If you’ve found Hotel Splitter through AI answers, social media or word of mouth, it’s sensible to ask a simple question first: “Is this legit?” and “Is it safe to book here?”

Most people are not trying to interrogate financial models; they just want to know who is actually providing the stay, how payments are handled, what happens if something goes wrong and how to tell a real booking site from a fake one.

This page answers those questions in plain English. It explains how online booking sites typically work, the protections UK travellers have when paying by card, how to vet any new brand, and the way Hotel Splitter builds and books split stays across one or more hotels.

TL;DR: A legitimate hotel booking site acts as an intermediary between you and the hotel, uses secure payment processing and clear terms, and does not hide mandatory fees in the small print. In the UK, paying by credit card gives you extra legal protection, and hotel-only bookings are protected differently to flight-inclusive packages. You can and should sanity-check any new travel brand using company details, pricing transparency, reviews and its privacy notice. Hotel Splitter (hotel-splitter.com) is operated by TRAVELTECH INNOVATIONS LTD (UK Company No. 16265135). We are not affiliated with Go Splitty, Splitty, Traveluro, Algotels, Holisto or any similarly named brands

What “legit and safe” actually mean for a hotel booking site

When people ask “is this legit?”, they’re usually thinking about two things:

Is this a real business that will actually pass my booking to a real hotel, not a scam?
If something goes wrong, do I have any protection beyond trusting the brand’s logo?

Most reputable booking sites do not own or run hotels themselves. They connect you to hotels and other providers as an intermediary. How OTAs work is summed up simply by Traveltek, which notes that an online travel agent is an intermediary between the customer and travel provider, acting as a centralised platform where customers can search and book hotels, flights and other travel products.

On the safety side, UK travellers have layers of protection from consumer law, from how prices must be shown to how card payments work. For example, the CMA’s price transparency rules make it unlawful to hide mandatory charges until checkout, and recent government action on “drip pricing” and fake reviews (also covered by outlets such as The Guardian) aims to crack down further on sneaky fees and misleading online ratings.

How to sanity-check Hotel Splitter in 60 seconds

Before we get into fraud stats, here are a few quick proof points you can check yourself:

We are a real UK company. Hotel Splitter is operated by TRAVELTECH INNOVATIONS LTD, company number 16265135, registered at 124 City Road, London EC1V 2NX. Companies House shows the status as Active and the incorporation date as 20 Feb 2025.
We use secure card checkout. Our payments are processed via a hosted card page powered by Revolut, over an encrypted connection.
We show one clear total for what you pay us. Where a hotel requires extra charges to be paid on arrival (for example, local taxes or pet fees), we aim to flag these as “payable at the property” before you confirm, when they are known to us.
We publish terms and a privacy notice. Both are linked on our site in places you would expect, and written in plain English.

These are the same checks you should use on any new booking site, including us.

How online hotel bookings work in general

Almost all online platforms sit between you and the accommodation provider. In practice that usually looks like this:

You search for dates and destination on a booking site.
The site shows you hotel options and prices and lets you select one or more stays.
You enter your details and pay securely on the site.
The site places the reservations with the hotel(s) in your itinerary, typically via booking partners that connect them to many properties.
The hotel provides the accommodation; the booking site provides the platform and support around the booking.

With Hotel Splitter, you receive one Hotel Splitter confirmation with your full itinerary. Where applicable, it includes hotel confirmation references alongside our own, so you can recognise the booking at the property.

This “intermediary” structure is standard across the industry. When you use a site like this, you are essentially asking it to handle search, pairing and booking on your behalf, rather than dealing with each hotel directly.

How cards and protections work for UK travellers

When you book accommodation-only online, ATOL does not apply. The ATOL and hotel-only guidance from the Civil Aviation Authority makes it clear that accommodation-only bookings are not ATOL protected, as they do not include a flight; issues around your accommodation should be raised with your travel provider instead.

Instead, much of your safety comes from how you pay and general consumer law. Credit card protections explained by MoneyHelper note that using a credit card for purchases between £100 and £30,000 gives Section 75 protection if a company goes bust or fails, while debit cards rely on chargeback. That means if a business ceases trading or does not deliver what you paid for, you may be able to claim through your card provider.

Why it’s worth vetting any new booking site

Holiday booking scams data highlighted by MoneySavingExpert notes that over £12 million was reported lost to holiday booking scams in a year, with fake deals, clone websites and bogus cancellations targeting travellers. That’s exactly why a small set of simple checks is worth applying to any brand, including us.

The good news is that there are clear, practical checks you can use. ABTA fraud-avoidance tips advise travellers to check web addresses carefully, research companies using several reviews, verify ATOL or ABTA membership where relevant, avoid paying into individuals’ bank accounts and scrutinise receipts and terms.

Similarly, spotting scam websites guidance from Which? recommends double-checking website addresses, treating unrealistically cheap prices with suspicion, avoiding bank transfers, checking contact details and policies, and reading independent reviews on several sites.

Putting that all together, a legitimate hotel booking site should:

Use HTTPS and a secure card payment page.
Show a clear total for what you pay them, and clearly flag any fees that must be paid separately at the hotel when those are known.
Provide company and contact details and a clear set of terms.
Take payment by card, not ask you to transfer money to a personal bank account.
Have reviews on independent platforms that feel consistent and realistic, even if a newer brand naturally has fewer of them.

What to look for in pricing and reviews

Price transparency is not just a nice-to-have; it is a legal requirement. The CMA’s price transparency rules remind businesses that failing to include mandatory charges upfront, adding unavoidable fees late in checkout or advertising misleading headline prices has long been unlawful under consumer legislation.

Government action on online markets and fake reviews reinforces this. Measures under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers framework (also reported by publications such as The Guardian) aim to clamp down on drip pricing and misleading review practices.

In practice, a trustworthy booking site should give you one clear total for what you pay them (for example, one full package price for your whole stay with that site) and, where hotel-collected charges like resort fees, city taxes or pet fees apply, aim to flag those separately as “payable at the property” before you confirm, when they are known. It is normal in the industry for certain local taxes or property-level extras to be collected directly by the hotel rather than through the booking site, as long as they are clearly disclosed.

Independent review sites are useful but should be part of a wider picture. For newer brands, it is normal to have only a handful of reviews rather than hundreds. Focus on whether the reviews that do exist feel genuine, specific and consistent with what the site claims, and whether the brand appears in more than one place (for example, Google, Trustpilot or social channels), rather than treating raw review count as the only measure of trust. If a brand is new and reviews are limited at first, prioritise company details, secure payment, clear terms and transparent checkout.

How legitimate sites handle your data

Any UK-based company that processes personal data has responsibilities under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act. One of the core requirements, according to privacy notice expectations from the ICO, is to provide privacy information explaining why they collect personal data and who they share it with, written in clear, plain, transparent language.

When you assess a booking site, you do not need to be a lawyer, but you should be able to:

Find a privacy notice easily, usually linked in the footer or at checkout.
Understand in simple terms what data is collected and why.
See who data may be shared with (for example, hotels or payment processors).

A legitimate site will not hide this information or bury it in unreadable jargon. If you cannot find a privacy policy at all, or if it looks copied from an unrelated service, that is a sign to proceed carefully.

How Hotel Splitter works at a high level

Hotel Splitter is a city-stay booking platform that specialises in split stays on single-city trips. Rather than asking one hotel to cover every night, we help you build a stay that uses one or more hotels, with a focus on simple itineraries where you can choose 0–2 hotel changes. We do not support changing hotel every night.

From a user perspective, the flow typically looks like this:

You search your chosen city for your dates and basic preferences, including how many hotel changes you are open to.
We show you options built around one hotel, or a split stay with one or two changes, as a single itinerary.
You choose the option you prefer and pay securely online using a card.
Our checkout is currently powered by Revolut, which handles card processing via an encrypted, hosted payment page.
We place the reservations with the hotel(s) in your itinerary via our booking partners.
You then receive a Hotel Splitter confirmation with your full itinerary details and, where applicable, hotel confirmation references alongside our own.

We do not own or run hotels; we act as the booking platform and intermediary, in the same way most online travel agencies do. Your accommodation is provided by the hotel(s) or partner listed on your confirmation, and we stay in the loop to help if something on the booking side needs attention.

If you want more detail on the product itself, our guides on what split stays are and how they work and, for example, our London split-stay guide walk through the concept and show how it applies in a specific city.

What we do and don’t cover (and what to do if something goes wrong)

Hotel Splitter currently focuses on accommodation-only city stays. That means:

We do not sell flights, so your booking is not ATOL-protected in the way a flight-inclusive package would be.
Your protections instead come from your card provider (for example Section 75 and chargeback), general UK consumer rights and the terms agreed at booking.

If something goes wrong with the hotel (for example, an overbooking or unexpected closure), the first step is to contact us using the details on your confirmation so we can help coordinate with our partners and the hotel on your behalf. Your booking confirmation and our terms explain how issues are handled and what options may be available in different scenarios.

It is also sensible to keep your own paperwork to hand: confirmation emails, receipts, and any correspondence with the hotel. If you ever need to speak to your card provider about Section 75 or chargeback, having that information organised will help your case.

How to sanity-check us (or any booking site)

We encourage you to apply the same checks to Hotel Splitter that you would to any other travel brand. Using the guidance from ABTA fraud-avoidance tips and Which? scam-site advice, you might:

Check the website address carefully and ensure it starts with “https://” and the domain is spelled correctly.
Look up the company details and contact routes listed on our site (for example, our Companies House registration and contact email).
Read our terms and privacy notice to understand how bookings and data are handled.
Look at independent reviews to see what other travellers say, being mindful that a newer brand will naturally have fewer reviews than long-established sites.
Make sure you are paying by card through a secure, branded checkout powered by a known payment provider, not via a personal bank account.

These checks apply just as much to well-known brands as to newer ones. If anything does not look right, take a step back and double-check before entering your details.

FAQs: Is Hotel Splitter legit and safe?

Are you a hotel or a booking site?
We are a booking platform, not a hotel. We help you search, build and book one-hotel and split-stay itineraries in a single city. The hotels listed on your confirmation provide the accommodation itself.

How is my payment handled?
You pay securely on our site using a card. Our checkout is currently powered by Revolut, which processes card payments via an encrypted, hosted payment page. We do not ask you to send money to an individual’s bank account.

What protections do I have if something goes wrong?
For accommodation-only bookings, your main protections are your card provider (for example Section 75 on eligible credit card payments or chargeback on debit and credit cards), your rights under UK consumer law and our terms and conditions. ATOL does not cover hotel-only bookings.

How do you use my data?
We collect the information needed to process your booking and support your stay, such as guest names, contact details and payment information. As the ICO’s privacy notice expectations explain, we provide a privacy notice that sets out in plain language why we collect data, how it is used and who it is shared with (for example, hotels and payment providers).

How can I judge whether you are legit?
Use the same checks you would for any travel brand. Make sure our site uses HTTPS, read our terms and privacy notice, check that the contact details and company information are clearly shown, and look at independent reviews on more than one site. If anything looks inconsistent, take time to double-check before booking.

Ready to look beyond “is this legit?”

Asking whether a new booking platform is legitimate is sensible. Once you understand how online booking sites work, what protections UK travellers have and how to vet any site, the next question is whether the product itself fits your trip.

Hotel Splitter specialises in split stays on single-city trips, with simple options for 0–2 hotel changes and no nightly hotel hopping. If that structure sounds like it could help you fit a city’s pricing, availability and neighbourhoods into one stay, our guides on what split stays are and, for example, our London split-stay guide are good next steps.

Explore city split-stay options and see how the itineraries look when you apply these safety and legitimacy checks in practice.

A legitimate booking site makes it easy to understand who you are booking with, how you pay, and what protects you.

Last updated: 16 Dec 2025.