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If you think you’re talking to Raton Pass Motor Inn, you should actually be talking to… well… Raton Pass Motor Inn.
Not “Guest Reservations.” Not “Reservation Desk.” Certainly not “Totally-Not-a-Call-Center-We-Promise dot com.”
And DEFINITELY not some mystery person who swears they’re “basically the same as the owner” or - even worse - pretends to be us!
There’s a particular flavor of internet scammery floating around where third-party booking sites pretend to be the independently-owned place you are calling. Some build webpages that look like the place you are searching for – even with a URL that contains the name of the motel. They buy ads that show up when you search. They answer phones like they’re sitting in our office (they are not sitting in our office).
These are unauthorized online travel agencies (OTAs). We don’t have contracts with them. We don’t work with them. We don’t like them. Why? Because they are out there intercepting bookings, and sometimes redirecting you to a motel that you don’t want to stay at!
Here’s how the scam usually goes:
Step 1: You do a Google search for us.
You click what looks like our website or call what looks like our number.
Step 2: You think you’ve reached us.
Someone answers, sometimes as “Raton Pass Motor Inn.” They say they can help you book your stay. You might be suspicious and ask, “Is this really Raton Pass Motor Inn?” They say something like, “Yes, we handle reservations for them”, or maybe they even drop our names!
Step 3: The lies get harmful
Most of the time, they’ll book your room, with an added service fee of $15 - $20, which is charged immediately and is non-refundable.
Sometimes, they may say we’re fully booked, even when we’re not, and steer you to a different hotel.
Worse, they might not book your room at all, but will charge you the service fee anyway! Then, when you show up, you don’t actually have a reservation. You’re left scrambling for a room and we look like the arsehole.
On our end, it’s also frustrating. We don’t get your direct contact info, so we cannot reach you if we need to confirm details about your arrival. We aren’t even sure if you got the details regarding office hours, for example.
The Big Red Flags
So…if any of these things happen, hit the brakes:
● They assure you that they’re “the same as the hotel”
● You’ve booked with us before but they ask for all your contact and payment info
(if you are a returning guest, we already have you in our system!)
● You’re charged a “booking fee” or any other mysterious advance charge
● The website URL looks suspicious (extra words, weird domain)
● The phone number isn’t clearly ours (575-445-3641)
The No-BS Way to Book With Us
If you have stayed with us, you know we do things simply, because booking a room shouldn’t take more than a few minutes of your time. There are exactly two ways to book a room with us directly, saving you time and money:
- Call us directly: 575-445-3641 (Save it into your phone! That is our ONLY number for reservations!)
- Use our official website: The one you’re already on, www.ratonpassmotorinn.com
That’s it. No middlemen. No mystery fees. No nonsense.
(Yes, we are also listed on legitimate OTAs like Expedia and Booking.com and their many subsidiaries, but they don’t charge you extra fees. We pay them a commission on your booking, which we hate, but it’s a trade-off.)
If you already got tangled up in one of these parasitic tricks:
● Call your credit card company and dispute the charge
● Document everything (emails, receipts, screenshots)
● Report it to the Better Business Bureau or the Federal Trade Commission
● And give us a call - we will try to help you figure out what happened
To sum up, if someone:
● Claims to be us but doesn’t sound like us
● Says we are full but immediately suggests a place like Holiday Inn or Best Western
…you’re not talking to us. You’re talking to someone who found a way to monetize your Google search. Hang up and go Google just a little deeper. We may be old-school, but we promise that we’re not hard to find.
-Michael and Brandy