Hotel Fraud

Each year, ASH is made aware of "pirate" housing companies and travel agencies that aggressively pursue attendees to register them for the meeting and book their guest rooms at supposedly significant discounts. Do not be misled by companies that solicit you via email or over the phone and misrepresent themselves as ASH's official registration and housing provider. ASH has NO affiliation with these organizations and does not endorse their services.

All Highlights of ASH housing emails will come from our registration vendor SPARGO ([email protected]). Please be vigilant if contacted by any other company or service.

Room pirating is a practice carried out by third-party companies that act as travel agencies, wholesalers, or destination management companies to solicit attendees for room reservations for other organizations’ meetings.

Deceptive tactics used by pirate housing companies include:

• Adding processing fees or taxes when registering for the meeting and requiring payment via PayPal
• Illegally using ASH's name and/or logo to falsely represent themselves as being affiliated with ASH
• Informing attendees and exhibitors that the ASH hotel room block is sold out and that if you do not book with them immediately, you may not get a room
• Distributing forms or promotional materials that appear to be issued by ASH
Non-delivery of promises to customers (e.g., when customers arrive, reservations are sometimes non-existent or the hotels are not conveniently located)

If you are contacted by someone asking if you need a room for the Highlights of ASH meeting, and the individual is not a representative of ASH please get as much information as you can about the company and contact [email protected] immediately.