Editor, Real Estate Wire
ORLANDO - The hotel capital of Florida, Orlando and Kissimmee, are the target for third party-hotel reservation scams.
Respectable hotel brands seem incapable of stopping the scammers and in some cases disavoy any knowledge or responsibilty.
Hotelvalues refused to issue a refund for a reservation made 24-hours earlier . They cite it being a hotel policy even when the hotel didn't receive any compenstion.
There is a website dedicated to complaints against these third-party web sites.
Allied Market Research recently published a report, titled, "Travel Accommodation Market by Type (Hotels, Hostels, Resorts, Vacation Rentals, Others.)
According to the report, the global travel accommodation industry generated $632.80 billion in 2021, and is expected to reach $1,974.30 billion by 2031, witnessing a CAGR of 11.3 percent from 2022 to 2031.
The travel accomodation market is prime market scammers. Central Florida is no exception.
When making online hotel reservations, make certain the website is legitimate. A common tactic for scammers is to create look-alike web pages to lure consumers into providing credit card information.
The Federal Trade Commission also has a helpful resource page at https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/feature-0027-travel-scams for your reference.
(This series will look at the hospitality industry's response to web-site scammers.)