BOOKING.COM - OCTOBER 2025
We’ve heard from viewers who have told us of their experience with Booking.com. Gary had just moved into a new home, which he found was being advertised on the site, when two lots of people turned up at his house. We also heard from Debbie and Colin who arrived at their accommodation in Portugal, with their daughter for a holiday, was told that the villa was not available and had never been listed on Booking.com.
We wrote to Booking.com and it said that ensuring its platform is secure and trustworthy for its customers is its top priority. It said it has multiple checks in place during and after partner sign-up, which are designed primarily to prevent fraudulent listings that could result in people being scammed. It added that in the rare instance that it is alerted to a concern about a specific listing, it investigates immediately and can remove it from its platform if necessary.
In response to Gary’s experience, it said that when a property is listed on Booking.com, the owner is responsible for managing its availability and updating the company on any closures or changes in ownership, which unfortunately didn’t happen in this case. It did, however, regret that its investigation and the removal of the listing took longer than its usual timeframe, and for the difficulties Gary experienced reaching its customer services team. It added that listings that are no longer available can be reported through its dedicated “Reporting Portal”.
In Debbie and Colin’s case, it said that it’s committed to protecting customers from increasingly sophisticated online scams, and that due to the robust verification checks and controls it has in place, including machine learning models, the majority of fraudulent listings are identified before they become bookable. It said that if it’s alerted to a fraudulent listing, it investigates promptly and supports any impacted customers with refunds or relocation assistance. It apologised for the delay in refunding them, and said this has now been processed, alongside their relocation costs.
When we asked why we were able to list a cardboard box on its site, it said it was an unusual case, and whilst it was possible to initially create the hoax listing, it would not have generated demand nor reservations in the way scammers typically attempt to exploit platforms, since it would be clear that this was not a viable accommodation. It said it has a number of robust verification processes during and after partner sign-up, including advanced machine learning models, meaning the vast majority of fraudulent listings are blocked before they ever become bookable, so customers can expect a safe and enjoyable stay. It said its machine learning systems analyse a wide range of variables, such as whether uploaded images match known fraud cases or existing properties, but because the images used here were unique and showed no links to previous suspicious activity, the initial safeguards weren’t triggered. It said that once a listing is live, however, it undergoes additional reviews, including content moderation, to ensure compliance with its policies, concluding that it is highly unlikely that bookers would ever have encountered this hoax. It went onto say that had the listing received bookings or complaints, further checks would have been triggered and the property swiftly removed. Finally, Booking.com told us it continues to invest in advanced cybersecurity and fraud prevention technologies to stay ahead of evolving threats and to protect both customers and partners.
You can watch the VT here for 28 days - /iplayer/episode/m002k73q/the-one-show-01102025
