BookOnlineReviews 10,216

While traveling from NH to Florida in January 2025, we stopped in Greenbelt MD and pulled over to look for a hotel. We were tired from the long ride and had to find a hotel that took pets. We found the Crown Plaza in Washington DC with a reasonable rate of $174 for the night. I thought I was on the Crown Plaza site - but it was the Bookonline website that they made look like you were on the Crown Plaza site. I saw the price of $174 and when I hit continue it just brought up the payment method. So without thinking much about it I put in my credit card number and pressed submit payment. But instead of $174 coming up it showed a charge of $320.00! After we checked in, I looked at the receipt and they had charged me $28.33 for refund protection which I never chose and $111.55 of taxes and recovery fees but none of it was itemized. When I asked at the hotel, they said my full charge was $174.00 because the $10 or so taxes were added to the $164.00 room fee which brought it to $174.00. When I called the Bookonline support number the person was very nice but of little help. He was able to immediately refund the $28.33 "refund protection" fee that I never had a chance to view but he couldn't do anything about the taxes and recovery fees and had to open a "price review support ticket". I requested a breakdown of those fees from the email response I got that they were looking into it and also mentioned it to the agent I spoke to. Although they sent me several copies of the receipt that just listed the $111.55 of taxes and recovery fees, I still have never received an itemized list of what I paid for. I just don't have the time to pursue them or file small claims against them for this amount, which is probably what they hope. But hopefully this along with all the other very similar reviews/stories will help others avoid this scam! I will also be adding this review to as many websites as I can!