Hotels.com: Emailing Typos, *Not* Emailing Those who Asked

Hotels.com, a large travel booking web service, has been emailing a few dozen of my spamtraps regularly. I took a closer look this morning at just which spamtraps they are emailing, and found that every single one of them was an obvious typo. The ESP is ExactTarget, a division of marketing giant Salesforce.com.

Hotels.com, when you email a bunch of typoed email addresses, you are not just sending email to people who did not ask to receive it. You are NOT emailing people who asked for and presumably want your email!

Sending IPs: 66.231.82.111, 66.231.84.80, 66.231.92.97

Spam Sample:

Actual Headers:

Received: from mta.email.hotels.com (mta.email.hotels.com [66.231.82.111])
        by <xxx> (Postfix) with ESMTP id <xxx>
        for <xxx>; Wed,  6 Aug 2014 14:##:## +0000 (UTC)
DKIM-Signature: <xxx>
DomainKey-Signature: <xxx>
Received: by mta.email.hotels.com id <xxx> for <xxx>; Wed, 6 Aug 2014 08:##:## -0600 
        (envelope-from <bounce-<xxx>@bounce.mail.hotels.com>)
From: "Hotels.com" <info@mail.hotels.com>
To: <xxx>
Subject: Ends tonight - 30% - 50% savings
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 08:##:## -0600
List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:leave-<xxx>@leave.mail.hotels.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
x-job: <xxx>
Reply-To: "Hotels.com" <reply-<xxx>@mail.hotels.com>
Message-ID: <<xxx>@xtinmta1207.xt.local>
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
        boundary="<xxx>"

Readable Email:

From: Hotels.com <info@mail.hotels.com>
To: <spamtrap>
Subject: Ends tonight – 30% – 50% savings

Hotels   Hotel Deals   Packages & Flights   Groups   Customer Service   Private Sales

Hotels.com

View Online
Book online or call
800-2-HOTELS (800-246-8357)

New York Hotels   Las Vegas Hotels   Chicago Hotels   Los Angeles Hotels

<removed>

Do you want to unsubscribe?   Privacy & Security   About Hotels.com   Contact Us

Rates and Availability
All prices were current at the time this email was published. Actual rates and availability for a specific date and destination may vary at any time, including prior to completing a booking. Please refer to the website for the most current pricing.

*Two day sale terms & conditions:
Book by August 6, 2014 for travel between August 5, 2014 – September 22, 2014. Rooms and prices subject to availability at the time of booking. Discount is only available at participating hotels and may require a minimum night stay. The discount is based upon the total hotel priced excluding taxes and other fees. Discounts are subject to availability and may be discontinued without notice. Additional restrictions and blackout dates may apply.
This advertisement was sent to: <xxx>
© 2014 Hotels.com, L.P. All rights reserved. Hotels.com, the Hotels.com logo, the Welcome Rewards logo, Welcome Rewards, The Obvious Choice and Captain Obvious are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Hotels.com, LP in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. CST <xxx>.

5400 LBJ Freeway, Suite 500, Dallas, TX 75240

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