Abritel sentenced for deceptive marketing practices after failing to prevent scams

Abritel, the holiday rental specialist and subsidiary of the Expedia group, was condemned in mid-June by the Paris judicial court for misleading commercial practices. Like Booking and Airbnb, the platform, which is owned by an American group, appears to have failed to take adequate steps to stamp out the numerous scams and identity frauds. It will have to pay a penalty of €5,000 per day, unless it appeals. L'informé, an exclusive news website, reported on the case. This follows on from the numerous discrepancies that our magazine noted in its special report in the issue 133.  In 2021, the DGCCRF attacked the platform following numerous reports from customers who had fallen victim to fraudulent adverts. At the time, the company communicated extensively on the range of safeguards and guarantees that it said it was deploying to ensure the security of rentals: identity verification, reliability checks and payment security. But in reality, the scams continued, as reported by many customers: accommodation that did not match the photos in the adverts, property already rented or non-existent once you arrived, difficulties with refunds, etc. A real discrepancy has been observed between[...]