The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) has expressed concern over the rising incidences of online hotel rooms booking frauds as well as instances of targeted smear campaigns on social media against hospitality brands.
The Association has identified cyber-criminal activities that list fake hotels’ websites on popular search engines that appear to be authentic and dupe unsuspecting customers into making payments for room bookings. Member establishments of the Association have voiced concern about their brand reputation being tarnished by social media influencers creating fake videos or posting fake reviews in a bid to attract more views and followers.
Taking into account the rapid recurrence of such instances over the last one year, HRAWI has planned to take up the issue with the concerned Government authorities and law enforcement agencies. It also intends to reach out to online platforms that freely allow miscreants to dupe unsuspecting customers and malign the reputation of brands, for a stronger regulation of content posted on their platforms.
HRAWI has strongly condemned these malicious activities and urged customers to be vigilant when making bookings online. The Association also advised customers to book only through authentic websites and social media pages of hotels and restaurants and to report any suspicious activity to the concerned authorities.
