It’s no surprise to seasoned senior wanderers, but a recent Travelers United poll reports that 80% of travelers wanted hotels and resorts to list absolutely all charges on final totals and advertised honestly up front.

The sad fact is that we’re living in an age of advanced bait and switch, and too many travel ads are about as honest as your friendly used car salesman’s pitch. It all started a century or so ago with carnival barkers and newspaper ads for miracle medical cures. Then came the crooked auto pitches. When radio blared out in everyone’s home in the early 20th Century, every hour of program had a minute of two of come-on ads for cereal, soda, soap and other products. When TV took over in the 1950s, the same product and services ads went visual and the phony promises more exaggerated.

Now we’re living in the magic era of the internet and smartphones, where the same endless pitches are more frequent and even more dishonest. What can you do about it? Not much, but worth a try when you’re quoted some of those travel pitches.

When it happens about a hotel, airline, car rental or other price listing, just say or write: Yeah, I got your quote. “Now, tell me the total price that comes out of my pocket.” And after you’re satisfied with the actual truth, be sure to add: “OK, how much of a senior discount do I get from that price?”