It seems the recession and the slow economy have encouraged some people to adopt shady business practices. For the past few years, exhibitors at our RFID Journal LIVE! conference and exhibition, held in Orlando, Fla., have been receiving calls from businesses purporting to represent RFID Journal, and offering hotel rooms at a discount. The problem is, these companies have no affiliation whatsoever with RFID Journal—and the rooms in question often do not exist.
In past years, the calls began in January or February. This year, exhibitors are already receiving calls for our April 2014 event. These booking companies do not represent RFID Journal, and it is not always clear that they will actually deliver the rooms they promise. Last year, one exhibitor reserved 10 rooms at the Hilton Hotel, our official hotel for the conference, through one of these bogus firms. The exhibitor presented a document that appeared to confirm the booking, but when the group arrived, the hotel had no rooms available for them. It was sold out, as were other hotels in the area. The exhibitor wound up staying at a hotel 40 minutes away, and had to incur the additional expense of renting two cars.
It breaks my heart to see RFID Journal‘s partners being ripped off like this. I encourage all of our exhibitors to book rooms early—and to use only the link on the LIVE! 2014 Web site to do so, which is https://resweb.passkey.com/go/RFID2014.
Do not fall for this scam. And if you have any questions, you can contact my staff by calling (631) 249-4989.
Mark Roberti is the founder and editor of RFID Journal. If you would like to comment on this article, click on the link below. To read more of Mark’s opinions, visit the Editor’s Note archive or RFID Connect.