

Booking.com and Credit Card Fraud - vladfr
http://vladfr.github.io/blog/2014/11/25/booking-dot-com-and-credit-card-fraud/

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calbear81
Booking.com uses an agency model with hotels and doesn't handle any payment
from the user. They basically get a commission once your stay is completed.
What this means is that they pass on your information to the hotel so that
they handle billing/charging, etc.

This is in contrast to most OTAs in the US that are on a merchant model where
they charge your credit card and have a pre-agreed upon net rate they pay for
rooms to the hotel. This means the hotel has no idea what your credit card is
or how you paid, just that a paid reservation with their partner was made.

This isn't very different than calling up a hotel and providing your credit
card number and CVV / Expiration date on the phone to make a reservation. Only
difference is that they sent it electronically.

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vladfr
One more thing: they are sharing my personal data without my consent - in this
regard, it is very different than me providing my card data over the phone.

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calbear81
They do have to share your personal data to the fulfilling agent just like you
have to share your personal data to book a flight. The hotel has to have your
information to complete the reservation and I'm sure it's buried somewhere in
the terms and conditions.

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vladfr
Hotels will still ask you for your credit card, most (if not all) payments on
Booking.com reservations are done upon arrival, and not online. So, honestly,
Booking asking for your card details is completely useless.

Hotels might as well shoot you an email or call you to confirm - in fact, I
think that would make for a better experience.

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josuegio
Hi Guys, recently i suffered a credit card fraud traveling to Innsbruck in
Austria or to a little village in Germany close to Fussen. I was almost sure
that was thanks to Booking.

~~~
vladfr
There would be no way of telling - someone might've just found your cc data
some other way - but yeah, knowing that it's out there is scary. I'm still
checking my balance every day.

