The safest way to book London accommodation is to compare the full price including every fee, pay by credit card or through a well-known platform's own payment system, and never send a bank transfer to someone you have not met. Most problems, from invented listings to charges that appear at the last step, show warning signs before you pay.
A bed in London is expensive, which makes accommodation attractive to fraudsters and makes it tempting to book the first cheap deal you see. Most bookings go smoothly. The ones that go wrong follow a few familiar patterns: a listing that does not exist, a website that copies a real brand, a price that grows at the last step, or a message that appears to come from your hotel and does not.
This guide covers how to judge a booking before you commit, what the price must legally include, how accommodation fraud works, which payment protections actually reach a visitor from abroad, and what to do when something goes wrong. It applies to hotels, hostels and rented flats alike.
Red flags before you pay
- Payment
- A request for a bank transfer, money transfer, cryptocurrency or gift cards
- Pressure
- "Pay today or lose it", other guests "about to book"
- Channel
- A host or "hotel" asking you to leave the platform and continue by email or messaging app
- Price
- Far below similar places nearby; fees that appear only at the last step
- Website
- An address that is almost, but not quite, the real one
- Report fraud
- Report Fraud, online or on 0300 123 2040; 999 in an emergency
The costly booking mistake that is not a scam at all
Before any of the fraud, there is a simpler way to lose money: a room that looks central and turns out to be a long ride from everything you came to see. "London" on a booking site means anywhere in a city that stretches far beyond its centre.
Check the exact address on a map, measure the walk to the nearest station yourself, and price the daily travel before you compare rates. A contactless day capped at £8.90 in Zones 1 and 2 becomes £12.80 once your bed is in Zone 4, for every person travelling, every day. Our explainer on London's fare zones has the figures, our district-by-district comparison covers where to put yourself, and where to stay on a first visit narrows it to the classic central choices.
Dates matter as much as location, since prices rise sharply around school holidays and big events: when to book a London hotel covers how far ahead to commit.
What the advertised price must include under UK law
UK consumer law is clear that businesses must show the total price up front. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which enforces it, says it is illegal to hide fees, taxes or other charges that the customer will have to pay until later in the purchase process, a practice often called "drip pricing". Under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, a business that breaks these rules can be fined up to 10% of its turnover or £300,000, whichever is greater.
According to CMA guidance, for accommodation this means:
- Mandatory fees belong in the headline price. A booking fee, a cleaning fee or a compulsory service fee must be part of the total you see, not added at the final step.
- Local charges count too. The CMA names resort fees as an example of mandatory local charges that must be included in the total price.
- "From" prices must be honest. A "from" price is allowed, but it must include all mandatory charges and must not mislead.
- Pay now and pay later must both be shown. Where part of the price is paid at the property, the business should give clear "pay now" and "pay locally" amounts as well as the total.
- Optional extras can be separate. Breakfast, parking and late check-out are yours to decline, so they need not be in the headline price.
None of this guarantees that every site obeys the law. Read the final total carefully before you pay, and compare that figure, not the headline rate, between sites. The cleaning fee on a rented flat is the charge most often left until the last screen, and it is spread over the whole booking rather than charged per night.
London has no hotel tourist tax to add to your bill. The government announced in September 2026 that mayors will get the power to introduce an overnight visitor levy, but no rate or start date has been set for London. Until one exists, a separate "city tax" line on a London booking deserves a question before you pay.
Refundable or non-refundable: reading the cancellation terms
Most hotels and platforms offer two rates. A flexible one can be cancelled free of charge up to a deadline, often a day or two before arrival. A non-refundable or "advance purchase" rate is cheaper, but it is charged straight away and cannot be cancelled or changed.
A non-refundable rate makes sense only if your plans are fixed and your insurance covers the reasons you might have to cancel. Where the trip depends on a flight, an entry authorisation or other people, the extra cost of a flexible rate is usually worth it. Check:
- the exact cancellation deadline, including the time of day and whether it is UK time;
- whether "free cancellation" means a full refund or credit for a future stay;
- whether a deposit or the first night is charged immediately, even on a flexible rate;
- what happens if you arrive a day late or leave a day early.
Keep screenshots of the rate, the terms and the confirmation: in a dispute, a dated record of what you were promised is your strongest evidence. Our page on booking a London hotel you can cancel works through the arithmetic of the two rates.
Photos, star ratings and the law on fake reviews
Listing photos are chosen to make rooms look larger and brighter than they are. Look for a floor area in square metres, and for pictures of the bathroom and the view from the window rather than the lobby. If every shot is a close-up, ask why: our description of what a London hotel room is actually like is a useful corrective.
Reviews are worth more than stars if you read them properly. Sort by the most recent, read the low ones as well as the high, and look for repetition: several guests mentioning noise, a broken lift or a room that was not the one booked is a far clearer signal than one furious paragraph.
Fake reviews are now unlawful as well as dishonest. The unfair commercial practices provisions of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 came into force on 6 April 2025 and made fake consumer reviews a banned practice, and the CMA has published guidance for the businesses that host them. That does not make your own reading unnecessary. Treat a run of short, similar, enthusiastic reviews posted within a few days of each other as unproven, and give weight instead to detailed ones that mention things a marketing writer would not invent.
If you have access needs, do not rely on a symbol on a listing. Ask the property directly about steps, lifts, door widths and bathrooms, and get the answer in writing. Our guide to accessible London has more advice.
How accommodation scams work
Report Fraud, the UK's national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime, describes holiday fraud as paying an agent or someone offering short-term lodging online and then discovering that what you booked does not exist. The common patterns are these.
- Fake listings. Photos copied from a real flat, hotel or estate agent, with an attractive price in a central area. The risk is highest with privately let flats, which our guide to apartments and short lets covers in full.
- Copycat booking websites. A site that copies the branding of a real hotel or platform. The UK government's Stop! Think Fraud campaign lists the signs: a web address that does not look quite right, little company information, no terms and conditions, and a request to pay by bank transfer instead of by card or a trusted payment provider.
- Messages that appear to come from your hotel or platform. An email, text or in-app message claiming your booking will be cancelled unless you "verify" your card or pay again through a link. Stop! Think Fraud warns that fraudsters pretend to be trusted organisations and create false urgency so that you act before you think.
- Fake adverts on social media. "Last rooms at half price" offers that lead to a copycat site. The campaign counts bargain prices, pressure language and being pushed off the official website among the warning signs.
Stop! Think Fraud also points out that a padlock symbol and "https" only mean your connection is encrypted. They do not prove the website is genuine, and fraudsters can use artificial intelligence to make fake sites look professional.
Never use the link in an unexpected message about your booking. If a message says your reservation has a problem, close it, then check your booking by logging in to the platform yourself or by calling the hotel on the number shown on its own website. A genuine problem will still be there.
Payment methods that protect you, and those that do not
How you pay decides how much help you can get if something goes wrong. A card, or a well-known platform's own payment system, leaves a route to dispute the charge. A transfer to a private bank account, a money transfer service, cryptocurrency or gift cards are close to unrecoverable once sent.
Stop! Think Fraud advises staying on the official website and using only the payment methods it recommends. If a host or "hotel" gives a reason why you should pay another way, such as lower fees, a broken payment system or a special discount, treat it as a warning sign and stop. Pay the deposit and the balance the same way you booked: the split payment, where the booking is made on a platform and the balance goes separately to a private account, is where most accommodation fraud succeeds. For cards, cash and exchange rates once you are here, see our guide to money in London.
What the payment protections actually cover
"Pay by card" is good advice, but it is worth knowing what the protections are, because the two strongest ones do not reach most international visitors.
Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Where a purchase is financed by a credit agreement, and the cash price of the item is more than £100 and no more than £30,000, the card provider is jointly liable with the supplier for misrepresentation or breach of contract. In practice a UK credit card holder can claim against the card company as well as the hotel or agency. The right attaches to the credit agreement, which is why debit cards sit outside it.
The bank transfer reimbursement rules. Since 7 October 2024, banks and payment firms have had to reimburse victims of authorised push payment fraud, which is the formal name for being tricked into transferring money yourself. The Payment Systems Regulator sets the maximum claim at £85,000, allows firms to apply an excess of up to £100, expects reimbursement within five business days, and requires the claim to be made within 13 months of the payment. If a firm refuses, the Financial Ombudsman Service can look at the case.
The catch for visitors. Those reimbursement rules apply to money moved from one UK account to another over the Faster Payments system or CHAPS, so a transfer sent from a bank abroad is outside them, and section 75 attaches to a UK-regulated credit agreement. Booking from another country, your practical protection is the card scheme's own dispute process and whatever the platform offers, which is why paying inside the platform matters more for you than for a British guest.
Surprises at check-in: card holds and extras
Even a genuine booking can bring unexpected costs on arrival. Many hotels place a temporary hold on your card at check-in to cover extras such as minibar items. The money is not taken, but it is unavailable, sometimes for days after you leave, and on a card with a low limit that matters more than the amount. Ask at the desk what the hold will be and when it is released. A refundable damage deposit on a rented flat is a different arrangement, and the cash version is the hardest kind to recover.
Expect to show your passport or ID card. Under the Immigration (Hotel Records) Order 1972, anyone aged 16 or over staying in paid accommodation must give their full name and nationality on arrival, and many foreign nationals must also give passport details.
Check the bill before you leave. Charges for items you did not use, or a service charge nobody mentioned, are easier to question at the desk than weeks later by email, and a discretionary service charge is always optional. Our page on hotel extras and hidden costs lists what else a London rate leaves out.
Checking your booking before you travel
A few days before you leave, confirm the booking with the property itself, especially if you booked through a third-party site or far in advance. Take the contact details from the hotel's own website or the platform, not from a message you received, and check the dates, the room type, the number of guests and your arrival time.
If you will arrive late at night, say so: some small hotels have no staffed reception after a certain hour, and hostels may need to know to hold your bed. Save the address and phone number offline in case your phone has no data when you land; our guide to SIM cards and eSIMs in the UK helps you stay connected.
What to do if a booking goes wrong
If you arrive and there is no booking, the room is very different from what you paid for, or the property does not exist, act quickly:
- Document everything. Take photos and keep all messages, confirmations and receipts.
- Contact the platform or booking company at once, through its official app or website. Platforms expect problems to be reported quickly if you want help with a refund or a new place to stay.
- Call your bank or card issuer if money has gone to a fraudster, using the number on your card or its official website. The sooner you call, the better the chance of stopping the payment.
- Report the fraud to Report Fraud online or by calling 0300 123 2040.
- Report the source. Stop! Think Fraud recommends reporting suspicious websites to the National Cyber Security Centre, forwarding scam emails to report@phishing.gov.uk and reporting fake online adverts to the Advertising Standards Authority.
If you feel unsafe or are in immediate danger, call 999; for crimes that are not emergencies, 101. Our page on emergency numbers and what to do if something goes wrong lists the other contacts, and our guide to safety in London covers the scams you may meet on the street. If you still need a bed tonight, larger budget hotels and hostels are the likeliest to take a same-day booking.
Frequently asked questions
How can I tell if a London accommodation website is genuine?
Check the web address letter by letter against the one you know, look for full company details and terms and conditions, and read reviews on several independent sites. Be very wary if the site asks you to pay by bank transfer rather than by card or a trusted payment provider.
Is it safer to book direct with a hotel or through a booking platform?
Both can be safe. What matters is dealing with the genuine hotel or a well-known platform, paying by card or through the platform's own system, and keeping the messages there. Compare the total price and the cancellation terms on both.
Will my bank refund money I transferred to a fake landlord?
If the payment went from one UK account to another, the reimbursement rules in force since 7 October 2024 generally require the sending firm to refund you, up to £85,000 and subject to an excess of up to £100, provided you claim within 13 months. A transfer sent from a bank outside the UK falls outside those rules, which is the main reason to pay by card or inside a platform.
Can a London hotel add fees when I check in?
Mandatory fees should already be in the total price you were shown when booking. Hotels can charge for optional extras you choose, such as breakfast or parking, and may take a refundable card hold for incidentals. Ask about any charge you were not told about.
What should I do if I paid for a fake rental in London?
Contact your bank or card issuer immediately using the number on your card, then report the fraud to Report Fraud online or on 0300 123 2040. Keep all messages, adverts and payment records, and tell the platform where you found the listing.
Does London charge a tourist tax on hotels?
Not at present. In September 2026 the government announced plans to let mayors introduce an overnight visitor levy based on a percentage of the accommodation cost, but London has not set a rate or a start date.
Sources
- Competition and Markets Authority - Providing clear and accurate information about prices: summary (checked September 2026)
- Competition and Markets Authority - Fake reviews guidance (CMA208) (checked September 2026)
- Report Fraud - A-Z of cyber crime and fraud (checked September 2026)
- Stop! Think Fraud (UK government) - How to spot a fake website (checked September 2026)
- Stop! Think Fraud (UK government) - Recognise the tactics (checked September 2026)
- legislation.gov.uk - Consumer Credit Act 1974, section 75 (checked September 2026)
- Payment Systems Regulator - APP fraud reimbursement protections (checked September 2026)
- GOV.UK - Local leaders handed powers to drive investment in communities (checked September 2026)