Holiday homes, here is a scam lady on Booking
Summer, vacation time. And of scams: what happened to two tourists who booked a villa in Puglia on Booking
Summer, you know, is vacation time. According to Enit, one in three tourists, until the beginning of July, was a foreigner, and tourism has returned to the splendor of the pre-pandemic era. But with all this, the risks of fraud also increase dramatically, especially through online booking platforms, which can be used from anywhere in the world.
In this regard, just a few days ago, two "poor" tourists, probably English-speaking, went as far as Massafra, a town on the outskirts of Taranto, after having booked a dream villa on Booking, and they found themselves, despite , grappling with a poor local lady, unaware of all this. The news story was narrated by Giuliana Vendola in Il Quotidiano Italiano di Bari, online complete with photographic documentation of the villa.
The report sent to the Postal Police was also attached to the piece by the Bari colleagues, well accompanied by the photos, which we at Start Magazine also took from Booking (see the screenshots in this article). Complaint signed on 16 July by the lady who found the tourists outside the door of the house and of which Booking is also aware via Pec. What is strange, however, is that as of today, July 20, as we write, the allegedly luxurious villa is still fully featured on Booking.
Furthermore, the lady went to the Carabinieri to file a complaint, but – as reported by the Italian newspaper – "they told me that the victims should have filed it, not me, but it seems very strange to me, because I too am a victim in this situation and I risk answering for it. They explained to me that I have to report it to Booking. On July 16, my husband and I sent a certified email to both the Postal Police and the portal. Let's hope that something will change and the fake accommodation will be eliminated".
The villa has dream rooms and bathrooms worthy of a palace. Truly a stupendous villa with more than a dozen beds, and with the possibility – listen, listen – of being able to enjoy a choice of breakfast, continental or American, which in southern Italy does not enjoy a good reputation (you want to put the espresso that grandma makes you!). In short, a real scam, which every minute that passes, even a platform like Booking contributes, even if it doesn't want to, to perpetrate.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia-on-demand/booking-truffa-massafra/ on Fri, 21 Jul 2023 05:58:39 +0000.