Be very wary of flyers for pizza and other delivery food that may appear under your hotel door. There’s a decent chance such offers are nothing but a scam, even if you do get your pizza.
Hotel Pizza Scam Entices Hungry Guest
Consumer-advocate Christopher Elliott stares of the plight of Mary Munez. She was in Miami (of course) and returned to her hotel room one evening famished after a long day’s work. There was a flyer underneath her door that appeared to be a local pizza parlor. “Without thinking twice” she called and ordered pizza.
Two hour later the pizza showed up…in a Domino’s Pizza box. That would have been a huge red flag, not to mention Domino’s is often not better than the cardboard box it is served in.
Then the credit card charges started to appear…first a few $0.35 charges each hour, then larger and more frequent charges.
Thankfully, Munez has credit card fraud protection, but it still created a headache…and left her hungry.
How To Avoid Scams
I know many people who have fallen into airline-related scams before. I’ve encountered taxi scams all over the world. Scammers tried to rip off my grandmother in an elaborate hoax.
So how do you avoid scams? Just admonishing you to “be discerning” seems a bit unhelpful.
In the case of the hotel pizza scam, the telltale sign was the Domino’s pizza box. But Munez could have started by googling the number on the flyer. Sometimes it is not so obvious. You have to be prepared to stand up for yourself. Say you have a pushy cab driver who laments that his “meter is broken.” Just get out. Don’t even bother.
If someone approaches you asking for help in a tourist area, ignore them. They are likely targeting you.
There’ also legal scams too like hotel resort fees, fuel surcharges, undisclosed fees at restaurants (like pandemic-related fees), and credit card fees. That’s a whole different beast…
CONCLUSION
I do see more hotels and especially limited-service motels including takeaway options in the room. But be wary of flyers placed under your door and google telephone numbers or the name of restaurants before you call them. Most importantly, use a credit card rather than debt card or cash to pay for your items (this is true in almost any context, as far as I am concerned). And insist upon good pizza!
> Read More: Scammed By A Fake United Airlines Call Center
> Read More: Scam Artists Claim I am in a German Prison to Extort My Grandma
Domino’s is not too bad here in Australia.
Can you explain a bit how the scam works? They deliver a pizza but steal your credit card data to make fake charges?
You call the number to order the pizza and, in doing so, hand over your credit card info. To keep you from calling back, they do call Domino’s and order your pizza, but they still have your CC info.
Well at least you get your pizza
Actually, cash is a great idea. No card info to misuse after the fact. If you call for a pizza and they say you can’t pay with cash, that’s a warning sign.
It is not a cash that is a solution. Solution is something that is normal in Europe. First you have a chip card, second courier has a terminal and you pay on delivery with chip which can’t be copied. Alternative is you pay via Internet. I think for more than 10 years I had no situation that food delivery company did not accept both card on delivery and prior online payment.
Just don’t let them deliver it to your room
Cash? What’s that? Can’t generate any points using cash! 😉
Mark in Ithaca is right – this is actually one of the few instances where paying COD would save you. Maybe you get overcharged for a crappy pizza, but with no credit card info changing hands, your story of misery ends there.
It’s actually gotten to where I just go pick up food in person when I want to eat in the room. No risk at all that way, aside from being disappointed with the choice.
I’m on the phone with Marriott — trying to use one of their promotions that’s on their website. They have explained to me that this promotion that is on their website is not honored by them. Talk about SCAM — this sounds like a major scam.
Have this guest heard of either asking the Concierge for their recommendation of a local pizza place or search the internet? I was in Vail a couple weeks ago and got at my hotel after midnight. I was hungry and asked the concierge if he knew of any pizza place that would deliver. He gave me a great recommendation and the pizza was very good. Why would I call a random number that was left under my door?
I would assume this is a lower end property that doesn’t have a concierge.
Well, I imagine this person has a cell phone. A quick search like “Best pizza near me” would do better than a flyer under the door.
Miami is the epicenter of credit card fraud in the USA. The only incident I ever had of credit card fraud stemmed from an overnight stop in Miami. The next day, I received a call from a guy in California who wanted to confirm the $4000 worth of stereo equipment I’d ordered – which was to be sent to “my house’ in Miami, FL. Later I also got a bill from Carey limousine for “Marcus Charleston’s” $180 ride home – in Miami. As a Marriott hotel in Miami was the only place I’d used that particular card in the area, I’m sure that an employee there was the culprit.
What’s up with the pattern of small charges? Is that a way to out-smart the credit card fraud detection?
If it was a limited service hotel like a Courtyard Marriott, I wouldn’t be surprised if the hotel staff was in on it.
Stick with the room service burger!
Andy,
They do a series of small charges to see if the card owner is paying attention to their card. If they can pass a few small charges without the card being shut down, they know the card owner doesn’t have alerts, etc when their card is being used. Better chance they get the more expensive charges through before the card company is alerted.
Who calls to get food order, if the company doesn’t have a website to order online i will not order anything. I haven’t placed a food order over the phone in about 5 years
I always ask the front desk for recommended take out, and most will have a list of local (real) vendors. And I think the cardboard box may be tastier than a domino’s pizza!!!
Hotels have really cut food service and room service is limited or pick-up only, so there will be even greater reliance on outside choices.
How about the flyers for what seems like prostitutes? Once, while in London, I kept a phone booth advertisement taped up (a card with a photo) for a souvenir of the phone booths covered in those ads.
Late at night: “Hi, this is the front desk. We seem to have a problem with your credit card. Could you give us that information again? Oh that still didn’t work. Do you have another card we can use?”
as a line pilot I keep a wallet full of small bills. I was scammed in NYC with a bran new card at Bills Burger Bar. Waiter scanned it and ran up 4k in charges that night. Lesson learned. I never use credit cards on the road any more. I also stopped using them for gas and most purchases. Way too much theft out there. I still use them at costco and other big retailers where only I touch the card.
Thanks for posting this … I’ve seen all these little flyers over the years, but it never occurred to me that they were fake. Many of us have trouble remembering that we now live in scam-of-the-day mode … somehow the flyer being in my hotel room would add some credibility. But don’t think I’d give them my CC, I’d tell them to meet me in the lobby and exchange cash for the pizza. Good thing she had CC protection, but why was she left hungry? On top of all this, the pizza was lousy?
Look her up on FB & say the first thing that comes to your mind!
🙂
p/s don’t always believe what you read.
Here’s a thought: Avoid pizza altogether. And always pay in cash.
If I’m traveling domestic I use Uber eats to deliver to my hotel room. Also utilizing my AE platinum benefits!