YOU should email your hotel before you arrive and always check the menu prices before sitting down to avoid being scammed on holiday.
We’ve revealed some of the common ways you could be conned out of your money – and how to avoid it.
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Contact your hotel to avoid overpriced taxis
A number of tourists have been scammed by taxi drivers in recent years – a British tourist was charged £55 for a two-mile journey in Paris while another couple were told to pay £218 in Paris for a journey from the airport.
A Scottish couple were forced to fork out £500 for a five minute journey from a train station in New Zealand.
Lexi Alford, the world record holder for being the youngest person to travel to every country, explained why one email to a hotel before checking in has saved her hundreds of pounds.
The 21-year-old told Bloomberg: “Taxi drivers can be merciless as far as screwing you over, so you need to be very sure on exactly how much it’s going to cost and how long it’s going to take to go from A to B.”
She explained how by confirming average taxi fares before you travel, you’ll have a good idea as to how much you should be charged.
Lexi added: “If you get to the hotel and the meter is unbelievably high, refuse to pay for it. Go inside the hotel and ask for help. And if that doesn’t work, tell them to call the police.
“If you say that, the driver will give up.”
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As an alternative, many hotels will offer transfers for a set price, meaning you know how much you need to pay before you get in.
If they don’t offer this service, they can give directions and advice on public transport.
Check restaurant menus for prices before sitting down
Another common travel scam is restaurants not mentioning prices on their menus – leading to a steep bill at the end of the meal.
A number of tourists ended up paying huge amounts of money for often very small meals, with one man charged over £100 for a few snacks and soft drinks.
Before sitting down at a restaurant, it is always best to check the menu to see if the prices are next to the dish.
You should also check the small print, as some charge by weight for certain dishes – something a group of tourists found out the hard way after paying nearly £400 for fish.
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Never pay travel agents or tour operators in cash
A common scam is fake travel agents or holiday providers asking you to pay them by bank transfer instead of by Paypal or credit cards.
Reasons they will give include they want to “avoid commission fees” or their Paypal account is not working.
People often fall for it when they offer prices much lower than advertised online.
But if you send money via bank transfer, you have no protection against fraud.
One woman was scammed out of £5,000 after finding out her Maldives holiday never existed, while actor James McAvoy admitted he nearly fell for a cheap hotel scam.
Which? Travel editor Rory Boland previously said: “If something seems too good to be true, it almost certainly is. Don’t hand your money over until you can be sure it’s the real deal.”
Find out the exchange rate before buying foreign currency
Tourists can also fall foul of currency scams.
Dodgy Bureau de Changes can take advantage of tourists not knowing how much they should get by either not giving them the full amount or by giving the wrong notes.
Consumer rights advocate Michelle Couch-Friedman previously explained: “Take time to look at the notes that you’ve got out so that you can really get to know them.
“It’s all too easy to hand over, for example, a 1,000 note instead of a 100 when abroad if you’re not familiar with the colours and look of the country’s notes.”
A tour guide in Bali recently told off a Bureau de Change after he tried to scam one of his clients out of half of his cash.
Airport transfers cost Brits four times as much as flights compared to other countries in Geneva.
Other travel scams include fake plane tickets and hotel rooms.
A Disney scam saw a family charged £1,400 for a trip that didn’t exist.
