Unsuspecting travellers have been shocked to discover an Auckland apartment they rented for a holiday hasn't been available for more than a year.
Nelson woman Virginia Oakley and her partner are among guests who booked to stay at the residence, dubbed the "Heritage Haven", in Auckland's CBD earlier this year.
Virginia paid $320 to secure the apartment for two nights through the online travel agency Booking.com.
The apartment is located inside the old Farmers building on Hobson St, which is a part of the Heritage Hotel complex but owned and rented out privately.
When Virginia and her partner arrived in Auckland, she called the number on the booking and was alarmed to find out their accommodation was no longer available.
"At first I didn't actually understand, I was like, 'What? What do you mean, 'not available?'"
The person on the other end of the phone said they had previously managed the apartment on behalf of the owner, but the rental business they worked for had been wound down in 2021.
The former manager explained he had repeatedly tried to get Booking.com to remove the listing.
Virginia said she couldn't get through to Booking.com's customer support, so she approached the nearby Heritage Hotel concierge, who was more than happy to find her a room for the weekend.
But it meant paying another $437 on top of what she already paid to Booking.com.
When Virginia did get a hold of someone at Booking.com, she was reassured she would be fully refunded. But that changed when she returned from her holiday, when Booking.com said she would need to sort the matter out with the host directly.
The former host of the "Heritage Haven" told Fair Go he had received "hundreds" of calls about the apartment as well as half a dozen other listings that remained on Booking.com.
"I would say, on average, I probably get half a dozen calls a week.It drives me absolutely insane."
He explained he couldn't remove the listings himself because he no longer had access to the rental accounts or emails. But other online travel companies, like Airbnb, had removed the same listings without issue.
A spokesperson for Booking.com told Fair Go that listings can usually be removed by hosts or "partners" via its website or with the help of its support team.
They confirmed that Virginia's payment went to Booking.com, not the "partner" and payment would not have been released in this particular case, because bank transfers are only made when Booking.com has confirmed a genuine stay.
Booking.com apologised to both Virginia and the former host for their experience.
"It's definitely not what we want for anyone using Booking.com. In this instance, we were unable to fully support them in closing the listing in a timely manner and we apologise for the delay in doing so and any inconvenience caused."
Booking.com has now closed the listing down and other properties associated with the account, as well as fully refunding Virginia for the "Heritage Haven" booking and the extra cost to stay somewhere else.
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