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NAA Attendees: Beware of Hotel Booking Scam

NAA Attendees: Beware of Hotel Booking Scam

(Preface: I hate Beware of Such and Such email forwards I get. As soon as I get one I check out its validity via my trusty friend Google, perhaps you've been acquainted. Ok, now that that's out of the way we can get on with this.)

cautionMy responsibilities here at Ellipse are pretty broad. Any phone call that come into the office directed towards "a marketing person," "the PR person," "whoever handles your marketing", "your tradeshow coordinator", you get the idea, comes to my desk. Today I received a call from Dana calling from NAA* asking for "the person who coordinates your tradeshows."

He was calling to let me know that there had been a few cancelations at The Headquarter hotel for the June NAA Conference in New Orleans. Since we were previous attendees it was a courtesy call to see if we'd like early booking rates at $50 per room/per night less than if we waited until closer to the time to book. He told me since we were exhibiting we'd probably want to have our rooms starting June 23rd (the night before the event) and "you're probably like everyone else who likes to do the tear down on the final day and head home." We discussed how many rooms we'd probably want - I told him we'd had 8 rooms at Brainstorming and I believed it was 6 at the previous NAA in Vegas. He asked me for names for each room letting me know I could change them as it got closer. He already knew our address and company name so I only hesitated for a quick moment when he asked "what card I'd like to hold these rooms on." I told him I'd need written confirmation and that an Executive here would need final approval. He said “that's fine, I'll fax you a credit card confirmation form right now and as soon we get that back we'll be good to go.”

In my search for an Executive I told Rory Ellis in Client Services why I was looking for someone. He pointed out that I gave a credit card number over the phone, how did I know they were who they said? Hmm, excuse me while I go stare at the fax machine and hope that the impending fax has a big, pretty NAA logo on it.

A few moments later I received the following email:

Please see attached invoice and credit card authorization form. If you have not already done so, please provide a full rooming list for each room. (1 name per room) along with the check-in/check-out dates for each person on your list. Please fax back the attached within 24 hours of receiving this e-mail to guarantee pricing and availability. If you have already faxed us the credit card authorization, we do require that you sign and date the attachment (booking agreement) and fax that back to us also.
We look forward to doing business with you.

Hello, Panic Mode.

Sounds legit, except it didn't come from NAA like the guy on the phone told me. The email was from Conventional Housing Online, so of course being that we design websites my first step was to check out the link in the signature. At which point I said to myself "oh sh*t, these people aren't for real, this website is horrible."

Next step, copy and paste URL and Google "conventionalhousingonline.com scam" and "'convention travel' scam". If you're ever wondering the legitimacy of anything/company/person just Google [name] and the word scam. Hey, there's even results for "banana scam."

My findings were scary to say the least; there are multiple complaints about multiple tradeshows:

Beware! These guys are totally shady. They called us last year and pretended to be part of the show we were going to. My assistant booked our entire exhibiting staff through them. When we showed up at the hotel we had no rooms and we had no recourse (we left several massages on their 866 #, but we never got a call back). We ended up out on the Interstate--an hour from the convention center. The show managers could not help us because they were not aware of this company at all.

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It has come to our attention that Convention Expo Travel is calling BCMC exhibitors informing them that they need to make their hotel reservations now as there is a limited supply available. This is inaccurate information. Convention Expo Travel is not identifying themselves when calling exhibitors and they are giving the impression that they are working with BCMC and the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Please note that Convention Expo Travel is NOT affiliated with BCMC or any of the convention hotels, especially the Crowne Plaza Hotel. The Crowne Plaza Hotel has confirmed they do not have rooms set aside for this company

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We would like to warn our attendees and exhibitors to NOT BOOK A HOTEL with a company called Convention Expo Travel. The company is in NO WAY AFFILIATED with the VHA Leadership Conference. Please do not give them your credit card information under any circumstances. Unfortunately, this kind of scam is not uncommon in the conference business. If you are booking a hotel room, we highly recommend that you book directly with the Grand Hyatt in San Antonio at (800) 648-4462. The Marriott Rivercenter is sold out on several of the conference nights.

We have already informed NAA (and our credit card company) about the situation. I was told the housing director would be handling the situation on their end. We also thought it was very important to post a warning since we are not sure how they have our contact info and how many other people will be receiving the same call I got.

What did I learn?

What did I do?

  • I faced reality
  • I didn't try to handle it by myself
  • I quickly found the root cause
  • I canceled my credit card immediately
  • I informed anyone else that may have the chance of running into this problem

Update: I spoke to Kerry at NAA this morning and she assured me NAA will be doing everything necessary to handle this and they appreciated us spreading the word.

Update 2.0: NAA sent out the following email today:

ALERT: Conference Hotel Room Booking Scam

NAA has partnered solely with J. Spargo and Associates as the official housing vendor for the 2010 NAA Education Conference & Exposition and we do not endorse or have a relationship with any other housing company.

NAA was alerted of a scam in which a company called “Conventional Housing Online” contacts NAA members, past conference attendees and exhibitors by phone, and poses as NAA staff offering special discounted hotel room rates for upcoming conferences.

All conference attendees and exhibitors should beware of ANY individual who calls and claims to be a representative of NAA. NAA and J. Spargo and Associates do NOT solicit conference registrants directly by telephone for hotel bookings or special discounts, nor do we request credit card numbers over the phone for room reservations. NAA is not responsible for any housing reservations made through any other provider than its official provider, J. Spargo and Associates.

Please book your conference hotel rooms safely and securely through the NAA Education Conference & Exposition Website at www.naahq.org/educonf only. Or, if you have questions about housing, please contact J. Spargo and Associates at 866-470-7778.

If you believe you have been contacted by someone from Conventional Housing Online or another company posing a similar solicitation, please contact Liz Huh, Vice President Meetings and Expositions by calling 703/518-6141 or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

If you have made hotel reservations and provided a credit card number to this company or another company, please call your credit card company immediately and request that they reverse the charge.

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Elysa Rice is Ellipse Communication's Emerging Media Consultant. Ellipse is celebrating 10 years providing websites and software to the multifamily industry. 

 
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site

That's so terrifying. Con artists are getting cleverer and cleverer these days, and it's more than just people claiming to be Nigerian heirs who need your bank info so they can wire you unclaimed fortunes. Way to keep your head and immediately work toward a solution, including getting help. That's often one of the steps easiest to overlook, because it's easier on your pride to handle your own mistakes, but it's also the most dangerous if you wind up over your head!

Thanks for the warning and the lesson; I'm sure all the NAA attendees will definitely appreciate the heads-up!

  Sara Morrill

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