Of course, some are legit opinions by actual customers who enjoyed the experiences. However, in today’s tough marketing battles, many hotels, restaurants, resorts, cruise lines and other travel-related businesses create and post fake positive testimonials.

Las Vegas, where reality rarely happens, is an example of fake customer testimonials. Ongoing resort and hotel ads in many media should serve senior travelers as good examples of fake ads. Included in the exaggerations are vacation packages, hotel rooms, dining, entertainment and other features.

Rule of travel testimonials: Take it all with a grain of salt. Before you book one of the alleged fantastic offers, check with friends and relatives who have recently actually experienced the destinations.

Awhile ago your travel4seniors.com editor woke up in a Las Vegas hotel room with the urgent need to scratch. It was bedbugs. A call to the front desk resulted in an offer to move to another room. Result: A quick shower, immediate check-out and refusal to pay for the room.

Don’t let it happen to you! When going into your hotel room, first thing to do is pull the covers off the bed and check closely for any suspicious spots, live and otherwise. If you see anything suspicious, go to the front desk, report it and check out. Preferably without paying. If bites become infected, see your doctor.

They’re not quite as phony as offering a bargain bridge in Brooklyn. However, when you book with those ever-hungry online travel peddlers, always be alert to exaggerated quotes. They usually involve cheap cruise and resort price quotes.

For example, that advertised $99.99 a night hotel room or cruise cabin may actually cost $150 when you check out. The innocent-faced clerk will explain that stupid you should have anticipated piled on local taxes, resort fees and security charges. www.cnn.com/travel/article/booking-com-misleading-sales-tactics-cma

The recent sudden shut-down of the Thomas Cook company left many thousands of travelers stranded in airports, hotels, cruise ships and other destinations throughout the world.

It has happened before and will happen again, sometimes involving airline employee strikes, city street riots, stalled cruise ships, hotel fire or other reason. Of course, your immediate task is to get to your destination or home by the most effective way possible.

As soon as convenient, report the problem to your travel agent and the most active authorities. For example, your state consumer protection office, The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and/or the local Better Business Bureau. www.usa.gov/travel-complaint