HOTELKEEPERS DUPED

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 October 1931, Page 10

HOTELKEEPERS DUPED

TRICKSTERS IN MOTORS. Hotelkeepers all over the English countryside are being warned against a new' kind of motoring trickster who is enjoying a holiday on the roads with free meals —and in some cases even free lodging. The method of the trickster is to answer in person advertisements of country hotels for sale. Arriving at the hotel at a meal time he passes himself off as a prospective purchaser. Having looked over the premises with the proprietor, the visitor says that lie is prepared to buy, but that he will first have to see his solicitors. He then suggests having a meal at the hotel before starting on the journey back, and the proprietor usually insists that the visitor shall be his guest. Needless to say, nothing more is heard of the “deal.” The propiretor of one hotel relates how he was duped. “A car containing,

two men and a woman drove up to my hotel just before dinner one night recently,” he said. “The driver asked to see me, and inquired about the sale of my property.” “I showed him round, and the man agreed to buy my hotel at the price I was asking. Very pleased, I asked him and his friends to have dinner and put them up until the morning. They left next day. I’ve heard nothing further about . the purchase of my place. I have heard of several other hotel proprietors being duped in the sama way.’j