Fake 10 Downing Street listing exposes Booking.com checks as “unfit”, Which? says

Which? managed to put Britain’s most famous address on Booking.com as a holiday rental, and 14 people requested a stay during the brief period when the listing was open.

The consumer group said the bogus property was 10 Downing Street, the official address of the UK prime minister. Its researchers also posted a fake review mentioning “hanging out” with Larry the cat, the building’s resident mouser. Despite the obvious joke and other signs that the listing was not genuine, Which? said Booking.com did not remove it until two months after it was uploaded. The platform eventually removed the listing on 27 August.

“

This limited test is not a true reflection of the experience of millions of listings or reviews published on our platform.

Which? said its researchers opened the property for booking requests for 20 minutes. Fourteen people asked to stay, although only the request from a known Which? researcher was accepted. The team also received a message through Booking.com asking the researcher to click an external link to confirm payment details. Which? said the platform did not flag or remove the link.

“

If Booking.com's so-called sophisticated AI systems can't spot that 10 Downing Street is not a holiday rental, then it's no wonder scammers can exploit the platform so easily.

Which? Travel editor Rory Boland called the result evidence that Booking.com’s checks were “unfit for purpose.” He said the failure to recognize that 10 Downing Street was not a holiday rental showed how scammers could exploit the platform, putting travelers at risk of losing money through fake listings and phishing links.

Booking.com said the test was “not a true reflection of the experience of millions of listings or reviews published on our platform.” A spokesperson said the listing was not live during the two months it appeared, so some automatic fraud controls were not triggered to remove the closed listing. The company said it uses verification measures and artificial intelligence to detect and remove most fraudulent listings within 24 hours, while reminders and booking confirmations warn customers about suspicious links and payment arrangements.

“

It would be laughable that we were able to list the UK's most famous address for rent, if the consequences weren't so devastating for holidaymakers, who risk losing thousands of pounds to bogus listings and phishing links.