The Orewa resident found the listing only to see the property had been duplicated without her knowledge and listed on the website by someone calling themself Ryan Dodd.
“She messaged me and said she wanted to book for next Christmas, but ‘I’ll book through Booking.com because it’s a lot cheaper’.
“I said we’re not on Booking.com and I have never listed on the website.”
Kellie Walker's six-bedroom Orewa holiday home was listed on Airbnb and Holiday Homes but has now been replicated and listed on listed on Booking.com without her knowledge or approval. Photo / Airbnb
Screenshot of the Booking.com copy of Kellie Walker's Orewa holiday home that was originally listed on Airbnb.
Walker said the woman who informed her was in a bit of a panic.
“She had sent the inquiry, and said she had wanted to book for Christmas week. If you have used Booking.com before, you have your credit card details loaded.
“She was in a panic because she didn’t know if it was going to come out of her credit card.”
Walker sent Booking.com’s customer service team the listing, saying she had never listed with the company and demanding it remove it.
“Booking.com has obviously allowed ‘someone’ to list my property that does not belong to them using my photos from my legitimate Airbnb listing under Edgewater Retreat. This is extremely concerning for myself and Booking.com.”
Walker told the Herald she had only received generic emails from Booking.com informing her the listing had been sent to the company’s fraud department.
“It’s been up there since October 9 when he listed it,” she said.
“It came off for a bit and I don’t know whether Booking.com was responsible for getting rid of the listing, but it’s back on there in the past couple of weeks.
“In all this time, I have no idea how many people booked through him.”
Walker fears, if the listing is not removed, guests will arrive at the property assuming they have booked and paid through Booking.com and the reservation does not exist.
“Over summer, I might have hordes of people turning up thinking they have booked, having paid their money and we have got guests in,” she said.
“We’re not there. They turn up, and I’ll have guests ringing me saying these people say they have booked but we have booked. Have you double booked?”
A Booking.com New Zealand spokesperson told the Herald they were “constantly optimising the robust security measures we have in place to protect our customers and partners”.
“[We] take the process of verifying accommodation listings extremely seriously.
“In the very rare instance that there might be some cause for doubt or concern with a specific property we investigate immediately, and as in this case we’ve closed this listing as a precautionary measure.”
A search showed the listing was still online, but it was not possible to book it. Dodd was asking people to contact him first to “make a safe reservation”, and provided an email address.
The Herald has approached Ryan Dodd for comment but they haven’t responded.
