How to tell whether an online travel agency is legitimate

A very good price, a neat website and a salesperson who answers quickly are not enough to know whether an online agency is serious. Fortunately a few checks do most of the work, and almost all of them can be done before you pay.

Signs worth checking before you pay

Company details and ways to contact them

Look for a registered company name, address, phone number and a real support channel, and check that they exist outside the website itself. Be wary if there is only a form or a chat with no legal details.

Reviews and age

Read opinions on independent sites and check how long the company has existed. Watch out for reviews that look too similar or were all posted within a few days.

Payment methods

Prefer paying by card, which gives you more room to dispute a charge. If they ask for a transfer to a personal account or a method that is hard to trace, that is a reason to stop.

How to check the booking at the source

Ask for the airline or hotel reference

With that code, check the booking on the airline's official website or contact the property through a channel you find yourself. We explain the exact steps in our guide to verifying a booking reference.

Keep everything in writing

Keep the confirmation email, the cancellation terms and screenshots of the final price. If something goes wrong, they are your backup.

A simpler way to check your trip

Once you have the confirmation, you can upload it to AuditorTravel to compare dates, names and amounts and see with a traffic light (🟢 🟡 🔴) whether something doesn't add up.

You pay once per trip, it's not a subscription you have to remember to cancel.

👉 Check your booking for free at auditortravel.com.

AuditorTravel is an automated information tool; use it as a guide. The final decision is always yours.