[Editor’s note: Monica Chin is The Verge’s former senior laptop reviewer, currently taking a break from tech journalism. But some things are hard to quit.]
Technology
I really hope Asus didn’t ruin the Zephyrus G14
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25211122/010724_CES_2024_Asus_Zephyrus_G14_G16_laptop_ADiBenedetto_0004.jpg?ssl=1 "I really hope Asus didn’t ruin the Zephyrus G14")
Once upon a time, in the olden days of March 2020, a little company called Asus released a spritely whippersnapper of a gaming laptop called the ROG Zephyrus G14. It weighed just over 3.5 pounds, and it was powered by a truly monstrous AMD processor, the likes of which had never been seen in a 14-inch form factor.
I still remember reviewing that laptop, almost four years ago, like it was yesterday. I remember running the Red Dead Redemption 2 benchmark — the ultimate test at that time — over and over again, poring over the game settings, trying desperately to figure out what I’d messed up to make the egregiously high frame rates I was seeing make sense. (The best Intel had to offer at the time, remember, was Comet Lake. And, well, we don’t talk about Comet Lake in this household.)
And then there was the design. The G14 sported a retro aesthetic, spaceship-y in nature with large, luxuriously comfortable keycaps and a keyboard font that evoked Johnny Rockets. The lid eschewed the smooth and sleek aesthetic around which laptops were just beginning to converge at that time, opting instead to be covered with a curious but totally unique dot matrix. If you paid a bit (okay, a lot) of extra money, those dots became animated LEDs that you could do all kinds of funky things with, from raising a virtual pet to making a dude’s head continuously explode. Since then, there’s been a G14 model that doubles as a DJ deck and another covered in obscure shapes with “BLACK HOLES IN THE NOW” scrawled across the bottom. It has never been a laptop concerned with blending in.
I remember emailing Asus to ask if the $1,449 price they’d sent me was a typo — shouldn’t something this exceptional be $1,000 more? And I viscerally remember the feeling I got when Asus’ representative replied that no, believe it or not, that was the real price. It was a realization that this computer was something new — that this computer was something different.
The G14 went on to create what was essentially a new category of gaming laptop over the next few years. The product’s popularity made it basically impossible to buy for quite some time. It’s been a huge product for Asus, a near-consistent presence on Best Buy’s bestseller lists, and, anecdotally, one of the gaming laptops I most often saw in the wild.
These days, innovative 14-inch rigs abound. Asus’ wasn’t the first ultraportable gaming notebook — that honor, of course, belongs to the Razer Blade — but the Zephyrus G14 still proved to everyone that not only could heavy-duty games run well on a 14-inch laptop with all-day battery life and a funky, bold design, but also that such a machine did not need to cost an arm and a leg.
It redefined the category, in other words, by being the exact opposite of a MacBook in basically every way.
Fast-forward to CES 2024. The G14, which has largely retained a facsimile of its 2020 chassis since release, was unveiled with a major redesign. It is much thinner and much lighter. The spaceship vibe is no more. Gone is the dot matrix, as are the exploding heads and virtual fauna that it wrought. The lid is now sleek and professional, with a — I don’t know, is it a slash? — across the center as the sole decoration. Everything about it is rounder, more polished, and prestige. As reports from the show have pointed out, it suddenly looks, feels, and seems a heck of a lot like a MacBook.
The G14 is far from the only CES release that’s blatantly chasing the Mac line when it comes to design. Dell has swapped out its 15-inch and 17-inch XPS configurations for a 14-incher and 16-incher, respectively (sound familiar?). The models have lost not only their full-sized SD slot (sigh), but also their physical function row in favor of haptic touch buttons (another thing a certain Cupertino company tried). Everyone and their mother is grumpy about it. And it’s emblematic of a larger trend we’ve been seeing throughout the computing space in recent years, in which 13-inchers and 14-inchers are converging on a boardroom aesthetic while getting thinner and lighter at all costs.
Now, I understand the desire to emulate the MacBook. It’s a phenomenal line of computers. It’s on top of Best Laptop pages all across the internet, and there’s little disagreement as to its value.
But there are a few things I really hope manufacturers will keep in mind as they mull over whether to scrap designs that were unique and different in pursuit of the MacBook’s look and feel. The first is that the MacBook is not just its look and feel. It’s much more.
I would argue that the reason Apple computers have become the machine that, like, every professional has is, moreso than anything else, their performance. It’s the category-topping power of both their chips and their battery life — it’s the combination of strength and efficiency that they offer. After all, the early-2020 MacBook Pro 13 and the late-2020 MacBook Pro 13 had very similar chassis, but only the latter had both category-topping performance and category-topping battery life, and it only took a few months to totally eclipse its Intel counterpart’s sales. Category-topping performance and category-topping battery life, incidentally, are also what the G14 has had for several years.
I don’t mean to imply that design is unimportant. I am saying that the pursuit of thinness, sleekness, suaveness, whatever you want to call it, often comes with costs.
We’ve seen that play out time and time again. You can look to the transition from the Dell XPS 13, an all-around exceptional laptop that was topping Best pages in the pre-M1 era, to the Dell XPS 13 Plus, a flaming fireball of an ultrabook with about five minutes of battery life, a shallow touchpad, disappointing performance, and a frustrating keyboard that got middling reviews from pretty much everyone. (Tom’s Guide, noted fans of the XPS line, slammed it as “a stunning step backwards.”)
You can look to the ThinkPad Z-series, which had to leave out most of the features that make ThinkPads world renowned in order to maintain a slim frame. The Razer Blade has been doing the thin-and-sleek thing for years on end, and it has consistently been louder, hotter, pricier, and worse in the battery life department than the G14. Heck, you can even look to Apple. After all, the thin-at-all-costs mindset is what subjected us to five years of butterfly keyboard.
I hope this isn’t what’s happening to the G14, the XPS 13, and other major laptops that received redesigns at CES this year. But I’m seeing some warning signs. Last year’s G14 could accommodate up to an RTX 4090 — Nvidia’s top guns — while this year’s caps out at an RTX 4070. I can’t be certain that this is due to the thinner chassis’s reduced cooling capacity, but that seems a likely explanation.
And then there’s battery life, which has long been one of the G14’s most outstanding features. Not only does the 2024 G14 have a smaller battery than its predecessor, but it has a higher-resolution OLED screen. Don’t get me wrong: I love me an OLED screen, especially for gaming, and the Zephyrus’ looks great. But last year’s QHD Mini LED panel was already stunning, with some reviewers reporting that it was basically as good as an OLED. And high-resolution OLED screens combined with H-series processors are rarely a recipe for exceptional battery life. I’ll point you, again, to the XPS 13 Plus. The Acer Swift 3. The HP Pavilion Plus 14. The Asus Zenbook 14X OLED. The HP Spectre x360 13.5. I mean, literally, just take your pick.
I understand the impulse to follow the cool kids to their cafeteria table. Truly, I do. But the Zephyrus G14 had a good thing going. It wasn’t for everyone, but it was wholly and unapologetically itself. It would be a shame, as Windows machines across the market race to catch the MacBook, if such bold products disappeared.
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Those little white robots that once rolled across college sidewalks with lattes, fries and late-night snacks are getting a new assignment. Starship Technologies recently announced that it will wind down its U.S. university campus operations and redeploy more than 1,200 robots toward grocery chains and hot food delivery in cities across the United States and Europe.
If you have ever watched one of these robots patiently wait at a crosswalk like a polite cooler on wheels, you know why students got attached. They became part campus convenience, part mascot. Now, the company is moving from a controlled campus setting into a much tougher public test.
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That raises the bigger question: will these cute campus robots be just as welcome when they start sharing crowded city sidewalks with you?
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Starship is winding down U.S. campus robot operations as it expands grocery delivery in the U.S. and Europe. (Starship)
Why Starship is pulling robots from college campuses
Starship says the decision comes down to focus. The company says its grocery delivery operations are on a 10x growth trajectory over the next two years, driven by demand from major retailers in the United States and Europe.
In Finland, Starship says its robots already complete roughly one in five grocery deliveries. That gives the company a real-world model it wants to repeat elsewhere. To support that expansion, more than 1,200 robots from U.S. campus fleets will be moved into grocery delivery. For Starship, that is a major pivot. Campuses helped the company build its brand in the U.S. They also gave the robots a place to learn.
Why college campuses were the perfect robot testing ground
Starship made a big U.S. splash at George Mason University in 2019, when the school became the first U.S. university to offer autonomous robot deliveries from Starship. From there, the robots spread to dozens of campuses. That made sense. College students are often hungry at odd hours. Many live without a full kitchen. They also tend to be open to new tech, especially when it brings food to the dorm without small talk.
During the pandemic, contactless delivery became even more appealing. A robot that could roll up with lunch while limiting person-to-person contact suddenly felt useful in a very different way.
The campus pullback will not happen overnight
Starship says it has worked with its university campuses and industry partners to keep service running through the 2026–2027 back-to-school season, with transition plans in place to reduce disruption. So, this does not appear to be an instant shutdown where every campus robot disappears at once. Instead, the company is moving away from the university model while preparing its fleet for a bigger push into grocery and restaurant delivery.
For students who loved the bots, it may still feel like the end of an era. For Starship, though, it is a move toward the market where the company believes the economics are stronger. Starship CEO and co-founder Ahti Heinla says the company’s robots can deliver groceries at a cost $3-$4 lower per delivery than traditional courier fulfillment. That is the kind of claim that gets the attention of retailers trying to make last-mile delivery less expensive.
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Why city sidewalks could be a tougher test
The next phase could get messy. Delivery robots have to share sidewalks with people who are walking, pushing strollers, using wheelchairs, carrying groceries or trying to catch a bus. That means every design choice matters. A robot that blocks a curb ramp can create a real problem. A robot that pauses in the wrong spot can turn from cute to irritating fast. If one reverses unexpectedly or gets stuck near a crosswalk, the novelty wears off even faster.
There have already been warning signs. Reports have described delivery robots bumping into people, getting stuck in odd places and raising accessibility concerns. Chicago has also seen local pushback and safety concerns around sidewalk delivery robots, which shows Starship still has work to do if it wants city residents to embrace them. That is the challenge Starship now faces. The same robot that felt charming on a campus may feel like clutter on a narrow sidewalk.
Starship Technologies is shifting more than 1,200 campus delivery robots to grocery and restaurant deliveries in cities. (Starship)
What grocery delivery changes
Grocery delivery is a different business from campus food delivery. A college order might be a sandwich, a soda or a late-night snack. A grocery run can involve heavier items, more frequent routes and customers who expect reliability every time. If Starship can make that work, the payoff could be huge. Grocery stores want cheaper local delivery. Customers want speed without sky-high fees. Cities want fewer cars clogging short delivery routes.
Starship says the global food delivery market is now worth $650 billion and needs delivery systems with higher autonomy levels. The company also says it has completed more than 10 million deliveries, which gives it a sizable head start in the sidewalk robot category.
However, the public will need convincing. People may welcome a robot bringing milk and eggs on a rainy night. They may also get annoyed if that same robot blocks a sidewalk during the morning rush. That will all decide whether sidewalk robots become normal or face more local limits.
Why Estonia still matters to Starship
Starship was founded in Tallinn, Estonia, in 2014 by Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis. Estonia remains home to the company’s core engineering and AI development team. That is important because this shift is not only about where the robots operate.
The big question for robot delivery
Starship’s move shows where the delivery robot business is headed. College campuses helped make the robots likable. Grocery delivery may determine whether they become profitable. Still, the sidewalks belong to the public. That means companies need more than clever machines. They need trust, clear rules and designs that respect people who move through cities in different ways.
A delivery robot should never make a sidewalk harder to use for someone with a cane, stroller or wheelchair. It should not turn public space into an obstacle course. If companies want these robots to feel normal, they need to prove they can operate without making daily life more frustrating.
ARE HUMANOID ROBOTS NOW COMING FOR RETAIL JOBS?
Starship says grocery delivery demand is pushing its robot fleet from college campuses into urban neighborhoods. (Starship)
What this means to you
You may start seeing more delivery robots near grocery stores, restaurants and apartment-heavy neighborhoods. If that happens, pay attention to how they behave in your area. Look for whether they yield to pedestrians, avoid curb ramps and handle crowded sidewalks well. Also, check whether your city has rules for personal delivery devices. Some places allow pilot programs, while others limit where these robots can operate.
If a robot causes a problem, document it safely. Take a photo or video, note the location and report it to your city or the delivery company. That is important because local officials need real examples, not vague frustration, when they decide what rules should apply. There is also a privacy angle. These robots use sensors and cameras to navigate. Companies may say the data supports safe operation, but you still deserve clear answers about what gets collected, how long it is kept and whether law enforcement can request it.
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Kurt’s key takeaways
Starship’s campus exit feels like the end of a quirky era, especially for students who got used to seeing the little robots rolling around campus. But this shift also tells us something bigger about where autonomous delivery is going. The next battle will happen on city sidewalks, not college campuses. If these robots save money and reduce short car trips, they could become very useful. But if they crowd walkways or create safety headaches, people will push back hard. To me, the real test is pretty clear. Robot delivery needs to work for everyone on the sidewalk, including people who never ordered anything.
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Would you be ok with a delivery robot on your block, or would you rather keep your sidewalks robot-free? Let us know by writing to us at CyberGuy.com.
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The United States of America recently turned 250 years old. What a spectacle! The fireworks were amazing, and millions of proud people celebrated across the nation — even around the world. France lit up the Eiffel Tower; Japan had fireworks. French fighter jets flew above New York City with trails of red, white, and blue — our first major ally streaking our shared colors through the sky. Meanwhile, shameful white nationalists paraded through our nation’s capital. This has always been a country of paradoxes.
Our 250th birthday counts back to the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The declaration was a radical and astonishing document that still serves as America’s soul. But the beating heart of the nation wouldn’t come until more than a decade later, when the Constitution was ratified. That document is why I’m able to write this to you today. And we need you to help protect it.
The First Amendment to the Constitution is so potent that people across the world who live in places untouched by US law often seem to think they have the same rights it establishes. The First Amendment is our day-one theory of what makes a free society. It’s literally the first cure by the framers for a project they knew would be forever imperfect and incomplete — fixable only by way of the right to free expression.
The Verge exists today because of this great project. We believe in it deeply. The First Amendment affords us the knowledge that we’re likely free from imprisonment from expressing our freedom to speak. But journalism and speech are always under assault. It’s one of the reasons why we’ll always need lawyers despite likely having the strongest editorial ethics policy in the industry.
Here’s what the First Amendment says:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
This is a compelling and beautiful idea. But we’ve had to fight to keep it alive from the beginning..
John Adams, one of the fiercest revolutionaries who railed against British tyrrany and helped secure independence, completely fucked up the First Amendement when he became the second US president. Adams’ series of Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 look positively Trumpian in retrospect, railing against foreigners, expanding presidential power to arrest, imprison, or deport people, and perhaps most insidiously, making it a crime for American citizens to print “scandalous and malicious” writings against the government. Adams surely loved the country he created, but nonetheless shrunk before the magnitude of its liberties.
Fast-forward to World War I, when the First Amendment was again under attack, this time by the Supreme Court. The court’s awful decision under Oliver Wendell Holmes was later overturned, but its fearful message about free speech still sticks with us. You’ve probably heard the phrase “you can’t shout ‘fire’ in a crowded theater” — not actually true. The misquoting and misinterpretation here is darkly funny: Trevor Timm, in The Atlantic, notes the court decision the phrase refers to was actually about whether an American socialist “could be convicted under the Espionage Act for writing and distributing a pamphlet that expressed his opposition to the draft.” It almost sounds ripped from contemporary headlines. (Nearly a century later, the Espionage Act would be used again to target, this time, a New York Times journalist.)
Misunderstandings about the First Amendment still abound. On the front lines we most readily see it in police confrontations where armed agents of the state bungle their constitutional duties with disastrous results.
Cops are routinely so terrible at understanding America’s foundational law that there’s now a cottage industry of streamers and influencers who work as “First Amendment auditors” — people who intentionally flex their right to record in public to bait dummies into abridging their freedom of speech. It’s easy to go down TikTok rabbit holes where you’ll find someone recording an illegal traffic stop from inside their car, or a fully kitted streamer recording harassment on a public sidewalk. When the police inevitably show up to hassle someone for exercising their rights, the stakes are immediately raised.
In a best-case scenario, a higher-ranking cop arrives and dispels their colleagues’ unconstitutional conduct. In other cases, someone ends up getting detained or arrested for completely protected behavior.
It’s even worse than usual in 2026, because we now live under an administration that’s flooding cities with barely trained federal agents who see constitutionally protected behavior as a threat. This has resulted in deaths, assaults on reporters, and an untold broader cost of regular people having to endure the immense burden of confronting the justice system simply for doing things they have the fundamental right to do. The right to speak and assemble is especially valid when it’s in protest of the government. That’s the whole point of this thing! And yet.
The latest assaults on the First Amendment have been encouraged by people all the way up the chain of command. We’re being betrayed by officials who are supposed to protect us, people who swore an oath to the Constitution and ought to know better. The FCC is not supposed to regulate speech but has nonetheless become a nightmare of incompetence and civil rights suppression. Do you miss Stephen Colbert on The Late Show? Thank the Trump administration, which now operates a mob-like patronage system that has cowed the billionaire princes who own America’s broadcast networks. Or ask Jimmy Kimmel, who got kicked off the air after conservatives went nuclear over his tame remarks about Charlie Kirk, a man who spent his time poisoning our national discourse with none of the grace or wit employed by national talk show hosts.
The Trump regime in general has an incredibly disturbing record on free speech, from science to the operations of the largest social networks. Donald Trump rails against anyone who doesn’t bow to him, and the list of his victims is too long to enumerate. But here’s an important one: The president once threatened to jail Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg for life. Zuckerberg is far more wealthy and powerful than Trump in many respects, but what did he do? Two years after the threat, Zuckerberg showed up on the White House lawn to celebrate Trump’s insane UFC fight show. He tapped out against a bully.
This is what makes everything really messy. We live in an age dominated by communication platforms that are so wealthy, powerful, and pervasive that they seem practically unrestrained by the US government, but paradoxically must still cozy up to a regime that has no actual respect for them or for their free speech. Trump once threatened to blow up the entire internet because he wanted platforms to censor things to his advantage. The CEOs of those companies still indulge him with flattery and photo ops.
This blurring of public and private interests has fueled a funhouse-mirror idea of “free speech culture” that’s actually designed to crack down on free speech. The loudest people crying about free speech culture do so as if theirs is not the freest ever in history, while simultaneously supporting actual government censorship, like banning books.
I can’t say it better than Ken White has, so just go read him on this point. White explains how “free speech culture” has emboldened the Trump admin and others to engage in real censorship. “When enough people think that all of free speech—including free speech law—is bullshit, then free speech rights won’t be enforced,” he writes.
Our constitutional punchbowl has been spiked by madmen who profit from confusion about our rights and the rule of law. It doesn’t have to be this way. Just remember: The First Amendment is a restraint on the government that prevents it from prohibiting your speech.
Moreover: Actual censorship is government suppression of speech. It’s entirely understandable that we’re confused about what censorship is because of how hard many people have worked to keep us confused. A social media platform moderating your post is not censorship — it’s actually free speech. Yes, that sounds completely counterintuitive, but it’s true. The alternative is a situation where the government forces private citizens to publish things they don’t want to, including hate speech.
Much was unsaid here, including the history of immense pain and suffering that has kept the First Amendment and our broader rights alive. I won’t claim to know what the fix is for our current mess, but I’ll say I really hate when our leaders say things like “this is not who we are” when they talk precisely about the things that define who we are. And part of who we are is a coalition that claims to want free speech in theory while simultaneously suppressing it in practice.
So what can you do? Yes, of course, vote. But there’s much more to do. Write or call your congresspeople (I promise this does matter). Participate in local elections, especially for school boards, which are on the front lines of book banning. And if you’re reading this, thank you for subscribing — but consider also supporting other newsrooms.
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Google general counsel explains AI-powered phishing rise
Halimah Delaine Prado, Google General Counsel, reveals the rise of AI-powered phishing scams originating from China’s ‘outsider enterprise.’ She explains how these criminals use artificial intelligence to create highly convincing fake websites, impersonating trusted brands like T-Mobile to defraud hundreds of thousands of Americans, causing millions in losses. Prado highlights Google’s strategy to combat these evolving threats.
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Summer travel already costs enough. So, an email promising a $500 Booking.com travel credit can feel like a lucky break.
That is exactly why this message we received deserves a closer look. It uses a familiar travel brand, a big reward and a deadline to push you toward a blue “Redeem Now” button. The email also uses my real name in three places, which makes the message feel more personal and convincing.
However, the details in this email raise several red flags. The sender address does not even appear to relate to Booking.com. The subject line feels vague. The reward sounds broad. The deadline adds pressure.
Scammers know people are booking flights, hotels and last-minute trips right now. A fake travel credit can catch someone at the perfect moment.
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A fake Booking.com email promises a $500 travel credit while using pressure tactics and suspicious sender details to target travelers. (iStock)
Before you click anything, let’s break down what makes this email look suspicious.
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Fake Booking.com email starts with pressure
The subject line says “(1) Pending.” That wording is a red flag. It sounds urgent, but it does not clearly explain what is pending.
Scammers often use vague subject lines because they spark curiosity. You may open the message just to find out what needs your attention.
Also, the number “(1)” makes the email feel like an account alert. It hints that one item needs action. That can push you to click faster.
A real travel reward email should explain the offer clearly. It should not rely on mystery to get your attention.
Sender address does not match Booking.com
The biggest giveaway is the sender address. The display name uses a Booking. com-style label. However, the actual email address does not appear to relate to Booking.com at all. That is a major warning sign.
Scammers can copy a logo, brand colors and a button. Still, the sender address often exposes the fake. Always open the full sender details before clicking. Look past the display name. If the real address uses a strange domain, random letters or an unrelated company name, stop. That one detail can save you from a stolen password or a fake payment page.
Fake Booking.com email uses your real name
One detail makes this scam feel more personal: the email uses my real name in three places. That can make a fake message feel more legitimate.
Scammers use names, account-style details and fake customer IDs to lower your guard. They want you to think, “Well, they know who I am, so this must be real.”
But a real name does not prove an email is legitimate. Your name may already appear in old breaches, data broker lists, leaked marketing databases or public records. That personal touch should make you more cautious, not less.
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Booking.com says travelers should keep communication and payments on its platform and report suspicious messages through official channels. (KairosDee/Getty Images)
Booking.com email shows a suspicious date mismatch
Another strange detail appears near the top of the message. The email itself shows “March 2026,” but it was actually sent to us on June 23, 2026.
That mismatch matters because real travel reward emails usually have consistent dates, campaign timing and account details. A March label on a June email can suggest a reused template, a sloppy scam setup or a copied brand-style message.
Scammers often move fast and recycle old layouts. So, when the date inside an email does not match when it arrived, treat that as another reason to pause before clicking.
Fake Booking.com credit uses a tempting reward
The message says you are eligible for a CA$500 Booking.com travel credit. That amount feels big enough to matter. It also feels believable enough to make you curious.
That combination is dangerous. Scammers do not always use wild dollar amounts. They often choose a number that feels exciting but still possible.
The email also says the credit can be applied toward hotels, flights or a Booking.com reservation in Canada. That broad wording makes the offer sound useful to almost anyone planning travel.
However, real travel rewards should be easy to confirm inside your official account. You should not need to click an email button to find out if a credit exists.
Booking.com scam email borrows loyalty language
The message mentions a Spring Genius Loyalty Event. That sounds official because Booking.com has used the Genius name for its loyalty program. Scammers use familiar program names because they make fake emails feel more believable.
Still, the email does not give enough proof. It does not explain real terms. It does not tell you to verify inside your account. It mainly pushes you toward the “Redeem Now” button.
That is another red flag. Real rewards usually appear in your official account, app or wallet area. A surprise email should never be your only proof.
Fake travel email uses flattery
The message says your activity placed you among a select number of loyal members. That line tries to make the reward feel personal. It suggests you earned something special because of your booking history.
However, the wording stays broad. It could apply to almost anyone. Scammers often use flattery to lower your guard. When a message makes you feel chosen, you may spend less time checking the details. That is exactly what the scammer wants.
Booking.com scam creates deadline panic
The message says you must respond before June 23, 2026, at 11:59 p.m.. That exact deadline adds pressure. It makes the credit feel like it could disappear at midnight.
Then the email says the allocation will be released if you take no action. In other words, it wants you to move quickly before you inspect the sender, links or account details.
Urgency is one of the most common scam tactics. When an email mixes a reward with a deadline, slow down. A real company will let you verify rewards by logging in safely through the official app or website.
The ‘Redeem Now’ button is the danger zone
The blue “Redeem Now” button is the part to avoid. A scam link can take you to a fake Booking.com sign-in page. From there, scammers may try to steal your email address, password, payment details or verification codes.
Some fake pages look convincing. They may use the same colors, fonts and logo style as the real site. However, the link behind the button tells the real story. Since you cannot fully trust a button in a suspicious email, do not click it. Open Booking.com through the official app instead. You can also type the website into your browser.
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Travelers should avoid clicking links in suspicious reward emails and verify any travel credit through the official Booking.com app or website. (martin-dm/Getty Images)
Junk folder warning should not be ignored
This email landed in our junk folder, and that is worth noting. Spam filters can flag suspicious sender patterns, bulk messages, strange links or known scam behavior. They are not perfect, but they can give you a useful warning.
So, when a reward email appears in junk, treat it with extra caution. Do not click first and investigate later. The safer move is to delete the message and check your account directly.
CyberGuy reached out to Booking.com about the suspicious email. Booking.com responded with general safety guidance for travelers and said it uses dedicated teams and machine learning tools to monitor, detect and block suspicious activity around the clock.
Booking.com responds to phishing concerns
Booking.com responded to CyberGuy after we reached out about the suspicious email. The company did not specifically verify this email, but said cybercrime and online fraud are not new or unique to Booking.com or the travel industry.
“At Booking.com, the security and data protection of our partners and travelers is a top priority. We have dedicated teams and employ machine learning tooling to monitor, detect and block suspicious activity around the clock and continuously work to enhance the robust security measures we have in place,” Booking.com said.
Booking.com also advises travelers to keep communication and payment on its platform, watch for unusual host requests or last-minute listing changes and report suspicious messages through its official customer service channels.
How to stay safe from Booking.com travel scams
A fake travel credit can look convincing at first, but a few quick checks can help you avoid a stolen login, fake payment page or follow-up scam.
1) Check the sender address first
Do not trust the display name alone. A scam email can say Booking.com, while the real sender address has nothing to do with the company. Open the sender details and look closely. Strange domains, random letters or unrelated addresses are clear warning signs.
2) Be cautious when an email uses your real name
Do not assume an email is safe because it knows your name. Scammers can get names from data breaches, people-search sites and marketing lists. If a message uses your name while pushing a deadline, reward or login link, treat it as suspicious.
3) Skip email links and open the app
Do not click “Redeem Now” from the email. Instead, open the Booking.com app or type the website into your browser. Then check your account for rewards, wallet credits or official messages. If the credit is real, it should appear there. Booking.com also advises travelers not to move communication or payment outside its platform because scammers often use that tactic to avoid platform protections.
4) Watch for pressure words
Words like Pending, Confirm, Final notice and Limited time can push you to act fast. Slow down when an email adds a deadline. Scammers use urgency because it keeps you from checking the facts.
5) Protect your login details
Never enter your password, payment details or verification codes from an email link. Also, use a password manager. It can help you avoid fake sign-in pages because it usually will not autofill your saved password on the wrong site.
6) Turn on two-factor authentication
Turn on two-factor authentication (2FA) or passkeys for your Booking.com account, email account and payment accounts. That extra step can help block a scammer who steals your password. Never share a one-time code with anyone who contacts you by email, text or phone.
7) Use strong antivirus software
Use strong antivirus software on your devices to help detect malicious links, fake websites and suspicious downloads. That extra layer can help stop a scam before it steals your information or infects your device. Get my picks for the best 2026 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices at CyberGuy.com.
8) Use a data removal service
Scammers can use your exposed personal information to make phishing emails feel more believable. A data removal service can help reduce how much of your personal data appears on people-search sites and data broker lists. That can make it harder for scammers to target you with personalized travel scams. Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting CyberGuy.com.
9) Report the fake email
Report the message as phishing or junk in your email app. You can also forward suspicious Booking.com-related emails to Booking.com’s customer service or report them through your account. This helps the platform track scams that impersonate its brand. Booking.com says travelers should report suspicious listings or communications through its official customer service channels so they can be investigated quickly.
10) Mark the message as junk
Since this email already appeared in the junk folder, your spam filter likely spotted something suspicious. Mark it as junk and delete it. If you already clicked, change your Booking.com password through the official site. Then check your card activity. Also, watch for follow-up scam messages that mention travel credits, refunds or account problems.
Kurt’s key takeaways
This fake Booking.com email works because it shows up when travel is already on your mind. A $500 credit sounds helpful when hotels and flights feel expensive. But the warning signs are clear. The vague subject line creates curiosity. The sender address does not appear connected to Booking.com. The use of a real name makes the scam feel more personal. The deadline adds pressure. The “Redeem Now” button pushes you toward a risky click. That is important because travel scams often work fast. One fake login page can hand scammers your account, payment details or personal information. The safest move is to ignore the email and check your account directly. If the credit is real, it should appear inside your Booking.com account. If it is fake, you just avoided a costly summer scam.
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With scammers using trusted travel brands to push fake credits, should companies like Booking.com do more to protect customers before they fall for the click? Let us know by writing to us at CyberGuy.com.
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