Fake 10 Downing Street listing exposes ‘unfit’ Booking.com, says consumer group
Fake 10 Downing Street Listing Exposes Booking.com
Ninoda.com – A fake 10 Downing Street listing sat on Booking.com for two full months before being removed, according to a new investigation by consumer watchdog Which?. The organisation's researchers fabricated a rental entry for the UK prime minister's official residence, complete with photographs of the iconic black front door and a description calling it a "1 bedroom apartment in the heart of London" located just 400 metres from Big Ben. The platform's automated fraud-detection systems never flagged the entry during its entire run.
The fabricated property went live on 18 June and was not taken down until 27 August. Which? designed the exercise to measure how swiftly the site's verification pipeline would identify and suppress an obviously implausible rental. The result, by the watchdog's account, was a complete failure to act.
What Happened During the 20-Minute Booking Window
Rather than leaving the entry permanently visible, Which? opened a narrow 20-minute window in which ordinary visitors could view the property and submit a reservation request. Fourteen people attempted to book the fictional apartment during that span. Only one request was accepted, and it belonged to a Which? researcher participating in the test.
In the same window, the team also dispatched an in-platform message to the researcher containing an external hyperlink, asking them to click through to "confirm payment details." Booking platforms typically suppress or flag outbound links of this kind because they are a well-known phishing vector. Booking.com neither flagged nor stripped the link.
A satirical review was also posted alongside the entry, praising the experience of "hanging out" with Larry, the resident cat of Number 10, and exclaiming that it was "unbelievable" the platform allowed a stay at the PM's home. Despite its overtly tongue-in-cheek tone, the review cleared moderation and appeared on the page almost immediately. Booking.com told Which? in a follow-up message that the review would be examined by moderators, yet it was already live.
Booking.com's Explanation and Which?'s Verdict
A Booking.com spokesperson said the entry was never "live" across the full two-month period and that, because the property was only intermittently visible during the brief booking window, the company's "automatic fraud controls were not triggered to completely remove the closed listing."
"This limited test is not a true reflection of the experience of millions of listings or reviews published on our platform," the spokesperson stated, adding that AI-driven tools "help us detect and remove the majority of fraudulent listings within 24 hours."
Rory Boland, travel editor at Which?, was less charitable. He argued the episode exposed a fundamental gap between the platform's marketing language and its actual protective capacity.
"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," Boland said. "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."
The stunt is part of a broader pattern of consumer criticism aimed at Booking.com, including reports of "reservation hijacking," embedded phishing links in booking flows, and slow customer-service responses when problems arise. Online travel booking remains one of the fastest-growing categories for consumer fraud, and the watchdog's findings suggest the platform's safeguards have not kept pace with the scale of the problem.
FAQ
How long did the fake listing remain on Booking.com? From 18 June to 27 August — approximately two months — before it was removed.
Who created the listing and why? Researchers at Which?, a UK consumer advocacy organisation, created it to test whether Booking.com's automated fraud controls would detect and suppress an obviously fraudulent property.
Did any real customers book the fake apartment? Fourteen booking requests were submitted during the 20-minute window. Only one was accepted, and it belonged to a Which? researcher involved in the test.
What does Which? recommend travellers do? Which? advises travellers to verify property details independently, avoid clicking external links sent through booking-platform messages, and report suspicious listings to both the platform and their local consumer-protection authority.