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I like to think that I’ve made my fair share of internet hotel bookings. Whether it’s been directly through a hotel chain’s website, via an online travel agency (OTA) like Expedia and Orbitz or via the more opaque sites like Priceline, I’ve booked a fair few rooms over the years…..so I thought there wasn’t much that could surprise me during the booking process. Well, it turns out that I was wrong, as Agoda decided to prove to me just the other day.
Over the weekend I used Kayak to check the prices of hotels for a trip I’ve got coming up and discovered that, for the dates I was traveling, Agoda offered the best rates for a lot of the hotels I was looking at…so that was the option I went with for my booking.
The booking was for a single night, for two rooms and came to a total of $180…so I wasn’t exactly splashing out!
Everything in the booking process went as one would expect and I got an email confirmation shortly after I made payment – all good so far. Then, about two hours after the email confirmation, came the following email from fraudprevention@agoda.com:
Note: The email has been edited to remove names, dates and destination but all other information has been left in unedited.
Dear Ziggy
Additional information is required in order to process your booking.
In order to finalize your booking, please attach the 2 documents requested below to the following online form:
In this form you will need to provide:
A. Scanned copy/Photo of the front of the Credit Card used for this booking.
B. Photo of valid government-issued photo ID (e.g. passport, drivers license).Please be advised that the name must match the copy of the credit card used for this purchase.
Important Notes
- Please note that your booking request is pending and subject to continued availability.
- In order to ensure that your requested room type will still be available, it is important that you send us the required documents as soon as possible.
- Within 24-hours of receiving your documents, if approved, we will send you a Confirmation email & Hotel Voucher.
- In addition, we will take note of your email address in an effort to save you from having to send this information in the future.
If we do not receive your information by May xx [local time], 2016, your booking request will be cancelled.
This verification is for your protection.
All links on this page are secure and the information you provide will be reviewed by a trained member of our Fraud Prevention unit. This team ensures it’s really you making this booking.
Agoda uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology to encrypt all information.
I had two issues with this request:
1) My credit card company didn’t seem to have a problem with the transaction (and they would be the ones on the hook if a fraud was in fact being perpetrated) so why was Agoda getting uptight about it?
2) Although I had already provided the Agoda website with my credit card details I wasn’t about to scan a copy of my card over to them and I certainly wasn’t about to scan a copy of my DL or passport either!
Presumably there are controls in place at Agoda that mean that customers’ credit card details aren’t viewable by staff after they’re inputted into their system but I fail to see how a scanned copy of my credit card would be secure in any way.
Sure, Agoda says that the information I was being asked to supply would be transmitted securely and in encrypted form…but what happens at the other end? Who’s viewing the information and what happens to it after they’ve looked at the scans they were asking for?
Considering the constant reminders we’re given about the ever present risks of fraud over the internet I found this request strange and somewhat unbelievable.
I replied to the email immediately explaining that, while I was happy to provide my credit card and ID to the front-desk staff at the hotel I was booking, I was not prepared to scan them and email them to Agoda.
The email I got back (which unfortunately I now can’t seem to find) simply reiterated that if I didn’t supply the information my booking would be cancelled…and that was that. I didn’t send the scans and, within 12 hours, I received another email confirming that my booking had been cancelled.
I ended up booking the same hotel via Booking.com for a little bit more but without any dramas – no demands for scanned ID or credit cards and everything went through like all of the other bookings I’ve made with OTAs. Just as it should be.
Bottom Line
I’m sure people’s opinions will vary but I would never email scans of my credit cards or identification papers to a third party I have never met and don’t know. As far as I can tell there’s absolutely no reason for it and the risks are simply too great.
As I proved on this occasion, I’m more than happy to take my business elsewhere and pay a little more in exchange for not having to open myself up to unnecessary risk.
I’d be interested to hear if others have had similar experiences with Agoda or other OTAs and, if you have, how you dealt with it. Did I overreact by refusing to scan and email my details over or was Agoda out of line? Just as importantly, should OTA’s even be allowed to make such demands in the first place?
I had this issue with booking.com after full payment had already been taken but they allowed me to show at the front desk. I will however not use them again. It seems to be me that they are editing the contract after the fact.
That’s very poor on the part of Booking.com and, as far as I’m concerned, isn’t something any OTA should be asking for or doing – there’s just no need. Hotels regularly ask to see ID upon check-in (which I have no problem with) so why an OTA should request scanned copies in advance is beyond me.
The line in the the email I got that read “This verification is for your protection” made me laugh as it’s patently untrue – I’m already very well protected by the credit card companies and I trust them a whole lot more than any OTA to pick up on a potentially fraudulent transaction.
I agree. Tell them where to go. Every once in awhile, some company decides they need to CYA. With no valid reason. Not going to play their silly game.
Qatar Airways do the same on occasion. I welcomed the option to cancel, at which stage they stated that I could simply show the card used to purchase at check-in..
Always good to be in a position where you can just shrug your shoulders and offer to take your money elsewhere. Puts the power firmly in the customer’s hands.
Agoda did this to me on a confirmed reservation just days before the stay. They waited 3 months after sending the hotel voucher to threaten me with cancellation and tell me that no room was being held. What does “confirmed and complete” mean? What does “guaranteed for arrival mean? They lied about everything.
Make an attempt for a booking via agoda just know. Yes, they still asking for the copy as mentioned by the writer. BUT, there is an option if we don’t want to provide them those documents, which is to allow them to charge me around usd2 for verification. Not sure whether this is new or already in place before. Hell, i’m not going to go their way.