deeper into grouchy-old-git territory.
Either way I would definitely need a holiday after the stress of the booking process.
Honestly, there’s so much duplicity out there it’s exhausting. I spent hours this morning being almost seduced by lovely photos of flats in Italy. Only to then have to wade through umpteen reviews and find some Finn pointing out that the balcony in the photo doesn’t actually belong to the flat in question.
That happens Ă lot, that is photos not matching up to the actual physical apartment or villa.
Would suggest that booking.com, who we have used on numerous occasions in the past, are no longer safe to use. Perhaps Trivago who compare all the costs of hotels, villas, etc, might give a better price for the same accommodation.
In the case of hotels, I do find myself increasingly booking direct. What I liked about Booking.com in the past was that the cancellation options were clear. Whereas you sometimes have to do a bit more digging on hotel websites.
True. We never had problems if it was necessary to cancel with booking.com. We also had refunds from them if we found a cheaper price for the same rental terms for the same hotel, flat, etc. Just needed to show them the proof and they always reimbursed us as they say they will do.