A Las Vegas content creator has lifted the veil on what appears to be one heck of a Las Vegas tourism scam. According to Jennifer Gay, who goes by VegasStarFish on social media, OYO Las Vegas, a hotel-casino on the south end of the Las Vegas Strip, has been tricking travelers into booking stays by disguising its property with AI images and fake names on popular travel sites.
Gay, who wrote on X that OYO has been her “number one ‘worst hotel in Vegas’ for ages,” shared a video report from traveler Ariana Patiño, who explained that when planning her recent trip to Las Vegas, she intentionally avoided OYO because of its reviews. She found a place called Palette Las Vegas on Booking.com and decided it sounded solid for a decent price, but despite having the address and navigation, couldn’t find the property when she got to Las Vegas.
As it turned out, Palette was OYO. Photos on Booking.com and other travel sites had been altered to replace OYO branding with Palette branding, but they were the same hotel. In fact, Palette didn’t exist – it was just a made-up property, essentially a “catfish” version of OYO.
But it wasn’t some fly-by-night scammer putting up a fake listing to steal people’s money, it was actually OYO that posted the Palette listing. Patiño said when she asked the employee at check-in what was going on, the person said that it was a way for OYO to see what listing does better, most likely (in this writer’s and Patiño’s opinion) because OYO has a terrible reputation in Las Vegas.
Patiño said they wouldn’t let her cancel without harsh financial penalties, so she was forced to stay there. As she expected once she learned it was OYO, the experience was terrible, ending with a walk down to the lobby from the 18th floor because the elevators were out of service.
As if that wasn’t enough, Patiño discovered that there is a second fake OYO listing under the name Collection O. All three versions of OYO use the same photo of the pool; the two fake ones replace OYO signage with signs for the make-believe hotels.
It appears that the listing for Palette Las Vegas has been removed from Booking.com. It remains on Expedia and Travelocity, but it looks like those sites have removed the ability to book rooms.
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