By Fake Review Detector
Yes — fake reviews and fake listings exist on Booking.com, and in 2026 they are a bigger problem than most travellers realise. On 21 October 2026 the European Commission opened formal proceedings against Booking.com under the Digital Services Act, calling the platform's approach to fraudulent listings and phishing scams "absolutely substandard". The nine signals below show you what to check before you pay — most take under a minute.
## Why Booking.com fake reviews and fake listings are rising in 2026
Booking.com is Europe's biggest booking platform, headquartered in Amsterdam, with around 28 million listings. That scale is what scammers exploit. Booking.com itself reported a 500 per cent rise in scams between 2022 and 2024, and told the BBC in 2024 it had seen a 500 to 900 per cent increase over the previous 18 months, driven by generative AI tools that let fraudsters create convincing fake emails and booking links.
The Dutch consumer association Consumentenbond received 200 reports of scams involving Booking.com in 2025, with losses of €65,000 — up from 89 reports worth €25,000 in 2024. EU officials cited 1,072 fraud notifications in the first part of 2026, ten times more than in 2025. In the UK, Action Fraud recorded 532 reports of one Booking.com payment-verification pattern between June 2023 and September 2024, with £370,000 lost.
The Commission's investigation covers fake listings, phishing that exploits reservation and guest data, and boosted listings — whether properties that pay a higher commission to rank higher are clearly labelled as advertising. Opening proceedings does not mean the company has been found guilty, and Booking.com says it is cooperating fully. Our related news post covers it in detail: /blog/booking-com-eu-probe-fake-listings-phishing-2026.
## Signal 1: A brand-new listing with no reviews — or only perfect ones
A genuine property builds reviews slowly. A listing created days ago with zero reviews is not proof of fraud on its own, but combined with a low price or a prime location, it is the first signal to slow down for. The mirror image is just as suspicious: a new listing with a dozen five-star reviews posted within a few days, all praising the same details in the same style. Real guests write at different times, in different tones, and complain about different things. If every review sounds like it was written by the same person, treat the listing as unverified until you can check it another way.
## Signal 2: The price is far below every similar property nearby
Scammers price fake listings to win the click. If a two-bedroom apartment in central Paris, Rome or Amsterdam costs half of what every comparable property charges for the same dates, the discount is the trap. Compare the same dates across two or three nearby properties before you book. A real host in a busy city has no reason to undercut the whole neighbourhood by 50 per cent. A price that looks too good to be true on Booking.com is, in 2026, one of the most reliable warning signs there is.
## Signal 3: Photos that fail a reverse image search
Fake listings almost always use stolen photos — copied from a real apartment, a hotel website, or another listing in a different city. Run one or two of the listing's photos through a reverse image search. If the same apartment appears in other cities, on unrelated sites, or under a different property name, walk away. Also check the address on a map: does the street view match the building in the listing photos? A real address that does not exist, or a building that looks nothing like the photos, is a hard stop. Many genuine properties are listed on other websites too, so a photo appearing twice is not automatic proof of fraud — but the same photos under different cities or different host names is.
## Signal 4: Reviews that read like copies of each other
Fake Booking.com reviews follow the same patterns as fake reviews anywhere else: vague praise with no specifics ("great place, highly recommend, amazing stay"), the same phrases repeated across reviewers, clusters of reviews posted on the same day, and reviewers whose profiles contain only one review. Read the three-star and four-star reviews first — they are usually the most honest. If a property has 200 reviews and every single one is five stars with no mention of a single flaw, a noisy street, a small bathroom or a slow check-in, that is not a perfect property. That is a filtered or fabricated review profile. If you want a second opinion on the wording, paste the review text into our fake review checker and check the language patterns before you trust it.
## Signal 5: A "pay directly for a discount" message after you book
After you book, a host may suggest you cancel through the platform and pay by bank transfer, cryptocurrency or a payment app, in exchange for a lower price. Treat this as a hard no, no matter how tempting the offer sounds. Paying outside Booking.com removes every protection the platform gives you — and if the "host" is a scammer, you have paid a stranger and lost your booking at the same time. Booking.com says it will never ask a customer to share credit-card details by email, phone, text or WhatsApp, and it will never ask for a bank transfer that differs from the payment policy on the original confirmation. A message that does either is not a genuine Booking.com request, however accurate the rest of it looks.
## Signal 6: The reservation-hijack message — your real booking, a fake payment link
This is the most dangerous pattern on Booking.com in 2026, and the hardest to spot, because most of it is real. Criminals phish the hotel or host's partner account. Once inside, they can see live reservations: your name, your dates, your room type, your price. They then message you — inside Booking.com's own chat, by email, or on WhatsApp — as if they were the property. The pitch is almost always the same: there is a problem with your payment, confirm your card within 24 hours or the booking will be cancelled. The link goes to a page built to look like Booking.com. The booking is real. The names are real. The only lie is the link.
Action Fraud's advice: treat an unexpected request for bank or card details from a hotel account as a possible takeover, and contact Booking.com or the property using a number you already had — never the number or link in the suspicious message. In April 2026, Booking.com told some customers that unauthorised third parties had accessed reservation data through compromised partner accounts, and a Which? survey in August 2025 found that 9 per cent of 237 members who used Booking.com had seen scam messages through the platform's own system in the previous two years.
## Signal 7: No identity check, no address you can verify
UK consumer group Which? demonstrated the gap in 2025: unlike Airbnb, Booking.com did not require identity checks before a listing went live. Its researchers set up a fake offer to stay at 10 Downing Street and accepted payment for it. Before you pay, verify the property exists independently of the listing: search its name and address, check Google Maps or the hotel's own website, and call on a number you find yourself — not the one in the listing's messages. If the property cannot be found anywhere except on Booking.com, that is a signal, not a coincidence.
## Signal 8: Boosted listings that look like top picks
Hotels can pay Booking.com a higher commission to rank higher in search results. That is allowed — but under the EU's Digital Services Act, users must be able to clearly recognise that a listing is an advertisement, see who paid for it, and understand why they are seeing it. The practical rule is simple: a top-ranked result is not necessarily the best or the most trustworthy property. It may simply be the one that paid the most to be there. Judge the listing on its reviews, its history and its verifiable address — not its position on the page.
## Signal 9: Fake customer-service numbers and lookalike sites
Search for a Booking.com help line in a hurry and you may land on a sponsored result or a lookalike website run by fraudsters, who will happily "fix" your booking in return for your card number. Only use the contact details inside your Booking.com account or the official app, and check the web address letter by letter before you type payment details anywhere. If a site asks you to re-enter your full card details, including the security code, outside the normal booking flow, stop. Our website checker can help you verify an unfamiliar booking site before you trust it: /website-checker.
## The 60-second check before you pay
Run this routine on every Booking.com stay — it takes about a minute. Compare the price with two similar properties on the same dates. Read the three-star reviews, not just the five-star ones. Reverse image search one photo from the listing. Check the address on a map and confirm the property exists elsewhere online. Look at the listing's age and the dates the reviews were posted. Never pay outside the platform, and never re-enter card details through a link in a message — go to the app or the official site yourself. If two or more signals fire at once, do not book that property. Find another one.
## What to do if you already paid a fake listing
Act in the first hour. Contact your bank or card issuer immediately and ask about a chargeback — card payments can usually be disputed, while bank transfers and crypto usually cannot. Report the listing to Booking.com through your account, save every message, screenshot and receipt as evidence, and report the fraud to your national authority: Action Fraud in the UK, the police or consumer authority in your EU country, or the FTC in the US. If a message asked you to "verify" a card, assume your card details are compromised and ask your bank to replace the card. For the full step-by-step recovery process, see our guide /blog/paid-a-scam-website-9-steps-to-take.
## Frequently asked questions
**Are Booking.com reviews fake?**
Some are. Most reviews come from guests who actually stayed, because only guests with a completed booking can leave one — but scammers create fake listings with fabricated review profiles, and hijacked host accounts send fake payment messages. Check the review dates, the wording patterns and the listing's history, and paste the review text into our fake review checker if the language looks suspicious.
**How can I tell if a Booking.com listing is fake?**
Check the price against nearby properties, reverse image search the photos, verify the address on a map, read the three-star reviews, and check whether the listing is brand-new with no review history. Two or more warning signs together mean you should not book it.
**What is a Booking.com reservation hijack?**
Criminals take over a hotel or host's partner account, see your real reservation details, then message you — often inside Booking.com's own chat — claiming a payment problem and asking you to confirm your card through a link. The booking is real; only the link is fake. Never click it.
**Does Booking.com verify its hosts?**
In 2025, Which? found that Booking.com did not require identity checks before a listing went live, unlike Airbnb. The European Commission's October 2026 investigation is examining whether the platform's fraud prevention is sufficient under the Digital Services Act. Until verification improves, travellers should verify listings themselves.
**What should I do if Booking.com messages ask me to pay by bank transfer?**
Do not pay. Booking.com says it will never ask for card details by email, phone, text or WhatsApp, or for a bank transfer that differs from the payment policy on your original confirmation. Report the message to Booking.com, contact your bank if you already paid, and keep screenshots of everything.
## Sources
- European Commission, formal proceedings against Booking.com under the Digital Services Act, 21 October 2026.
- Booking.com: 500 per cent rise in scams 2022–2024; 500–900 per cent increase over 18 months (company statements, 2024).
- Consumentenbond: 200 Booking.com scam reports, €65,000 losses in 2025, up from 89 reports and €25,000 in 2024; 1,072 fraud notifications in the first part of 2026 (cited by EU officials, October 2026).
- Action Fraud (UK): 532 reports of the Booking.com payment-verification pattern, £370,000 lost, June 2023 – September 2024.
- Which?: fake 10 Downing Street listing test, 2025; 9 per cent of 237 members saw scam messages via the platform in two years (August 2025).
- Booking.com trust and safety guidance: the company says it will never ask for card details by email, phone, text or WhatsApp.
## Your next step
Before your next Booking.com stay, run the 60-second check above — price comparison, three-star reviews, reverse image search, address check. And if a listing's reviews read like copies of each other, paste the review text into our fake review checker before you pay. A minute of checking beats a ruined holiday and a lost payment.
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