Law-breaking residential hotel operators aren’t hiding
their illegal activity, they are advertising it – listing their illegal
rooms on popular Internet travel sites like Booking.com, right next to
and competing against legal tourist rooms.
The rise in the number of residential hotel rooms being rented
illegally cast a light on the role that Internet travel sites play in
facilitating this illegal practice. In many cases, law-breaking
residential hotel operators aren’t hiding their illegal activity, they
are advertising it – listing their illegal rooms on popular Internet
travel sites like Booking.com, right next to and competing against legal
tourist rooms. Call it a strategy of hiding in plain sight. But a
closer look at the economics of the travel industry shows that in many
ways, illegal tourist hotels and websites like Booking.com were made for
each other.With the high end and middle class hotels off the market, the pressure is on the lower end of the tourist market to meet the demand for rooms. It’s no wonder residential hotel owners are looking to jump into the lower end of the hotel market and no wonder that there is a market for their rooms.
Websites such as Booking.com manage to evade liability because owners and operators are clearly responsible for the content of their postings. But shouldn’t Booking.com know local laws governing residential and tourist hotels in the city, especially since they have an office here? Shouldn’t they know this is an illegal unit? How culpable are they?
Madeep.com
source: HotelMarketing
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