'Oh, can we just stay?': People turn up to Westmeath home listed as hotel on Booking.com

BOOKING.COM HAS apologised after multiple people turned up at a person’s home in Co Westmeath over the past three weeks because it was listed as a hotel on the accommodation website.

A number of couples arrived at the property in Kinnegad thinking it was a hotel after they had booked to stay there via the popular website, only to be told it was someone’s home.

The property in question is the family home of Rebecca Breene McDonnell, who told TheJournal that 11 people had turned at the house since the beginning of October, where her father still lives

These included two families of four and a couple celebrating their anniversary.

“Yeah, one of them was there for an anniversary. And, [they asked] ‘Oh can we just stay?’ And my Dad said, ‘No, I’m sorry’” she said.

“The hotel itself doesn’t actually exist. The rooms in the images aren’t… they’re not the rooms of my dad’s house. So they’re just from some random place.”

A Google reverse image search of the some of the pictures in question turned up some results from a hotel in Perth, Australia, that is also listed on Booking.com.

Breene McDonnell said her father contacted Booking.com on 6 October to attempt to have the listing removed from the site, but it remained there until yesterday.

“They said they would go and try get it taken down, and then nothing happened for three weeks. More people kept calling so then we rang again yesterday and this morning,” she said.

The listing was still on Booking.com when TheJournal contacted the company for comment yesterday morning. It was removed soon after.

The rooms listed as available on the fake hotel

Listed as “Kinnegad Corner Hotel”, the description claimed it was a two-star hotel offering room service, a 24-hour front desk and free WiFi. There were four different types of rooms available for booking. These ranged from a Double Room with Private Bathroom for €101 a night, to a Quadruple Room for €141 a night. 

According to the listing, no prepayment was needed on the rooms, with guests informed they could pay at the property. But cash was not accepted.

Different images that purported to show rooms at the fake hotel.

Breene McDonnell said that while nothing serious had happened, she and her family were frustrated at the length of time it took for Booking.com to remove the listing.

“[My Dad] is just more concerned that if someone came up that’s really angry, you never know what could happen, you know?” She said.

“And he doesn’t understand how this happened… if security checks and all this stuff need to be done before the property can go up on Booking.com.

It’s bizarre how it’s even allowed to be published.

According to Booking.com, to list a property a person first needs to register a partner account, then fill in the address and details of the listing, which is subsequently reviewed by Booking.com before the entry goes live on the website.

In a statement, the company apologised to the homeowner and said it takes safety and security “very seriously”.

“At Booking.com, we take safety and security very seriously and have a number of checks in place before a property is ever allowed to begin welcoming guests,” the company wrote.

“We also have a team dedicated to detecting and blocking suspicious activity around the clock, with this property swiftly removed from our platform.

“All affected customers will be contacted by a member of our customer service team to offer any support required in relation to refunds, relocations or additional fees and we of course also extend our sincere apologies to the homeowner.” 

 Have you been affected by having your home incorrectly listed? Or have you booked to stay in someone’s home by mistake? Contact cormacfitzgerald@thejournal.ie to tell your story.