Tourists show up at the Plumstead family home after Booking.com\’s mistake

A South London mother has opened up about her frustration with tourists who continually show up on her doorstep after her home was incorrectly listed as a Booking.com destination.

Karin Arsenius, 37, who lives in Plumstead with her two children and partner, is considering legal action against the website, saying travelers keep turning up at her family home expecting to spend the night.

He revealed that in the last month 20 visitors from all over the world have knocked on his door expecting to stay because his postcode pin is mistakenly located right on his house.

The mother told the Standard she had no desire to become a Booking.com host and had to fend off desperate people who have flown to the capital from Argentina, Canada, India and the United States.

He said: Tourists handled it pretty well to be honest. But there\’s not much they can do other than talk to Booking. com and hope they fix it for them.

But that was the most frustrating part for all of them.

He added: All the neighbors have been really cool. Especially one of them who stayed with an Indian family for 7 hours helping them call Booking.com.

In the latest incident, three Argentine women knocked on her door and an exasperated Karin relented and allowed them to spend the night.

They didn\’t know where to go and we tried all the local hotels but they were sold out, he told the BBC.

There was nothing free so in the end we said we didn\’t feel comfortable letting you out at night so we just make beds in the living room and you can just stay here.

But it should never have gone that far. It should have been taken care of, even if Booking.com is taken out of service.

A Booking.com spokeswoman said the property had been removed from the site and the company was in touch to offer refunds to affected individuals.

He said: We take safety and security very seriously and facilitate millions of stays every week, most of which are without any problems.

The story continues

Scams are sadly a battle many industries are having against unscrupulous scammers looking to take advantage of them and it is something we are addressing head on. We have a number of robust security measures in place but in the very rare instance there may be a problem with a specific property which we always investigate straight away.

We can confirm that this property has been completely removed from our site and all affected customers have been contacted by a member of our customer services team to apologize and offer any support needed in relation to refunds, transfers and additional charges, and of course we extend our sincere apologizes to the landlord.

In response to the apology, Arsenius said: We\’ll just have to wait and see if this is the end of everything.

Let\’s hope no one else has made a reservation.

It came a year after a woman named Gillian said she felt victimized after her private north London address was also listed on Booking.com.

He told BBC Radio 4: Someone has been knocking on my door. I opened it and it was this poor very tired woman, supposedly from Hong Kong, her daughter of her at the bottom of the gate, with hundreds of cases, it seemed to me, of course [they had] just arrived from the airport.

They said they booked my house with Booking.com.

I said, No, you didn\’t, because it\’s not on Booking.com. I have never rented this house.

She looked stunned and I said, \”You\’ll just have to go back to them.\” I\’m sorry, there is some misunderstanding.

He added: They came from all over the world: Australians who had just arrived, there were some people from Saudi Arabia, some people from the north of England, and I couldn\’t believe it.