Got scammed by a fake hostel booking in Bangkok last month

Showed up at what I thought was a legit place on Khao San Road and it was just a locked door with a sign that said 'office closed.' Now I only book through sites that take payment after you check in, anyone else run into ghost listings?

2 comments

2 Comments

juliaa257d agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, that sucks. I had something kinda similar happen in Chiang Mai a few years back. Booked a "budget guesthouse" through one of those sketchy aggregator sites that looked fine in the photos, got there and it was basically a construction site with a few mattresses on the floor. The owner tried to say the pictures were from "before renovations" even though the place clearly hadn't been touched in years. I ended up having to argue with my bank to get the charge reversed and lost a whole day of my trip sorting it out. I've learned the hard way that if a place looks too good to be true for the price in Thailand, it probably is, especially around backpacker hubs like Khao San Road. These ghost listings are a plague, and it's really hit or miss whether you get your money back from the booking site.

tylerr296d ago

Too good to be true for the price" might as well be my life motto at this point, I once booked a $10 room in Chiang Mai and it turned out to be a closet with a hammock. Learned my lesson the same way you did, now I only book places that let me pay after I've seen the mattress.