Vacation booking blunders are costing Colorado travelers. Here’s what you should be looking out for.

DENVER — Summer vacation season is here, and Denver7 Investigates is hearing from more Coloradans frustrated by costly surprises and misleading bookings when planning their getaways.

▶️ WATCH: Denver7 Investigates’ Jaclyn Allen has tips to avoid costly travel booking mistakes

Vacation booking blunders are costing Colorado travelers. Here’s what to look out for.

Eagle County resident Mourghan Ridenour was planning a hockey trip to Denver for her family last month.

“I have two boys that play hockey and we travel and book hotels all the time,” she said.

She thought she had booked a room directly through Marriott. But when they arrived, there was no reservation.

Ridenour had unknowingly booked through a third‑party site with hundreds of negative reviews on the Better Business Bureau.

“I kept calling and calling, getting different people. What they kept saying is, ‘Oh, our system is needing to upload. Oh, it hasn’t been updated,’” she said. “It was a lot of excuses, but the money was never brought back.”

She eventually got her $288 back after disputing the debit card charge through her bank.

“All my friends and family, we’re all so busy trying to do five things at once, so you’re not noticing this, which from now on I’m going to,” she said.

The BBB says it has seen nearly 300 complaints and 550 negative reviews involving vacation‑related bookings from Colorado in the past year.

Cameron Nakashima with the BBB said fake booking websites and impostor listings are common.

“They give you a fake booking number, and then it’s not until later that you realize you’ve been out all this money and you don’t actually have a flight booked,” Nakashima said.

He says fraudsters even make fake property listings on platforms like VRBO and Airbnb.

“They’ll go on to places like VRBO and these other trusted sites, and they’ll create fake listings, and those platforms are working hard to weed those out, but it does get through every once in a while,” Nakashima said.

The BBB recommends:

• Verify the website URL matches the official company site. Watch for misspellings.
• Check that phone numbers come directly from the hotel, airline or rental company.
• Do a reverse image search of property photos.
• Use Google Maps street view to see if the exterior matches the listing.
• Book directly through official company apps or sites.
• Use a credit card for more protection in case of a dispute.

Denver7 has also reported on rental car issues, including a Commerce City rental car location where customers said charges increased dramatically from add‑ons and unexpected fees.

While Routes said they were making changes, other rental car companies have similar complaints.

“You realize what seems to be the least expensive option at first, actually, there’s all these little fees, like the administrative fee, the gas refill fee, the inspection fees, all these little things that weren’t clear up front, and now you’re paying in a lot of cases like hundreds of dollars more by the end of your trip than what you had budgeted,” Nakashima said.

Bottom line: Research before you book, check reviews and BBB ratings, and read the fine print.

Sometimes, the cheapest option really is too good to be true.

If you believe you’ve been misled in a booking, you can file a complaint at bbb.org and report fraud to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov. Or reach out to the Colorado Attorney General.