After a jail threat, fraud, and extortion by a tour operator in France, an FBI investigation by their Consumer Fraud Protection Bureau resulted in the return of most of our stolen money, but the latest twist to this crime saga is that TripAdvisor covers-up crimes against two elderly tourists. The tour operator and a hotel operator tried to steal $48,600, they stole $28,000, and $25,000 in stolen money was returned, but a $3,000 ongoing theft was the illegal profit of Luxury Tours France, which is also known by the name of RiverLoire - Loire Valley Day Tours. The hotel that also engaged in these crimes was the Hotel Le Pavillon Des Lys.
Criminals In Action
In our seventies, my wife and I visited the Loire Valley. We paid a full price of $6500 by wire transfer in advance for this tour. When we arrived in Europe, the nightmare began. We were charged multiple times for the same service, and I was threatened with jail if I did not immediately pay an additional $5,000 in cash for the same, paid-for service. My wife was horrified with the prospect of being stranded in France - alone - if I was jailed. Even so, I refused to pay this monstrous thief.
International and National Thefts are Okay in the U.S.
This crime saga continued as I documented these crimes in a series of Op Eds, where banks and the FBI permit crimes against U.S. citizens - abroad and at home. These Op Eds started with factual, documented accusations in an article, titled "Visit France as a Tourist-Risk Fraud and False Imprisonment in Jail-Luxury Tours France and Hotel Le Pavillon Des Lys". As these crimes unfolded, I learned that U.S banks support criminals, i.e., if the criminals claim that their thefts are legal, the banks support the claims of the criminals and force customers to pay the thieves ("The Bank of America Steals our Money - The Bank of America's International Fraud against America"). Most of our stolen money was returned from credit card frauds, but the FBI does not investigate wire transfer frauds under $100,000 ("The Bank of America Reacts to Freedom of the Press and the Consumer Fraud Protection Bureau "). Further investigation proved that this thief from Luxury Tours France is only a small part of the massive internet crime spree against us ("U.S. Banks and the FBI Harbor Criminal Fraud Enterprises").
I invested much time into fighting against these crimes. The monetary value of the hours spent fighting these crimes exceeds the value of the stolen money that was returned. Even so, standing up against these criminals was personally worth the effort. Criminals should pay for their crimes.
A TripAdvisor Cover-up
I requested that TripAdvisor publish my trip reviews to protect other tourists, but only one of two trip reviews was published. Specifically, a hotel trip review was published, but the main criminal organization, Luxury Tour France is still protected by TripAdvisor. The fraud reports provided to TripAdvisor are available (click here).
TripAdvisor failed to honor their offer 'to just publish [my] experience with the property [Luxury Tours France / RiverLoire] without quoting the property.' The latest in my series of letters to TripAdvisor follows.
A Letter to TripAdvisor
'Censorship Continued
'TripAdvisor refused the [below] trip review, even though I have provided extensive supporting information to your office. This cover-up of tour operator crimes is a disservice to tourists who trust your website for information to protect them from such crimes.'
A Letter to RiverLoire
'Theft From a Customer
'You owe me thousands of dollars. The FBI has retrieved more than $24,018 in fraudulent credit card claims by your company, but you still have my money that was stolen by wire transfer. I have asked the Bank of America to return this stolen money, but I doubt that they will. Per a previous email, I still do not plan to prosecute [the man who received the wire transfer as part of this fraud scheme on your behalf]. Even though he was directly involved in this crime, you are criminally responsible.
'At a minimum you owe my wife and me $3000. We paid $6500, the hotel should be reimbursed $1018, and we only received two days of service for a five-day contract. The total owed to us is approximately $3000. This charge does not include time lost on vacation due to your criminal acts, where this time is worth over $1000, and does not include the time spent fighting your crimes, where this time is worth tens of thousands of dollars. This charge also does not include any compensation for the discomfort and inconvenience that you caused my family.'
[Trip Advisor refused to print the following trip review.]
'Luxury Tours France Will Rob You, Threaten You With Jail and Extortion, and Then Accuse You of Blackmail' [The following trip review was submitted and refused by TripAdvisor, click here.]
'The criminal behavior of Luxury Tours France (Riverloire Loire - Valley Day Tours) was despicable when my wife and I traveled with them in France from the U.S., where I am 72 years old and my wife is 74 years old. My wife and I were swindled of more than $28,000 by this company, and I was illegally threatened with jail, when my wife was horrified that she would be stranded in France - alone - if I went to jail for a dishonest charge to the French police.
'We paid Luxury Tours France $6500 in advance (in full) prior to arriving in France for our five-day tour, and bank records for this payment have been provided to them by the Bank of America. On our way to France, we were falsely advised that this payment had not been received, and we paid again ($6500 in full) by credit card. We were then asked to pay again ($6500 in full) through Western Union when we stopped in London for a few days. We did not send the Western Union payment, but Luxury Tours France charged our credit card a total of $23,000 (3 and 1/2 full payments) in addition to the $6500 that Luxury Tours France received by wire transfer - for a total fraud of $28,000.
'When we arrived in France, we were picked up by car at the airport by a nice young lady, who served very well as our guide for two days. Then, the nightmare began.
'On the morning of the third day, the owner of Luxury Tours France showed up at the hotel that his company had contracted for us. Extortion against me began as soon as he arrived. He demanded that I immediately pay him $5000 in cash, or he would have me put in jail. I refused to succumb to extortion, and I did not pay him again. At the time of this extortion, there were already tens of thousands of dollars in payments to Luxury Tours France. All in all, Luxury Tours France attempted to steal more than $38,000 from my wife and me through fraud.
'Our trip was cancelled, our hotel room was cancelled, and transportation to the airport to get home was cancelled. I then made arrangements to address being stranded in France by Luxury Tours France.
'Also in France, I immediately called my credit card company, and informed them of the fraud. However, Luxury Tours France claimed that all of the stolen money was legitimately charged, and the Bank of America would not return the stolen money due to this dishonest claim.
'When I asked Luxury Tours France to return the stolen money, the owner of the company libelously accused me of blackmail. This criminal slanderously accused me of blackmail to hide his crimes.
'I filed a criminal fraud complaint with the FBI through their Consumer Fraud Protection Bureau (CFPB). The money that was stolen by credit card fraud was returned when the CFPB confronted my credit card company (the Bank of America). Luxury Tours France still has the stolen wire transfer funds.
'FBI reports, bank records, and internet OpEds that I wrote thoroughly document these crimes. Copies of these reports and Op Eds were sent to Luxury Tours France and the Content Integrity Department of TripAdvisor.'
TripAdvisor now refuses to answer any emails about this censorship of important information, which is intended to protect tourists from criminals. Although TripAdvisor did not publish the above trip review, they did publish the following trip review.
A Letter to the Hotel Le Pavillon Des Lys
'Apology Owed
'You owe me an apology for the false claims that you made against me.
'A copy of my latest TripAdvisor review follows, and TripAdvisor published this trip review.'
'The Hotel Le Pavillon Des Lys will steal your money and then accuse you of blackmail and theft.' (click here)
'The Hotel Le Pavillon Des Lys committed fraud against my wife and me, and when I asked for our stolen money to be returned, the hotel manager accused me of blackmail and claimed that I routinely stayed at hotels without payments. Such statements are dishonest lies.
'My wife and I traveled to the Loire Valley in France with a tour operator who committed heinous crimes against us. That operator stole more than $29,500 from us and illegally threatened to have me jailed if I did not pay another $5000. This attempted extortion and jail threat occurred in the lobby of the Hotel Le Pavillon Des Lys. Although Luxury Tours France (Riverloire Loire - Valley Day Tours) was the lead criminal in these extensive frauds, the Hotel Le Pavillon Des Lys committed further crimes against my wife and me.
'Since my wife and I were suddenly without a place to stay in a foreign country, we then double-paid to stay at this hotel. The hotel had contracted with the tour operator, and I previously had not been allowed to contract directly with the hotel.
'Since the contract was originally between the hotel and the tour operator, and I had paid twice for the same stay, I asked the hotel to return our money. The hotel refusal to pay back this money constituted theft.
'When I asked the hotel to return the stolen money, the hotel manager accused me of blackmailing him, and stated that I was a manipulating specialist who refused to pay hotel bills. That is, he accused me of theft. This libelous statement is a blatant lie. I have paid every hotel bill for every hotel stay in my life, where I have traveled four to ten weeks a year for nearly twenty years. There was no blackmail, which was proven by the fact that an FBI (Consumer Fraud Protection Bureau) investigation resulted in the return of this money stolen by the hotel ($1018) to my wife and me, and this lack of blackmail was further proven by the return of more than $23,000 from the tour operator.
'FBI reports, bank records, and internet OpEds that I wrote thoroughly document these crimes. Copies of these reports and Op Eds were sent to the Hotel Le Pavillon Des Lys and the Content Integrity department of TripAdvisor. Tripadvisor had blocked my trip review publications, and when these documents were provided, TripAdvisor allowed me to publish trip reviews. TripAdvisor does not endorse my statements per policy, but I have presented the facts.'
Stop Tourist Robberies
Immediately after I was threatened with jail in the hotel lobby, the hotel manager stated that Luxury Tours France has this problem with customers once or twice a year at this hotel. Since I have made criminal accusations against the hotel manager, he will not likely confirm this statement that he made to my wife and me. An adage that I have heard is that 'if something is not in writing, it did not happen', but this witnessed hotel statement certainly happened. Tourists are at risk when traveling with Luxury Tours France to the Hotel Le Pavillon Des Lys.
In summary, TripAdvisor did not publish one of two important trip reviews, and TripAdvisor thereby protected the criminals of RiverLoire / Luxury Tours France. The Hotel Le Pavillon Des Lys refuses to apologize for dishonest character attacks, and Luxury Tours France refuses to pay back stolen money, even though much of their criminal gains have been paid back. I have written the facts - just the facts.
Addendum, 12/27/2023
Although I do not expect a response, the following email was forwarded to TripAdvisor.
'Unfortunately, TripAdvisor chose to not answer multiple emails and refused to publish an important and factual trip review account of criminal acts committed against travelers by a tour operator (RiverLoire - Loire Valley Day Tours / Luxury Tours France). In response, I published an Op Ed today, 12/27/2023, to document this disservice to the travel industry and other travelers (See the Op Ed, "Luxury Tours France / RiverLoire Tours: Robbery, FBI Intervention, Return of Stolen Cash, and a TripAdvisor Cover-up", Click Here.
I also responded to a TripAdvisor survey that 'TripAdvisor protects criminals by censoring trip reviews. Their cover-up of crimes by tour operators questions the objectivity and validity of TripAdvisor.
The following email was sent to the hotel manager and the tour operator.With these additional clarifications of fact, perhaps TripAdvisor will reconsider publishing the facts about crimes committed against travelers.'
'The following Op Ed was published today, 12/27/2023. My past articles about your crimes garner 1400 to 1700 readers. Your crimes against tourists must be stopped. See the Op Ed, "Luxury Tours France / RiverLoire Tours: Robbery, FBI Intervention, Return of Stolen Cash, and a TripAdvisor Cover-up", Click Here.'
Addendum, 12/29//2023
Following the publication of this Op Ed, TripAdvisor changed their website, and published the Luxury Tours France trip review that is provided above. See "TripAdvisor Published Luxury Tours France Crimes in a Trip Report in Response to Freedom of the Press". This Op Ed is left intact, since this story evolved as the Freedom of the Press was exercised to fight against criminals.
(Article changed on Dec 29, 2023 at 8:00 PM EST)
