Is that great offer legit? Before buying, do some research

A reader writes: “My husband just booked hotel rooms in Mexico with a website offering ‘discount hotels and vacation resorts.’ I just looked at the site and there is no contact information, no ‘about us,’ no explanation of who they are or how they work, and I am now worried.”

It’s smart to be wary of a great deal on a website you’ve never heard of. Among the questions you need to ask before booking with an unfamiliar site: Is it worth saving a few bucks, then worrying about whether you’ll have a room when you arrive? Will your credit card and personal information be safe?

Here are some places to find information about a company or a website before you buy:

About us: Look for an “about us” button on the site. Reputable sites always have one (usually on their home page), which should provide a physical address and/or phone number you can contact if things go wrong.

Internet databases: Next, try the Whois database (www.whois.com), which has contact information for the business that registered the domain name. At Whois, you can learn where the site is based, among other things. Maybe you don’t want to reserve a hotel in Mexico through a site based in India, for example. Or maybe the deal is so good that you’re willing to risk it.

You also can go to the Better Business Bureau, www.bbbonline.org, to see whether the business is a member.

Also look at the American Society of Travel Agents’ consumer website, www.travelsense.org, which requires its members to adhere to a code of ethics.

Check alexa.com, which lists websites by popularity. Although that doesn’t guarantee quality, it does suggest consumer confidence. The lower the number, the more popular the site. Expedia.com was recently listed at about 170 among the world’s millions of websites.

Security concerns: Look for a logo from Trust-e, www.truste.org, which, according to its website, is an “independent, nonprofit organization whose mission is to build users’ trust and confidence in the Internet by promoting the use of fair information practices,” or that of a similar organization. Sites should say explicitly in their privacy statement that they do not sell, rent or exchange your private information.

Make sure your transactions are secure and that sites use encrypted technology to protect your credit card and personal data, often indicated by a VeriSign “secure site” seal that you can click on for more information. When I clicked on the VeriSign seal at Orbitz, for example, it said: “This site has a VeriSign Secure Server ID. VeriSign has verified the organizational name and that ORBITZ LLC has the proof of right to use it. This site legitimately runs under the auspices of ORBITZ LLC. All information sent to this site, if in an SSL [secure sockets layer] session, is encrypted, protecting against disclosure to third parties.”

You’ll have to decide for yourself whether the site is legitimate, but I would not feel comfortable using a site that did not meet most of the criteria above.

If you’ve already made the reservation, call the hotel to confirm it. It’s possible that, as with many third-party sites, reservations are not booked into the hotel’s system until just before a guest’s arrival. But the hotel should at least verify a relationship with the website.

If you show up at the hotel and they don’t have your room as agreed, you are protected by your credit card issuer. “Under federal law, a U.S. cardholder would have protection for goods or services not received,” said Visa spokesman Michael Rolnick.

Contact James Gilden at www.theinternettraveler.com.