I had to recently book a hotel for a few nights. Hotels are mostly empty because of COVID. When I called to book a room it was clearly a script being followed with high pressure tactics including saying rooms are filling up quickly. Once I arrived at the hotel it looked mostly dead, and I when I asked the manager who was helping me behind the counter, he said they were at 10% capacity. It should also be illegal for businesses to misrepresent their inventory.
So many websites resort to this, frankly it's embarrasing used car salesmen level tactics. My favorite is the petition websites like change.org. The ticking of people signing the petition before your eyes is entirely artificial. Refresh the page and the count resets.
I had learned after moving to the US (pretty much any western country), it is all about "wordplay". What the agent did was not illegal. What they said could be true in their own terms.
I don't know what's more amusing, the fact that they didn't change the script at all for the current conditions, or that there are probably still people falling for it.
I agree with the sentiment. But, it should not be illegal to lie about your inventory. As long as you are receiving what is promised by them at a price that you both agree, its all fair game.
Deceiving the the other party is a market failure of asymmetrical information. Like being told about a car being all peaches but it's actually a lemon. It's unlawful in most developed countries and is a great way to get a fine and/or a prison sentence.
