You're listening to Get Fully Booked with Sarah Orchard.

Are you ready to master your marketing so you can ditch your reliance on the online agents and grow your direct bookings?

I'll be sharing with you exactly what it takes to grow your direct bookings and the simple marketing steps to get more profit in your pocket.

Hello, hello, hello, we're back.

It's season seven of the Get Fully Booked podcast.

I'm your host, Sarah Orchard.

I'm really thrilled to be back in your ears with more practical marketing tips to help you boost your bookings and get more profit in your pocket.

Today, I want to share something that has happened to my own business and may just happen to yours too.

I hope it doesn't, but in this online world, it's possibly likely to happen.

Someone stole our treehouse photographs.

Not just one photograph.

They used images of our tree house and used them to create a completely fake holiday accommodation website under a different brand name and then use that website to try to scam people into booking a holiday that didn't exist and was apparently at some random address in Gloucestershire.

Yep, this is one of those situations where you go from, oh, brilliant, one of my Instagram posts has gone viral to, oh, that's not good.

The panic sets in.

I had a sudden, like, heart in my mouth moment when I got the message.

And very, very quickly that happened.

And today's episode is all about what happened, what I did about it, and what I'd recommend you do if it happens to you, and perhaps most importantly, why.

I don't think this is a reason to become frightened of your business being visible.

In fact, I think it's a reason to become even more visible.

And I'll give you some reasons why.

Because the stronger your online presence is and your online footprint, the easier it is for potential guests to work out which website is the real one.

So, okay, let's start with a little bit of what actually happened.

And as most of you already know, I own with my hubby aid, the Hudnalls Hideout, which is a luxury couples only tree house in the Wye Valley in Gloucestershire.

And like most of you listening in, we've put a lot of effort into our photography and our videos that we use in our marketing.

Actually, more than a lot, you know, our content and particularly the content shoots that we've done and the photography and the videos that we've created are one of the most important marketing aspects for our business and for any short term rental business.

When you're selling accommodation, guests can't walk into your treehouse.

Your cottage, your cabin, or your glamping pods before they book.

So your photographs and your videos have to do an enormous amount of selling for you.

They show people what the property looks like, they communicate the experience.

They create that desire in them to move them, to want to actually make a booking.

And they help someone to decide, yes, I want to stay here.

This is what I'm looking for.

That's precisely why the scammers want those images, too.

And in our case, one of our social media posts actually on Instagram went viral.

We've had a very strong month, and we had several posts that had done really, really well.

And initially, I think our reach was somewhere like half a million.

And initially, you know, that feels like, that's fantastic.

It's like, wow, you know, Instagram's woken up and is paying attention to us.

And more people are seeing the hideout, more people are discovering us, more people are visiting our website.

We were getting a lot more follows, and potentially also we had some bookings were coming in.

But there is another side to visibility that we don't often talk about.

And the more visible you become, the more visible you become to everyone.

And not everyone out there is a potential customer.

And there are a lot of people out there who maybe don't have particularly wholesome intentions.

And that's exactly what happened to us.

And I know from chatting to some clients and other glamping industry connections, this has happened to quite a few others out there as well, and actually with these exact same people.

So someone took our photographs and they used them to create this fake website.

So they weren't actually pretending to be the Hudnall's hideout.

So they weren't using our brand name.

Instead, they created another property name and presented our photographs as though it was their accommodation.

And that's the important distinction, because initially you might think, well, if they're using a different name, surely people will realize it's not the Hudnall's Hideout.

But think about it from a guest perspective.

You know, they're just scrolling away on Instagram or TikTok, and suddenly this advert or a reel pops up and there's this beautiful tree house.

They click through to a website.

The photographs look really professional, the property looks amazing, there's some availability, and there's a really heavily discounted price.

They can also book online.

So it all appears on the surface to be quite legitimate.

So why would they necessarily think, hang on a minute, these photographs belong to another business.

So unless they've seen them before and they remember the brand name, and they make the connection, you know, it's quite like, likely that they wouldn't know that this is a scam.

But that's where this becomes much more serious than somebody simply just pinching, like, one photograph from your website.

It becomes a customer scam, identity fraud, not to mention a breach of copyright of our images and also for the person that originally took them, because they still own the copyright.

And that's the bit that really bothered me, because if somebody steals like, one photograph and they put it onto a blog and we sometimes get it, you know, sometimes someone will use your content and create like an Instagram reel and you, you know, and they haven't given you credit and that's annoying and you can go back to them and say, yes, I'd like you to give me a credit on, you know, and tag us on it.

But if they use your photographs to take somebody's money, that's a completely different level of problem.

And it made me feel bad and frustrated for the customers that had been ripped off, basically.

And there is actually official guidance warning about exactly this type of holiday fraud in the uk.

Report fraud, which used to be called action fraud, it's been rebranded, specifically identifies that stolen accommodation images are being used by scammers as one of the ways that holiday fraud can, can operate.

So if you ever thought, you know, surely nobody would go to that much effort, unfortunately they will.

And here's my first sort of big key point for you really don't assume that being small means you're invisible because, you know, we have just one tree house.

You know, when we're not.

We're not some huge hotel chain that's being targeted.

We're not M s, you know, who obviously had a cyber attack.

You don't have to have thousands of followers, you just need to have somebody who thinks that they can.

Something that they can exploit.

And ironically, that can sometimes happen because your marketing is working really well.

So you can actually be quite small and have quite a small social following.

But maybe you have a social post that goes viral and it gets picked up.

So my second point I wanted to share with you is, is sort of, what do you do if this happens?

So let's say you discover this.

Maybe a guest emails you and says, I've booked your cottage, but I haven't received a booking confirmat or I just paid a deposit and I'm not sure why the booking isn't.

You know, basically the dates are still showing as available on your system.

Or perhaps somebody just sends you a link and says, Is this you?

And that's what happened to me.

I got a WhatsApp message saying the images are being used on this website.

And like I said, my heart sunk when I.

When I got that message.

So what do you do?

Well, first, don't panic.

Be methodical, Take screenshots, save everything, get organized.

So what you want to do is take screenshots of the fake website because that may not be around for long.

Capture the actual URL that they're using.

So that's the domain name that appears in the search bar, Document the pages where your photographs appear and log exactly which photographs are being used.

Take down any of the, like, screen grabs of the fake booking information, any contact details, any payment information, including any URLs that are being used for the actual booking system, any social media accounts or adverts that are connected to this.

In our case, the scammers were running meta ads, so they've created a Facebook page which has actually only been created, I think, on the 21st of August, and we discovered this on something like the 24th of August.

So it only been in operation for a few days, but they'd been running adverts, so it was probably under five days when we discovered it.

Again, keep copies of any emails or messages, particularly the ones that you've maybe received from guests.

Basically create an evidence file.

Because websites disappear, pages can be changed, domains can get taken down, and you want evidence of what was there at the time.

The next thing I would do is identify exactly what has been copied.

So is it your photographs, is it your written content, your logo, your business name, your brand?

This one had loads of reviews on it.

I don't know where they've got the reviews from, but there could be some reviews.

Is it your entire website that's been like cloned?

Because your response is going to differ depending on what they've taken.

But in our situation, the obvious issue was that the use of our photography was actually in breach of copyright, our copyright, our ip.

And obviously they created a fake accommodation website around it.

So they were then scamming people.

And then you can start working through the various parties who could potentially help to get this taken down, because you can take action.

It's not a case of just sitting there and thinking, I can't do anything about it.

So this might include.

They might be using a website platform like Wix or Spotify to have built the website with.

There'll be a hosting company who are hosting the website.

There'll probably be a domain registrar where the domain is.

They have to buy a domain name and it gets registered.

There may be a payment provider.

They might be using a payment gateway like Stripe or similar.

They might be using advertising platforms like Meta or Google and appearing on search engines.

They might be on certain social media platforms with accounts.

So where appropriate, think about also the relevant authorities.

You don't necessarily need to contact every single one, but the principle is go upstream.

So if they've created a fake website, which is what we had, it's got to be hosted somewhere.

So what I did was I just drafted an email, I found out the name of the host and I contacted.

Most of these hosts have got an account, an email address or a process for reporting this type of activity.

So report it to the hosting company.

And that's what I did.

And the website got taken down literally within about three days.

If it's built on a website platform like Spotify, report it to that platform, they have a process for it.

If it's being promoted through adverts, report the adverts.

I did do that on Meta, I'd like to say that they took action, they didn't.

If it's appearing in Google, you know, report the relevant results, you know, you can report and obviously as many people as possible to report it will be helpful.

But reporting it to, you know, to Google that it is fake is, you know, like I said, I reported the Facebook page as well, but they've done nothing about that.

But you can but try.

But that's why I'm saying go upstream because actually the social media platforms are unlikely to take much action.

If you've got a verified account on meta platforms, you can get a bit more traction because you might actually speak to a human being rather than doing these automated reporting them, reporting the pages, reporting the ads, but ultimately go upstream.

So if they've got a website live, you want that taken down and you know, if someone has actually told you that they've lost money, it's no longer simply just a copyright problem, it's potentially fraud.

So in the UK we have the National Cyber Security center and there is an online tool for reporting suspicious websites.

Whether they take much action, I don't know.

But obviously if you've got like this company seems to all this outfit seems to be a repeat offender.

Hopefully they might track them down.

And actually the National Cyber Security center does work with hosting companies and it will take action to remove malicious websites.

I'll, I'll pop some of these links in the show notes for you as well, because I appreciate, you know, you're probably out and about and on the move and you won't be able to jot all of this down.

You might be driving, you might be doing a changeover, but I'll put the links in the show notes.

You might not need them at the moment, but they're always handy to, to know what to do if it.

If.

If the worst happens and has actually been defrauded.

Unfortunately, what I, I've discovered from talking to clients and our experience is they actually you can't really report things in advance.

A consumer has to be defrauded before any of the authorities will sort of take action.

But in the uk, if you're in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, you need to report it to report fraud.

If you're in Scotland, the police Scotland advises that you should report the fraud directly to them.

If you're in another country, check what's recommended for where you are based.

Now, here's something else I think is really important that I wanted to share with you is how to respond to a guest who contacts you and tells you that they've been scammed.

And I'm sure this wouldn't happen, but don't get defensive, it's not aimed at you, it's not your fault.

Your first response and I think people are always a bit nervous about this because we're always told like in legal things you shouldn't say sorry or apologize, but the thing to say is I'm really sorry this has happened to you.

Establish exactly what has happened, make sure it's clear.

You make it clear to them that this website has nothing to do with your business and put that in writing.

So ask them where did they find the website, what URL did it use, what name did they book under, how did they pay, what did they pay, what emails did they receive, if anything and could they send you any screenshots if you're using that to collect evidence?

I just very clearly set out what the guests could do in terms of potential remedy so that they should report it to report fraud, they should contact their credit card company and they should also report it to the meta platforms because that was obviously where they'd seen adverts.

Importantly, don't let them share with you things like passwords or credit card numbers or other sensitive information.

We've got to be very mindful of things like gdpr.

And what you're trying to do is just establish what happened and preserve evidence.

You're not actually trying to.

You don't want all their personal information because that has other implications which are like Sensitive.

If they've paid money to the scammer, do encourage them to contact their bank or card provider, like immediately, because actually they should be able to get some remedy with that.

But don't make any promises, don't make any promises that you can, you know, get their money back, because you just don't know that.

But just ask them to contact their payment provider that they used and hopefully they didn't do a bank transfer and, you know, get them to report it to the relevant authority for whichever country that you're in.

What you can do is help establish that the website was fraudulent and help them understand what the genuine booking route is.

They need to know that this wasn't anything that you had any, like, you know, hand in.

And I just made it very clear to them that we were doing everything we could from our side, like reporting it to the hosting company, contacting meta, that we were doing everything that we could from our side to take action, and that's all we could do.

Okay, so this brings me on to sort of why it is so important to have your own website.

And I think one of the key lessons that I took from this is that you cannot protect your business by becoming invisible because visibility isn't the problem and it doesn't really, like I said, matter how big or small you are.

But we need to think about the journey that our potential guests take.

You know, they see a photograph, they search for you, they find your website, they look at your Instagram, they read your reviews, they look at your location, they check your availability, they want reassurance that you're real.

And actually we had somebody who had seen the advert.

I think they'd actually put the image into a Google Image search, which is a really useful way to see where your images are being used.

You might get a surprise.

And this person, he actually was a lawyer.

He said, I did see it.

And I put the image in and I realized that this wasn't, you know, this wasn't you.

So he didn't get scammed, but obviously a few people did.

So each of those touch points are an opportunity.

You know, online touch points are your opportunity for you to establish that you are a genuine business.

And that's why I think a strong direct booking website is one of your best forms of protection that you can build.

I drum on and on about websites and I know you probably get sick of me saying it, but it's, it's not because it makes it impossible for someone to copy you.

You know, it doesn't.

I think we've got a really good website and we've got a lot of the trust signals and things in place.

But it does help because it gives guests somewhere that they can actually, you know, verify that you are genuine if they take a few steps.

You can't protect about people who maybe just will book on impulse and they don't realize that it's fake.

Your website should make it blindingly obvious.

This is who we are.

This is where we are.

This is where we're based.

This is our property.

You know, there's the trust signals on there with reviews.

This is our social media.

This is how you contact us, this is how you book, and this is how you pay.

You want your genuine online footprint to be so strong with so many trust signals.

And if you don't know about trust signals, take a listen to episode 54 on the podcast for a bit more on this.

That, you know, if somebody does Google you, it's very obvious that you are the real one.

Because when I looked at this fake website, it had so many glaring inconsistencies.

One minute it said it accepted kids and dogs and it slept four, then it said on another page it slept six.

It kept calling it a cabin and then it was a lodge.

The page URLs had other brand names in them.

And this is the point.

Someone had, you know, people hadn't maybe looked in detail.

They just saw the pictures and they got sucked in.

And this is another reason why I bang on about, you know, having your own website rather than relying on Airbnb, booking.com or another, you know, online travel agent.

Those platforms can be incredibly useful for distribution and that sort of billboard effect to get you visible, but your own website is your shop front.

It's where you control the story.

It's where you establish your authority and you build your trust.

It's where you build your brand, and it's where you can send people to verify that they found the genuine business.

In fact, I would really sort of think about your website as it's like your online passport.

You know, it's that important.

And it should contain enough information that guests can confidently establish that you are legitimate.

So, you know, even people don't realize that if you're a limited company, you should have your registered business name and your registration number and address on your website or your VAT number.

You know, some of these things they had copied another company, and when you Googled it again, it didn't stack up.

But all of this is important.

Make sure that all your social medias are consistently Named and it all points back to you.

Your Google business profile points back to you.

Your email signature points back to you.

Your booking confirmation comes from your domain name, not Gmail.

I see so many businesses that are not using their domain name for their communications.

They've got a Gmail account.

Well, anyone can create a Gmail account with a brand name.

Use your brand name.

It gives customers confidence.

Your communications should consistently use this domain.

Your booking system, emails need to come from that domain and show that it's all legitimate.

The more consistent this sort of online ecosystem is, the easier it becomes for a potential guest to spot the imposter.

And there is another thing we can do, all of us can do.

We can educate our guests.

I mean, you don't have to write a huge, scary warning on a homepage.

On your homepage.

I didn't do this.

You know, warning scammers are trying to steal your money.

You don't want to frighten people.

But also by pretending that this hasn't happened to your business is not a good thing either.

You can make it just very clear how people legitimately book with you.

For example, the only way to book the Hudnalls hideout is directly through our website.

We are not on any other platforms.

The scammers knew that I was onto them and they started referring to us as a sister cabin.

So when some customers contacted them and said, oh, we haven't, you know, we haven't had your email confirmation, or they started to sort of, you know, like, query what was going on.

They started saying that the payment had failed and that we were a sister cabin.

So they knew that we were onto them.

And so if you've experienced a specific scam, you could use your social stories with a message like, please be aware of fraudulent websites using our images.

Our only official website is.

And then give your domain name.

Because this kind of information actually increases trust.

It's not, it's not a weakness.

It's not saying, oh, my business has had an issue, we have had an issue.

But it's, you're demonstrating that you're alert, professional, and you're looking after your guests best interests.

It isn't your fault that this has happened to you.

And you shouldn't hide away and be ashamed that it's happened to your business because you won't be alone, that's for sure.

And actually, all of the guests that we, that had been scammed, that we came into contact with were really, like, grateful that we were taking action and that we pointed them to what they could do to remedy the situation and that we showed empathy towards their situation and their predicament.

But I think there's a much bigger marketing lesson here for every holiday accommodation owner who's listening in.

Today we talk all the time about wanting more visibility, more Instagram reach going viral, more Google traffic, more followers, more pr, more shares, more people discovering us and then something like this happens and you think actually maybe being invisible isn't so bad and having so few followers on social media.

But no, I strongly convey to you that the answer isn't to hide.

The answer is to own your visibility, build your brand, build your authority and trust, build your web, your own website, build your reviews.

Google reviews are great for this.

Build your Google presence with your business profile, build your email list, make sure your genuine business is easy to find and keep an eye on what's happening around you.

Keep an eye on where your photographs are maybe being used.

So like I said, do a Google image search and see what comes up.

Because all of this, your photographs, your videos, your written content, your brand name, it's all really important and intellectual property of your business.

It's your assets, your business assets.

And as your business becomes more successful, these assets become increasingly valuable to people that maybe don't have very good intentions at heart.

So it means you need to think about protecting them.

So I'm just going to quickly recap my sort of five point checklist of what to do if this happens to you.

So if you discover that somebody has stolen your photographs and they've created a fake booking site, here's what you need to do.

Number one, document everything.

Screenshots, URLs, dates, emails, adverts, photographs.

Keep it as evidence.

As I said, things can be taken down.

Number two, establish exactly what's been copied.

Photography, text, logo, branding, your entire website, Know what you're dealing with.

Number three, report the fake website and the content.

So this could be, you know, go to the website platform like Spotify, the hosting company, the domain provider, search engines, meta any relevant authorities.

Like I said, the UK Cyber Security center and I said, I'll put links in the show notes.

You can send them a cease and desist notice about the breach of copyright, which is what I did, they ignored it, but that formalizes my position and our business position in terms of them doing that.

So don't just send one email to one party and hope for the best.

You don't need to do all of those, but think about the ones that are most relevant.

And remember I said go upstream.

So start with the website hosting number Four, help the affected guests as best you can.

If someone has been scammed, be empathetic.

Gather the information you need.

You know, point them towards the appropriate fraud reporting and banking channels.

Make it crystal clear that you are the genuine business and that you had nothing to do with this, but that you are taking some actions and you know, you're giving them some help and support to, to try and remedy the situation.

And the last one, number five, strengthen your own digital brand footprint.

So don't disappear, don't hide.

Make the real business, your real business, easier to find.

Because your best defense isn't hiding your photographs, you know, in a virtual cupboard and not putting them out there, but it's making sure that people know that you know that your genuine business is unmistakable.

So there you go, warts and all.

The story of how one of our posts or a couple of posts going viral, that something should have been really positive marketing moment ultimately led to somebody stealing our images and using them to create a fake scamming booking website.

Was it annoying?

Absolutely.

Was it worrying?

Yes.

I won't lie.

But did it make me want to stop marketing the Hudnall's hideout?

Absolutely not.

If anything, it just reinforced something that I've been saying for years, that visibility is valuable.

You just need to make sure that when people find you, they can tell that they found the real you.

So if you've been putting off your own website because you think, well, everyone just books through Airbnb anyway, or you've been thinking, I don't really need to bother with SEO because I've got Instagram, or maybe even nobody is going to steal my little cottage photographs, you'll be surprised.

Please don't underestimate the value of building a strong, recognizable brand and online presence.

Because your website isn' just somewhere to take bookings.

It's part of your credibility and trust.

It's part of your brand protection and increasingly it's part of your defense against people who want to exploit your success.

And if you've experienced something similar, I really would love to hear about it.

Obviously, I spoke to a few people and I found out that, you know, some other businesses have had exactly the same outfit doing the same thing to them.

But come on over and find me on Instagram, let me know, because I suspect this is happening to more and more accommodation businesses than we realize.

And finally, if you found this episode useful, please do me a little favor.

Take a look at your own website today and ask yourself, if someone saw one of my photographs somewhere else online, would they be able to find the real us, your business.

If the answer is yes, that's brilliant.

If the answer is I'm not sure.

Well, I think you've just found your next marketing job to add to your to do list.

Thank you for listening today.

If you enjoyed this episode, you know what to do.

I'd love it if you could leave me a review because you know how much us hosts love those five star reviews.

Next week, I'm back with another solo episode that flows on really nicely from this one.

It is almost as if I had a plan.

Are your reviews doing the selling for you?

You'll want to tune in for that one.

Bye for now.

See you next week.

You're listening to Get Fully Booked with Sarah Orchard.

Are you ready to master your marketing so you can ditch your reliance on the online agents and grow your direct bookings?

I'll be sharing with you exactly what it takes to grow your direct bookings and the simple marketing steps to get more profit in your pocket.