ONLINE fraudsters are marketing a small North-East office as a cosmopolitan hotel with sea view rooms for up to £200-a-night.

Poulett Hotels and Suites claims visitors to its Darlington hotel can "discover fresh, new surprises in familiar, amazing, beautiful, landscaped grounds".

According to the website - pouletthotels.co.uk - luxury suites are available with "stylish furnishings, large showers and cosy bedding".

The site boasts of 24-hour room service, high-speed wi-fi and a choice of pillows.

However, far from being a luxury hotel offering all mod-cons, the address of the Darlington hotel is a small office in the town's Woodland Road.

The premises are owned by retired architect Alan Todd.

He said: "I'm not very happy that I'm being taken as a mug by someone using my address on the web."

The 71-year-old was contacted by Durham Police about the website several months ago.

He presumed the matter had been dealt with, however, the arrival of a mysterious parcel last week alerted him that the site was still operating.

The airmail package was sent from Belgium to a guest supposedly staying in room 301 at the Poulett Hotel in Darlington.

It was received by the current tenants of the office, who have no connection to the hotel website, who passed it on to Mr Todd. The package contained a second-hand digital camera with a note indicating that it was for use by the recipient while they spent six months travelling in England.

Mr Todd said: "It's very strange.

"Why would someone spend 12 euros sending a parcel to a non-existent hotel?”

Pictures on the website of Poulett Hotels show many have a scenic sea view overlooking a beach, although it is not made clear if these are available at its Bolton, London or Darlington hotel.

Although payment is not taken on the site, a booking service is available through bookmyrooms.co.uk with Paypal payments accepted.

Bookings are confirmed with an email from a Joe Lambert, from Poulett Hotels.

Sample menus and directions to the Darlington hotel appear to have been copied from the website of the Blackwell Grange Hotel, in the town.

Other details have been taken from the websites of a number of different hotels around the country.

The site was examined by internet expert Mike Connolly, from e-strands, in Redcar, east Cleveland.

He said the website was hosted by a server in Denmark and the domain name had been registered by a Grace Befield, from North Finchley, London, although he added that this could be a fake name.

He said: “What’s the motivation behind it? I would say it’s been set up to take money from people.

“The only other possible purpose is that it’s a search engine optimisation exercise.

“I would recommend anyone looking for accommodation in the region to use official sites such as visittees valley.co.uk.”

Durham Police were unable to find any records of an investigation into the site.

Bookmyrooms.co.uk said they offered a free reservation service to hotels and the Poulett Hotels site was not connected to them.

A spokesman said the links from the website to its service would now be removed.

􀁧 Have you been a victim of the website? Email joe.willis@ nne.co.uk or call 01325-505065.