Booking.com Scam Messages: How to Tell If a Payment Request Is Genuine

A message about your Booking.com reservation that asks you to send card details, pay again or pay by bank transfer, gift card or cryptocurrency should be treated as a scam until proven otherwise. Booking.com states that it will never ask you to share credit card details by email, phone, text or WhatsApp, and never ask for a bank transfer that differs from the payment policy in your booking confirmation. The safe check is always the same: do not use the link or number in the message; open the Booking.com app or website yourself, look at the booking, and contact Customer Service from there.

This guide uses Booking.com's own safety guidance for travellers, its travel article on avoiding hotel scams and its newsroom advice on online travel scams, all read on 25 October 2026. Booking.com notes that this kind of fraud is not unique to it or to travel; the same patterns turn up across many industries.

What Booking.com says it will never ask for

• Your credit card details by email, phone, text or WhatsApp.
• A bank transfer that differs from the payment policy in your booking confirmation.
• Your Booking.com account password. Its Customer Service representatives, it says, will only ever ask for your reservation ID and/or reservation PIN code.
• Payment by gift card. "No legitimate transaction (for example, payments or reservation changes) will ever need you to pay specifically with gift cards."
• A second payment for a booking you have already paid. Booking.com's scam guide puts it plainly: "Reputable platforms never ask for double payments."

Its scam guide adds that once a booking is confirmed you should not incur any additional online payments, unless they are made at the property itself, and that requests for bank transfers, prepaid cards or cryptocurrency should be avoided.

What a fake message usually looks like

Booking.com describes the typical phishing message in some detail. It most often claims to come from the property, sometimes from Booking.com itself, and includes convincing details about the dates and cost of your stay, which is what makes it believable. It then asks you, urgently, to share your payment information again in order to keep the booking. The warning signs Booking.com lists across its guidance:

• Urgency and threats: pay or confirm within a deadline, such as 24 hours, or the booking will be cancelled.
• A claim that a payment failed or the booking is incomplete, followed by a request to pay again.
• A link to a different website, or a request to sign in or enter card details on a page you reached from the message.
• A request to move the conversation or the payment off the Booking.com platform.
• A sender address that does not match, even when the display name looks right. Official Booking.com emails come from its own domain, so read the whole address.
• Spelling or grammar mistakes, or a mix of different languages in the same message.
• Contact details supplied in the message itself rather than found on Booking.com's official site.

The detail that makes these scams work is that the message can be accurate about your trip. Booking.com notes that an attack which compromises traveller data may be used for phishing by WhatsApp, phone or email. Correct dates and a correct price are therefore not proof that a message is genuine.

How to check a message in two minutes

• Do not click anything in the message, and do not call a number it gives you.
• Open the Booking.com app, or type the website address yourself, and sign in.
• Open the booking and read the payment policy and the payment status in your confirmation. Booking.com says the correct information about prepayments and damage deposits is in your confirmation email.
• Compare the request with the policy. If you are being asked to pay something the policy does not describe, Booking.com's advice is not to send it.
• If anything is unclear, contact Customer Service through the app or website, or message the property through Booking.com's own messaging.

Payment terms vary by property, which is exactly why the confirmation is the reference point. Some rates are paid at booking, others at the property, and some properties hold a deposit on your card. Our guides to pay now versus pay at the property and hotel card holds explain what a legitimate charge looks like, and what you actually pay at a hotel covers taxes and fees that are genuinely added at check-in.

Fake listings: the other half of the problem

Not every scam arrives after you book. Booking.com describes fake properties as fraudulent listings, created to get travellers to book or pay for accommodation that does not exist, and says it detects and blocks most of them before they affect anyone. Its advice before booking:

• Compare the price with similar properties in the same area. A significantly lower price is a common red flag.
• Read the property's policies, including payment, damage deposit and extra fees, in the 'House rules' section above the photos.
• Read reviews. On Booking.com, a review can only be left after a completed stay.
• If a newly listed property asks you to confirm a reservation or pay outside the payment policy in your confirmation, do not engage or share personal or financial details; contact Customer Service.

Booking.com's scam guide also suggests contacting the hotel directly, using its official phone number or email, to confirm a reservation if a message seems suspicious. A price far below everything around it is the same warning sign in reverse: hotel review scores explained covers how to read the reviews that help separate a bargain from a trap.

Protect the account itself

Turn on two-factor authentication. Booking.com explains that with it on, a sign-in also needs a unique verification code sent to your mobile device, so a stolen password alone is not enough. It is set up in the Security settings of your account. Its scam guide also recommends updating your password regularly and using a mix of letters, numbers and symbols, and its safety page recommends up-to-date antivirus software on your devices. A secure account also protects any credits held in your Booking.com Wallet, which we explain in Booking.com Rewards and Wallet.

If you have already clicked, shared or paid

Act quickly. Booking.com's steps, in order:

• Contact Booking.com Customer Service immediately and report that you may have been scammed, so it reaches the security team.
• Reset your Booking.com password and turn on two-factor authentication.
• Contact your bank or payment provider, explain what happened, and ask them to block your card and issue a new one. Watch your statements and flag any unrecognised charge at once.
• Keep copies of the messages, emails, receipts and screenshots; Booking.com notes they help your bank and the platform resolve it faster.
• Report it to your local consumer protection authority, and to the police for larger sums or where sensitive information was shared.

If you shared personal details as well as payment details, Booking.com also suggests considering an identity protection service that watches for unusual activity, and changing the passwords on your booking and payment accounts.

A note on genuine requests

Not every payment message is fake. Properties do take deposits, prepayments and local taxes, and some ask for them before arrival. The test is not whether money is requested, but whether the request matches the payment policy in your confirmation and is made through Booking.com or at the property. When it does not, Booking.com's advice is consistent across every page we read: do not pay, and contact Customer Service.

Sources

Read on 25 October 2026. Terms and programmes change; check the source before you rely on a detail.

• Booking.com — Safety tips for travellers (what it will never ask for, phishing, 2FA, what to do if you clicked, fake properties): https://www.booking.com/trust_and_safety/travellers.en-gb.html
• Booking.com — How to spot and avoid hotel scams (double payments, sender domain, off-platform payments, what to do if scammed): https://www.booking.com/articles/avoid-hotel-scams.en-gb.html
• Booking.com newsroom — Online travel scams are on the rise, here's how to stay safe (warning signs): https://news.booking.com/online-travel-scams-are-on-the-rise-heres-how-to-stay-safe/