Don’t book with a hotel scammer for NPE2024: The Plastics Show

2018 marked the fifth annual Exhibitors Day and one of the major issues discussed was housing poachers. In June 2018, convention industry members went to Capitol Hill to bring to light that there are “15 million fraudulent online bookings scams” every year. That’s $1.3 billion in booking scammers’ pockets!

Hotel Reservation Scams in the Convention Industry- PACK EXPO Las Vegas 2019

2018 marked the fifth annual Exhibitors Day and one of the major issues discussed was housing poachers. In June 2018, convention industry members went to Capitol Hill to bring to light that there are “15 million fraudulent online bookings scams” every year. That’s $1.3 billion in booking scammers’ pockets!

Don’t book with a hotel scammer for NPE2021: The Plastics Show

2018 marked the fifth annual Exhibitors Day and one of the major issues discussed was housing poachers. In June 2018, convention industry members went to Capitol Hill to bring to light that there are “15 million fraudulent online bookings scams” every year. That’s $1.3 billion in booking scammers’ pockets!

What registrants need to know about hotel poachers

Hotel scammers, housing pirates, room block poachers…however you refer to them, they have been a major problem in the convention industry for years. These are companies that masquerade as being the official housing partner for an event and sell room blocks that don’t actually exist. Their victims may pay thousands of dollars, only to arrive at the hotel and be told they don’t have a reservation.

Back in 2008, the American Society of Association Executives won a federal lawsuit against the hotel scammer Complete Event Planning, Inc. Despite this monumental win, third-party hotel scams are continuing to sprout up and to bring financial pains. According to the American Hotel & Lodging Association,there are 55 million bad hotel bookings annually: that’s nearly $4 billion dollars in poachers’ pockets!