Vegas Hotel Escapes, Byron Copeland, Exclusive Luxury Escapes Fraudulent hotel booking Las Vegas Nevada

I booked two rooms for 9/14-9/16. I paid $1300 in full on 9/9. When I received the hotel vouchers, the company name is misspelled (Vegas Hotel Scapes) and located in NM, not NV...a bit sloppy on details. I requested early check in on room 1, late checkout on room 2. This was not noted on the vouchers. I addressed this with Byron - he replied it was requested. At his suggestion, I called the hotel direct to confirm early check-in/late checkout. The hotel informed me I did not have any reservations. I called on 9/12 & 9/13 to confirm this, all while attempting to rectify this with Byron. I finally was fed up with the lack of follow-up and booked direct with the hotel, requested a refund from him on 9/13. Any potential savings I would've had is not worth any of the trouble. He supposedly was going to refund me on 9/13...didn't happen. Then per phone conversation on 9/14, he'd pay it back "in a week". When I pressed for refund on 9/21, he texted that offshore funds hadn't come in, so he'd pay from his personal account by Monday, 9/24. 9/24, no refund or communication from him. 9/28, I texted for an update. He replies his legal team will file defamation charges against me and other names listed on the reservation, and for me to take down my consumer reviews and then the refund will be processed.

After giving me the runaround about refunding the day I requested it, then a week later pending his refund from the reservation center (ResTel, the offshore company based in Spain), he then comes up with a "standard refund policy" of 30 days. There is no refund policy listed on the hotel vouchers, or on his website (mostly template Latin gibberish). 10/9, 30 days since I made payment...still no refund. I come to find that HE NEVER PAID THE RESERVATION COMPANY for my booking to begin with. DON'T EVEN CONSIDER THIS BUSINESS. I deliberated on the other 1* reviews on Yelp. As he was referred by friends, I had hoped that those deceitful days were behind him, thought I'd give him a chance, he has a kid, I like to support mom & pop businesses. Alas, he proved those 1* reviews to be current and true. If you wanna take a gamble on this business, you will lose. I did.

Also of note: on other platforms, this business claims to be BBB affiliated and have an A+ rating, and to be ARC and OSSN/TRUE accredited (travel agency accreditation) - these are false claims.