Further dumping on Booking.com

So frustrating, and it's not just having to worry about the major websites, it's having to filter through websites pretending to be the official hotel website. I couldn't recreate it this morning, but yesterday I was relooking at Langley Castle when it occured to me I that the website wasn't the same one I had looked at the day before. It was a good reminder because I plan to book a stay within the next few days.

Everybody is trying to automate everything. People are expensive.

=> too many holes that bad people anywhere in the World can take advantage of.

And there's the timing problem. As the article says, even if the fraudulent listing is taken down, it takes days at the fastest*. And that's enough for payments to go through.

(* and right now it's not the fastest. They ignored the landlord in Ireland trying to get it taken down until it showed up in the paper.)

So maybe the answer is to go back to faxing or calling the hotel directly. Do people even do that any more?

So maybe the answer is to go back to faxing or calling the hotel directly. Do people even do that any more?

Yes. We always book directly with the hotel by telephone and follow up with emails. It really doesn't cost that much to make the call, and we have never had a problem doing things that way. Never.

"So maybe the answer is to go back to faxing or calling the hotel directly."

That's the only way I'd do it. But people want "quick, convenient, online".

edit: They also want safe. And don't see the contradiction.

I'm not sure how safe giving out your credit card number over the phone is. Emailing or faxing (if that's still done) could be even less secure because it's written down on paper with no assurance it will be destoyed as soon as it's entered into the system. As for phoning, are you sure you called the proper phone number? A lot of fraudulent websites out there directing you to fraudulent phone number.

Yes, false phone numbers are a problem.

Talking on the phone is still resistant to automated attacks. At this point (not long) you still have to have someone on the other end of the call.

And like giving your passports to hotels, credit card info is a risk to give to any merchant. Or just a clerk/waiter working for them.

At least the intense security would turn away would-be customers attempting to arrive for a stay at 10 Downing Street. The Irish example in that same story - what if somebody actually showed up there with luggage, having paid a princely sum and wanting in? They might be difficult to deal with or turn away.

Although, how and when did the Irish property owner first learn that her legitimate property had been involved in someone’s scam?

The real “booking” that should be happening here is the crooks being booked by the police.

The real “booking” that should be happening here is the crooks being booked by the police.

Here, here!

"Although, how and when did the Irish property owner first learn that her legitimate property had been involved in someone’s scam?"

There's a link in the middle of the article to that.

https://www.irishtimes.com/your-money/2026/09/28/my-house-was-used-as-bait-in-a-bookingcom-accommodation-scam/

"Visitors arrive ‘almost daily’ at my house expecting to stay in tourist accommodation."

[snip]
The first unexpected visitor arrived on September 8th, she says.

“They knocked on the door expecting to check into accommodation they had booked through booking.com [and] since then, people have continued to arrive at the property on an almost daily basis with [fake] reservations.”

So concerned was Wang that she installed CCTV at the front door and says she is “now repeatedly seeing people arriving at the house, some with luggage, believing that they have booked legitimate accommodation.

"The real “booking” that should be happening here is the crooks being booked by the police."

And how do they do that when they can be on the other side of the World? With governments that give feck all?

edit: The main route is through the Credit Card companies. But they take the hit if they move the payment before they get notified.

Thats it. I'm staying home. Too dangerous there.

Coming down from the trees was obviously a bad move.

As I said in answer to another post, in Germany, I always use the town's tourist office website to find places, and I've never failed to have the room when I got there. But as I said, I can read and write pretty good German (I know the Grammar rules), and my last name is identifiable as German, so maybe they think I'm German and trust me.

Of course, anyone can get an email address for scam reservations, but I've never been asked for a prepayment, and I usually go to fairly small towns, and I expect that the people in the tourist office might know the hosts personally, so I don't think I'm taking much of a risk.

If they insisted on a big prepayment, that might raise a red flag.