Everyone who books a flight, hotel or rental car online, may be familiar with the following situation: You think you found a good offer, but just before the last click, the price suddenly increases. The Network of European Consumer Centres (ECC-Net) conducted a comprehensive study about this problem. The highest amount of analysed cases came from Austria (254 of 539).
Surcharges for check-in luggage, the payment with credit card or an unspecified service fee - such unexpected extra costs are most probable at online flight bookings (365), followed by rental cars (109). A survey by the ECC-Net further showed that consumers are most annoyed by credit card fees.
Based on its results, the ECC-Net developed two compact fact sheets with tips: One for consumers on how to protect themselves against bad surprises during their online holiday booking. And the second for companies, who offer travel services on the internet.
The full report can be downloaded under this link for free.
