Avoid getting burned by hot vacation deals

Recently, in my mail I received what appeared to be an incredible offer.

It was a vacation to the Caribbean that included airfare and hotel stays for five nights at an exclusive resort. The "inclusive" cost was $300.

When I checked out the airline search engines, I couldn't find airfare alone for that price. I was ready to pack my bags and head for the beaches to soak up a little sun and a lot of local color.

But after reading the small print, it was obvious the only thing getting soaked would be my bank account.

At the bottom of the offer, in tiny letters, it said a daily tax of $130 per person would be added. There would also be a daily gratuity of $50 tacked onto the bill to compensate the staff. The cost for my dream vacation would have become a nightmare if I had unwittingly been forced to fork out the additional $900.

And it's not just fly-by-night operations that do this.

Just recently I purchased airplane tickets online for a trip to Mexico planned for January. I found a fare with one of the big five carriers for less than $200 round trip. When I clicked the purchase button, I discovered that an additional $100 would be added for tax.

It's not just costs that become hidden.

When Sandy Anderson decided to escape the below-zero weather of Minnesota last winter, she went to the Internet to find a warm place to spend a week. A beautiful resort on Florida's east coast looked perfect.

The pictures on the Web site showed swimmers on surfboards, beach barbecues and gorgeous sunsets. Sandy was so completely taken in by the pictures it didn't occur to her that a gorgeous ocean sunset on the east coast of Florida could never happen. She just couldn't wait to feel the hot sand between her toes.

When Sandy got to her destination, the only thing hot was her temper.

The resort turned out to be a motel on a busy highway, several blocks from the beach. There was no surfing, no barbecue and certainly no sunset. The motel owner said he would happily refund her money, but since she had booked it online he couldn't.

According to travel agent Judy Barr, disreputable travel consolidators often advertise a too-good-to-be-true price to entice the buyer and hope the purchaser signs the bottom line before he reads the small print. But there are ways to avoid being scammed. Here's what Judy suggests:

• Watch out for key words. When a phone solicitor leaves the message "You have just won a free trip to Las Vegas," you can bet it's not free. It might be free airfare if you agree to stay at an expensive hotel; or it might be an attempt to sell you a timeshare in the desert. Either way, it's going to cost you.

• Verify what you purchase. They say a picture's worth a thousand words, but not a thousand bucks. If a Web site says a hotel is a five-star property, call the hotel directly and ask about its amenities. Find out what other visitors have to say. Guests who have had good (or bad) experiences often share them online.

• Use a credit card. Never pay for a trip or hotel with a check or cash. If the purchase turns out to be less than what was claimed, you can fight it through your credit card company.

• Check out the company's record. Before you lay out good cash for a bad deal, make sure the company selling a trip is reputable. Check with the Better Business Bureau.

If you do decide to book a vacation, do your homework. Getting a nice tan from sitting on a sunny beach in February sounds great. Just don't get burned.

Gail Todd, a free-lancewriter,worked as a flightattendant for more than 30years. She can be reached viae-mail at gailtodd@aol.com.