A family was forced to host three Argentinian tourists after scammers listed their home on a booking website.
Jessica, Natalia and Sabrina, students from Argentina, arrived on the doorstep of Karin Arsenius, in Plumstead, south London, after booking a holiday in the British capital. But when they got to the “accommodation” they found the house occupied by the family living there and immediately realized they had a problem.
The owner’s partner tried to resolve the issue with Booking.com but was unsuccessful.
The couple even tried to find accommodation at a local hotel, but all were booked, Karin Arsenius told the BBC.
“There was nothing available so we told them we didn’t feel comfortable leaving them on the road overnight and made some beds in the living room for them to stay with us”said the 37-year-old woman.
But Karin is not in this situation for the first time. The woman said she woke up to about 20 unexpected guests at her door, and in the past month tourists have come from all over the world, including Algeria, Canada, India and the US.
Karin Arsenius is now considering taking legal action against Booking.com, which has since apologized for all the inconvenience caused and removed the address from the list.
Sabrina Salomé Schneider, 31, one of the young women who arrived at Karin’s home on May 27, said the experience was a “nightmare”. She had to fork out more money for another accommodation and is still waiting for the original amount to be returned.
Last year, a north London woman told BBC Radio 4 that around 100 tourists had turned up at her home after it was listed on Booking.com with photos of another property. The site later removed the property from the listing.
“We take safety and security very seriously and every week we facilitate millions of stays, the vast majority of which go smoothly. But unfortunately, like many other industries, we have problems with unscrupulous fraudsters looking to take advantage, and it’s a problem we’re dealing with as a matter of priority. We have implemented security measures, but in very rare cases, problems may occur. We can confirm that this property has been completely removed from our site and all affected customers have been contacted by a member of our team to provide the necessary assistance and refunds, relocations and settlement of additional charges. Of course, we apologize to the homeowner“, reported Booking.com.
Editor : D.C.
