Need to know
- Several people have fallen foul of a suspicious Melbourne holiday rental, with one traveller ending up almost $160 out of pocket
- Booking.com continued to host the property after admitting it couldn’t make contact with the owners
- The popular booking website has previously been accused of unknowingly hosting fake listings set up by scammers to steal deposits
It's just after 10pm on a cool Friday night in March and Allen MacDonald is getting nervous.
He's just spent 40 minutes driving up and down a quiet street in Point Cook in the outer suburbs of Melbourne.
"I [was] starting to get a bit anxious, because it's now 10ish at night [and] there's just no one around," he recalls.
He'd travelled down from Sydney earlier that day, considering himself lucky to have snagged somewhere to stay close to the popular Avalon airshow.
"You can't get accommodation for kilometres. This popped up, so I thought: 'Great!'," he says of finding the Point Cook Landmark Coastal Wetland Park Villa listed on popular reservation site Booking.com.
In hindsight, there had been red flags, including no reviews left by previous guests.
I just drove up and down two or three times thinking: 'Well, this isn't good'
Allen MacDonald, Booking.com customer
But Allen's problems only really began when, sitting in his hire car preparing to drive to the property, he took a closer look at his booking confirmation.
"All I had was the name of the street, there was no actual address to set my GPS to go to," he explains.
Believing he might find a property with accommodation signage or someone waiting to meet him (the owner had only days before approved his request for a late check-in) he forged ahead.
But all he found was a dark street lined with anonymous suburban homes.
"I thought I'd missed it the first time, so I turned around and went back again. I just drove up and down two or three times thinking: 'Well, this isn't good'."
Local example of a global problem
The platform Allen had used to secure his miracle-turned-nightmare stay, Booking.com, has a history of promising great deals that vanish into thin air.
We've previously highlighted how scammers the world over have taken advantage of platforms like Booking.com that let regular people turn their homes into accommodation businesses.
CHOICE's UK sister organisation, Which?, last year said it had heard from hundreds of Booking.com customers who'd turned up to accommodation they'd paid for, only to find it didn't exist.
The ABC has reported cases of the same con being pulled here, leaving travellers stranded in unfamiliar locations without anywhere to stay.
Allen believes the villa he paid almost $160 for in advance and then spent almost an hour searching for, was one of these fake listings.
He's not alone. At least three other Booking.com customers appear to have fallen foul of the same listing in recent months, leaving negative reviews labelling it a scam and claiming it doesn't exist.
Seen or been affected by a scam more people should know about? Email the author.
Villa listing stayed online despite concerns
When CHOICE visited the property's page on Booking.com, it had several common hallmarks of a fake listing scam.
These included negative reviews accusing the listing of being a scam and confusing, poorly-worded supporting information. The listing had no positive reviews.
But the biggest red flag is that while contact details are provided to guests, all calls and messages to the phone number and email address provided go unanswered.
The listing has only negative reviews on popular travel site Booking.com.
In the 'About' section of its listing, the villa claims to have a 24-hour front desk.
But when he was scouring streets, Allen says he tried calling and messaging the mobile number included on his booking confirmation multiple times, getting no response.
Messages to the property owner via a listed email address and the Booking.com chat function also went unanswered.
CHOICE also found the property's promise of round-the-clock service lacking – when we tried to call the number Allen was provided, it didn't connect and emails to the address elicited no response.
Even Booking.com itself has struggled to get a response out of the property.
Two weeks after Allen first alerted the company to his issues with the property, Booking.com admitted to him that it also couldn't contact the person responsible for the listing.
Booking.com admitted it also couldn't contact the person responsible for the listing
For Allen, the fact the platform then continued to host the property and allow people to book it beggars belief.
"I'm gobsmacked. I don't understand," he says. "I would rate [Booking.com] as a trusted platform…to have this going on is really disappointing and I think it damages their brand".
The property remained on Booking.com for over a month after Allen first shared his concerns with the company about it being a scam.
It could also be booked through Singaporean travel site Trip.com until earlier this month, when its listing was suspended after CHOICE contacted the platform.
When it was still live on both sites, the property also featured in Google AI overviews of homestays in the Point Cook area.
The battle to get a refund
After giving up on his search for the property, Allen managed to find last-minute accommodation in a nearby hotel.
He sent a message to Booking.com two days later, alerting the platform to his issues with the property and requesting a refund of the sum he'd paid ahead of his stay.
Booking.com representatives initially suggested they may be able to reimburse him this and "any extra costs", such as the backup accommodation.
However, within days, the company was walking this back, saying Allen had taken too long to contact its representatives.
In the same email, Booking.com admits it also hadn't been able to reach the person responsible for the listing.
Allen says he tried to contact Booking.com on the night he was searching for the elusive villa, but couldn't find a straightforward way to reach the platform.
The villa claims to offer 24-hour service, but neither the customer we spoke to, CHOICE, nor Booking.com itself could contact it.
Booking.com responds
Booking.com didn't respond to our suggestions that it's difficult for customers to contact, but told CHOICE the Point Cook property had previously provided guests with successful stays.
However, none of these people left positive reviews on the listing's page.
Following our queries, Booking.com stopped taking bookings for the property as a "precautionary measure".
The company says it has "robust security measures" in place to protect guests and takes "the process of verifying accommodation listings extremely seriously".
After earlier refusing a refund, it also eventually credited Allen's account with the $159 he had paid for the Point Cook property, as well as some of the amount he spent on his last-minute hotel stay.
With regards to why the listing remained live after Booking.com said it couldn't contact the owner, CHOICE understands it's not company practice to immediately remove listings if the person responsible isn't responsive to attempts by Booking.com to reach them.
How to spot a fake accommodation listing
- No reviews or only negative reviews: Check the latest feedback from other travellers. Fake listings often have an overwhelming number of reviews alleging the property doesn't exist no reviews at all.
- Unusual photos: Beware of listings with photos that all seem to be taken from other sites. Do a reverse image search to see where else images are being used.
- Unclear descriptions or instructions: 'About' sections may be poorly worded or use unusual terminology, such as miles instead of kilometers.
- It's only been listed for a short time: Booking platforms work to take down fake listings. Beware of suspicious listings that have only been live for a short time.
- Attempts to take you off-platform: Be sceptical if the vendor tries to direct you off the platform (onto private messaging apps, for example), especially when it comes to payment.
We're on your side
For more than 60 years, we've been making a difference for Australian consumers. In that time, we've never taken ads or sponsorship.
Instead we're funded by members who value expert reviews and independent product testing.
With no self-interest behind our advice, you don't just buy smarter, you get the answers that you need.
You know without hesitation what's safe for you and your family.
And you'll never be alone when something goes wrong or a business treats you unfairly.
Learn more about CHOICE membership today
Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
