A family was forced to put up three Argentinian tourists after scammers listed their home on Booking.com.
Students Jessica, Natalia and Sabrina showed up at Karin Arsenius’s property in Plumstead, south London, after booking a visit to the capital. However, when they arrived and found the home occupied by the family who live there they soon realised the problem.
Ms Arsenius’s partner took the trio to the pub to try to resolve the matter with Booking.com but was unsuccessful.
The couple even tried to get the tourists into a local hotel, but they were all booked up, Ms Arsenius told the BBC.
Have you faced a similar problem? If so email martha.mchardy@independent.co.uk
“There was nothing free so in the end we said ‘we’re not comfortable with just letting you go out in the night so let’s just make up some beds in the living room and you can just stay here’,” the 37-year-old said.
“But it shouldn’t ever have got that far. It should have been taken care of, even if Booking.com is put out.”
Ms Arsenius said around 20 unexpected guests have arrived at her property, and in the past month unexpected guests have turned up from all around the world, including Algeria, Canada, India and the US.
The Plumstead resident said her street’s postcode had been used for the bookings on the travel website, and her house was beneath the pin drop.
Ms Arsenius is now considering taking legal action against Booking.com, who have since apologised and removed the listing.
“We just need it to stop somehow,” she said. “It is very frustrating.”
Sabrina Salomé Schneider, 31, who showed up at Ms Arsenius’ house on 27 May said the experience was a “nightmare”.
The 31-year-old said she still has to spend money on a new place to stay and she is still waiting for money from Booking.com.
Last year, a north London woman told BBC Radio 4 around 100 tourists showed up at her house after it was listed on Booking.com with pictures of an entirely different property in Chelsea. The website subsequently removed the listing.
In a statement, Booking.com said: “We take safety and security very seriously, and every week, we facilitate millions of stays with the vast majority taking place with absolutely no problems.
“Scams are unfortunately a battle many industries are facing against unscrupulous fraudsters looking to take advantage and it is something we are tackling head on. We have a number of robust security measures in place, but in the very rare instance there may be an issue with a specific property we always investigate immediately.
“We can confirm this property has been completely removed from our site and all customers affected were contacted by a member of our customer service team to apologise and offer any support required in relation to refunds, relocations and additional fees, and we of course extend our sincere apologies to the homeowner.”
