Signs have been appearing on telephone poles around Fort Lauderdale neighborhoods, dangling a proposition to cash-strapped homeowners: Rent out your home to a group of football fans visiting for the winter bowl season. The sign lists a phone number (866) 95 GRAND and claims to help land a rate of up to $1,000/day.
I decided to give the number on the ad a ring to see just how grand a deal they are offering. Right off the bat you're hit with their pre-recorded spiel, telling you why you'll hit it big.
The company -- which doesn't give its name -- claims that during the week of the Super Bowl, the NFL rents out 19,000 hotel rooms, leaving virtually nowhere to stay for the 150,000 football fans that will tailgate their way to the 2010 Super Bowl in Land Shark Stadium.
That's where the no-namers come into play, promising you big faced
hundreds, and a lot of them. After the voice recording makes its pitch, it asks for your contact info. At the end of the call you're still left puzzled, wondering who
these people are and exactly what type of stranger would cough up
thousands of bucks to stay at your crib. "Thank you for calling
866-95-GRAND" is all you're left with before the sound of the beep. No
name. No nothing.
So I didn't have the opportunity to learn more about this deal-of-a-lifetime from the humans behind it.
I didn't even have the chance to give you a snapshot of the sign in question. I was going to shoot it after I finished this post, but some condo commando must have already confiscated the ads.
