Consumer Blog

You may have noticed there are lots and lots of discount vacation offers out there. Sign up for an in-home vacuum cleaner demo and win a free trip to Branson. Car dealerships in recent weeks are offering vacation vouchers in return for looking at cars on particular dates. So what's the catch?

There's not a lot of fine print in most of these cheap travel offers, so it's hard to predict what surprises consumers will find when they take the trip. Here are some we often hear about:

• They may try to sell you some high-priced item like a timeshare or travel club. Thus it's a win for the vacation company to give you a cheap trip, because they make a lot of sales these ways.
• Your hotel may not be what you think. Maybe it's 20 blocks from the beach, or it's a dive, etc.
• Unapproved charges to credit card or withdrawals from bank account. Be careful about giving information out over the phone in advance.
• Difficulty canceling or high fees for doing so.

If you encounter any of these problems, you can file a consumer complaint with us. P. 10 of our publication Know Your Rights has more on travel offers.