Fake accommodation listing invited strangers to stay at Auckland woman's home

The listing was only taken down last night. Photo / Booking.com

A Waiheke resident had her home falsely listed for accommodation online, leaving her feeling "sick and vulnerable", about the situation.

Tessa King had no knowledge that her home was being advertised as a place to stay on the island until a couple turned up to her property saying they were there for their reservation.

Tessa King told the Herald that when she arrived back to her Waiheke home, around lunchtime on Saturday, she found a couple in a rental car who asked if they could "check-in between 12 and 1".

A man then proceeded to show King a false listing that had been put on Booking.com including photos of the home that were used when it went up for sale last year.

The Auckland women directed the man to another place he could stay but revealed the interaction made her feel uneasy.

"I am usually at home during the day with my infant son and, yes, I guess it made me worry that we could end up with an unpleasant situation," she told the Herald.

After a lengthy process to get in contact with Booking.com, King's fake listing was finally taken off the website, a spokesperson from the rental website told MediaWorks.

The rental also site told MediaWorks that they took the fake listing "very seriously" but has not got in contact with King personally.

The homeowner called Booking.com's New Zealand contact number, straight after the couple turned up, but couldn't get through to anyone despite their system of redirecting to the appropriate division. King also tried email and online chat but failed to get any sort of response.

King also contacted the police but they said there was nothing to do to assist her. They suggested that there might be a possibility of "guests" becoming angry at the situation, and told her to call 111 if that happened.

After days and days in which no action made to unlist her property, she eventually got the phone number from a friend in the travel industry. King asked the man to send an email acknowledging the call but he said that he wasn't able to input any new email addresses into his system.

"It seemed like nonsense to me," the homeowner added.

Although the listing has been taken down, King emphasised the disappointment she had with Booking.com's customer service and said the entire situation was "pretty shocking and certainly an eye-opener"