Online rogues tarnish reputation of Hong Kong's travel industry

Overseas travel has never been easier. From buying air tickets to reserving hotel rooms, everything can be done online nowadays. The mushrooming of websites with one-stop services and price comparisons for different travel products testifies to the growing popularity and reliability of online booking.

But the do-it-yourself approach brings risk as well as convenience. Loose regulation in the cyberworld means publicity and advertisements, in particular for lodgings, can sometimes be exaggerated or misleading. Promotions that are non-refundable make customers even more vulnerable. For those who have no time to plough through reviews by others, they can only count on the information provided by the owner.

The problem of misrepresented online sales also appears to be an issue of growing concern in Hong Kong. The Consumer Council had received 80 complaints against hotels and guest houses by the end of the August, with 11 against dodgy sales practices, up from seven for the whole of last year. There were 117 complaints last year, 20 per cent more than in 2012.

The number may look insignificant for a city that plays host to tens of millions of visitors a year. It nonetheless casts a shadow over our reputation as a top travel destination. In one case, a family from Shanghai arrived at Chungking Mansions in Tsim Sha Tsui after booking a room in advance, only to be diverted to another place whose facilities did not match the advertised description. But the guest house refused to refund the HK$3,000 already paid in advance when the family refused to take it. This is apparently not an individual case. A surf of some popular booking websites reveals others who stayed in the complex had similar experiences.

In the competitive world of tourism, reputation is everything. Online reviews and complaints, however minor or irrelevant they may seem, could become pivotal for customers looking for reference and advice. The last thing Hong Kong wants is negative tourism publicity by word of mouth.