Got scammed by a fake hostel booking in Bangkok last month

I booked a place on a third party site for $12 a night, showed up and it was just a random apartment building with no sign. The address was completely made up and the guy who answered the door had no clue. Lost $180 for 15 nights because the site refused to refund. Now I only book direct through hostel websites or check Google Maps street view first. Has anyone else had this happen with dodgy listings in Southeast Asia?

2 comments

2 Comments

morgan91517d ago

Oh man this exact thing happened to my buddy Dave in Chiang Mai last year. He found this place on one of those budget booking apps that looked amazing in the photos, $10 a night with a pool and breakfast. Showed up and it was literally someone's spare bedroom in their house with a mattress on the floor and no pool anywhere. The guy tried to say the pool was "under construction" but there was no construction nothing. He lost about 200 bucks too and had to scramble to find somewhere to sleep that night. Now he uses Google Maps street view and reads reviews on Hostelworld before booking anything in Asia.

dakota_murphy9017d ago

Yeah you stopped trusting those third party sites after that? Same here man. Used to think direct booking was a waste of time but now I won't do it any other way.