Presidential Inauguration Can Bring Scam Artists, High Prices

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The Presidential Inauguration is upon us, and this blogger attended the last one, the historic first time an African American was sworn in as President Of The United States, and of course, that was Barack Obama.

Now, four years later, President Obama has successfully won reelection thanks to the largest grassroots campaign in history, and in the process becoming the first Democrat since Franklin Delano Roosevelt to have won with over 50 percent of the popular vote. While it’s not certain that will translate into the huge crowds that swarmed into Washington for the 2008 Inauguration, one thing is certain: already, scam artists are active and high prices, especially for hotels, are becoming evident. And it’s hard to tell what’s real and “official” from what’s “unofficial.”

For example, just as scores of people are searching for the official inauguration website, here comes an unofficial one that’s so well-done it could be mistaken for the real deal, until you read the fine print. What this website, http://www.presidential-inauguration.com does is provide a good explanation of what’s happening, or is supposed to happen, during the period of the Inauguration.

But it’s not the official website, this is: http://www.inaugural.senate.gov/ and the difference is that the official website does not have a guide to hotels in the area. It’s strictly about the event itself and its history and is ran by Congress.

Hotels And Prices

Already, emails have been sent offering hotel room prices at rates of $500 per day – be careful and look for alternatives. Moreover, avoid someone trying to sell space in their home for stupidly high prices; look around for deals, as, given that President Obama was reelected and the economy’s in a bit of a different shape, there’s not likely to be as much of the rush as there was in 2008. Price-gougers were getting away with murder then – not this time.

Stay tuned.

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