Travel / news
Fake Hotel Challenge Videos Promise Millions, and Resorts Are Fielding the Calls
Social media accounts are circulating bogus promotions offering guests thousands or even millions of dollars for month-long stays at luxury properties. For hotels, the clips are cheap to make and costly to answer.
Staff at the Ambiente Sedona, a luxury resort in Arizona, took a call in early October from someone asking about a challenge they had seen online: remain on the property for a full month without leaving and collect a payout running into the thousands, possibly millions. The front desk explained that no such promotion exists. More calls followed, along with an email from a luxury travel agent in South Korea who said several U.S. clients wanted to sign up.
Over a single weekend, the property logged four separate calls to its front desk about the same offer, according to owner Jennifer May. She raised the issue after finding a fresh batch of misleading videos about her resort accumulating views across social media.
The clips are inexpensive to produce and spread quickly, but the cost lands on the hotels named in them, which must spend front desk time correcting guests and agents. Reputation is also at stake when a property becomes attached to a promotion it never offered.
May had previously spoken publicly about artificial-intelligence-generated videos that presented inaccurate depictions of the Sedona resort. The latest wave of content marks a second round of misleading material tied to the property.
The challenge format, which pairs a long stay with a large cash prize, has drawn interest from travelers well beyond the United States, with at least one overseas agent reporting client inquiries.