Accommodation risk audit · sample report
“Imperial Rome residence”, Rome
Audited listing: booking.com/hotel/it/agriturismo-zibramonda.en-gb.html
The weighted findings add up to 110 points; the score is capped at 100. Five independent checks ended in a critical finding, and any one of them alone would justify a warning.
Summary
The listing shows the typical signs of a hijacked profile: the profile of the real countryside guesthouse Agriturismo Zibramonda in Quistello, Lombardy (roughly 400 km from Rome) was renamed to “Imperial Rome residence”, moved to a central Rome address and filled with photos of a luxury apartment that belongs to a different, unrelated property. The original guesthouse reviews remained. Guests who booked through the listing consistently describe a follow-up attempt to collect payment outside Booking.com via an external link. Recommendation: do not book, and report the listing to the platform.
What doesn't add up findings ordered by severity
The listing name doesn't match the identity in its URL
The listing displays as “Imperial Rome residence”, yet its permanent Booking.com URL reads agriturismo-zibramonda. Agriturismo Zibramonda is a real, verifiable countryside guesthouse in Quistello (province of Mantua, Lombardy), about 400 km from Rome, see its profiles on Tripadvisor, Hotels.com and Trivago. A renamed profile with an inherited history is the primary sign of a taken-over account.
Source: live listing page (7 Sep 2026) · profiles of the real property: Tripadvisor, Hotels.com, Trivago (sources 4–6)
The reviews belong to a different property, 400 km away
The review history describes a quiet countryside guesthouse with a garden and a restaurant, which matches the real Agriturismo Zibramonda exactly (Tripadvisor 4.7/5, Trivago 137 reviews, 5 rooms, 3★). Yet the listing claims to be a residence 550 m from Roma Termini station. An internal contradiction in the ratings gives it away too: sub-scores of Staff 4.5, Cleanliness 4.5 and Comfort 4.5 against an overall rating of 3.2 “Poor”, old positive countryside reviews colliding with fresh ratings from defrauded guests.
Source: listing page, reviews section (7 Sep 2026) · Tripadvisor and Trivago profiles of the real property (sources 4, 6)
The license number (CIN) doesn't match Rome and is likely invalid
The listing shows license IT054191C2AGIA9HIR. The Italian national CIN code (recorded in the BDSR registry) is structured as IT + ISTAT province code (3 digits) + municipality (3 digits) + property type. This code declares province 054 = Perugia (Umbria); Rome's ISTAT code is 058 091, and the real Zibramonda in Quistello falls under the province of Mantua (020). The code moreover points to municipality 191, which does not exist in the province of Perugia. The license therefore belongs neither to the declared location nor to the original property.
Source: listing page, legal information section (7 Sep 2026) · CIN structure per BDSR / Ministero del Turismo (sources 7–8); direct registry lookup is protected by reCAPTCHA and is a semi-automated step in production
The photographs belong to a different, more expensive property
Automated reverse image search (Google Vision Web Detection, 8 photos from the listing) found matches for 7 of 8 photos. The interiors belong to the White Miracle Suite on Via del Corso (part of Rome Miracle Suite, where the same accommodation starts at about €300 per person per night); Vision directly identified the entity “White Miracle Suite” on the main photo along with its presence on Booking.com and Agoda. One photograph additionally matches another Rome listing, “Idyllia – Borgognona luxury home” (a potential further clone), and one matches an image on Airbnb. The r/rome community independently reached the same conclusion. The photos demonstrably do not come from the advertised address or the original guesthouse.
Source: Google Vision Web Detection, performed 7 Sep 2026 (findings: sources 15–17) · romemiraclesuite.com (source 9) · Airbnb (source 10) · independently the r/rome discussion (source 3)
Guests report payment attempts outside the platform
In a public discussion from 29 Aug 2026, at least two guests who booked independently describe the same scenario: after the reservation came a “payment problem” message with an external payment link (“Habe gebucht, und jetzt ein Link bekommen auf den man drauf klicken soll…”, “They are a scam! Also booked there and can't get a free cancelation!”). This is the standard mechanics of a hijacked-listing scam. At the time of the audit Booking.com had suspended reservations for the listing but left the page publicly accessible.
Source: r/rome discussion (source 3) · listing status as of 7 Sep 2026 (source 1)
The price is an order of magnitude below market level
The requested dates came to €279 for 5 people for 3 nights, i.e. €18.60 per person per night in central Rome, including breakfast and wellness. The apartment the photos come from sells at ~€300 per person per night; comparable real accommodation for 5 people in the centre typically costs €900 or more for 3 nights. The advertised price is roughly one sixth to one sixteenth of the realistic level.
Source: original r/rome post with the price (source 3) · price list of the property in the photos (source 9)
A different business operates at the given address
The address Via Torino 1, 00185 Rome belongs to Hotel Commodore Roma; during a Street View check the community documented that the surrounding buildings (the rear of the blocks at Piazza dell'Esquilino) do not match the spaces in the photographs.
Source: listing page (source 1) · Hotel Commodore Roma on Tripadvisor (source 11) · Street View verification in the discussion (source 3)
“Farm stay” category in the centre of a major city
Booking.com still lists the property in the Farm stays (agriturismo) category, inherited from the original property. A farmhouse 550 m from Termini station is an anomaly in itself, visible directly in the listing's breadcrumb navigation.
Source: listing page, breadcrumb “Italy › Lazio › Rome › Farm stays” (source 1)
The amenities don't match the property type or price
The description promises a hot tub, massages, a business centre, a 24-hour reception, free parking in central Rome and a free airport shuttle, a combination not offered even by luxury hotels in the area, let alone a “farm” at €18.60 per person per night. An inflated description is typical of AI-generated fraudulent listings.
Source: listing page, description and amenities section (source 1)
The operator is a “private host” without consumer protection
The listing's legal section states: “This property is managed by a private host. Consumer protection laws applying to professional hosts may not apply.” For a property presenting itself as a residence with hotel-grade services, this is a warning mismatch.
Source: listing page, legal information section (source 1)
What checks out verified facts that are fine on their own
The real Agriturismo Zibramonda exists and has a good reputation
The original property in Quistello is properly listed on multiple platforms with consistently excellent reviews (Tripadvisor 4.7/5, Hotels.com, Trivago). It is most likely an injured party whose profile was abused. The historical reviews in the listing are therefore genuine, they just belong to a different place.
Source: Tripadvisor, Hotels.com, Trivago (sources 4–6)
The stated address physically exists
Via Torino 1 is a real address in Rome, 550 m from Termini. Fraudulent listings do this deliberately, a real address on the map increases credibility. The existence of the address therefore proves nothing by itself, but a different building and a different operator belong to it (see the finding above).
Source: listing page (source 1) · Hotel Commodore Roma (source 11)
Score calculation weights of the individual findings
| Finding | Severity | Points | pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name vs. identity in the URL | Critical | 20 | |
| Reviews belong to a different property | Critical | 20 | |
| Invalid / foreign CIN license | Critical | 15 | |
| Photographs from a different property | Critical | 15 | |
| Reports of off-platform payment | Critical | 15 | |
| Price anomaly | High | 8 | |
| Address belongs to another business | High | 8 | |
| “Farm stay” category in central Rome | Medium | 4 | |
| Inflated amenities | Medium | 3 | |
| Private host without protection | Medium | 2 | |
| Total (score is capped at 100) | 110 → 100 | ||
Photographic evidence
Methodology exactly what was checked
| Check | Tool | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Live state of the Booking.com listing | driven browser (Playwright) | ✓ performed 7 Sep 2026 |
| Identity: URL vs. displayed name | page analysis | ✓ performed |
| Review footprint across platforms | Tripadvisor, Hotels.com, Trivago, Trip.com | ✓ performed |
| CIN license structure (ISTAT codes) | format per BDSR, Ministero del Turismo | ✓ performed |
| CIN lookup in the BDSR registry | bdsr.ministeroturismo.gov.it | ⚠ blocked by reCAPTCHA (semi-automated step in production) |
| Reverse image search | Google Vision Web Detection | ✓ performed 7 Sep 2026 (8 photos, 7 matches) |
| Community mentions (Reddit, forums) | search + reading the thread | ✓ performed |
| Price benchmark | comparison with the price of the property in the photos | ✓ performed |
| Address and operator check | Tripadvisor + Street View (community verification) | ✓ performed |
The full version of the service additionally covers: Google Maps reviews, review-count ratios across platforms, the age of the property's own domain, Wayback Machine history and automated Street View visual matching.
Sources all verified 7 Sep 2026
- Audited listing: booking.com/hotel/it/agriturismo-zibramonda.cs.html (viewed live, screenshot attached)
- The same listing, English version with the parameters from the original post: booking.com/hotel/it/agriturismo-zibramonda.en-gb.html
- r/rome discussion “Is this apartment on booking.com fake?” (29 Aug 2026): reddit.com/r/rome/comments/1w1fvu9
- The real Agriturismo Zibramonda, Quistello, Tripadvisor (4.7/5): tripadvisor.com/…Agriturismo_Zibramonda-Quistello…
- The real Agriturismo Zibramonda on Hotels.com: hotels.com/ho3520792352/agriturismo-zibramonda
- The real Agriturismo Zibramonda on Trivago (137 reviews): trivago.co.uk/…agriturismo-zibramonda-quistello
- BDSR, the national register of accommodation facilities (CIN): bdsr.ministeroturismo.gov.it
- Structure of the CIN code (IT + ISTAT province + municipality + type): smoobu.com/it/guides/codice-identificativo-nazionale-cin
- Actual source of the photographs, Rome Miracle Suite (Via del Corso): romemiraclesuite.com/white
- The same photographs on Airbnb (Piazza del Popolo): airbnb.ie/rooms/1002049145788661788
- Hotel Commodore Roma (the real business at Via Torino 1): tripadvisor.it/…Hotel_Commodore_Roma
- ISTAT code of the municipality of Rome (058091): istat.it, municipality register
- Photographs from the listing, originals on the Booking.com CDN: 911533593.jpg, 911532429.jpg
- Context, reporting on Booking.com scams (Janek Rubeš, Honest Guide): public video, August 2026
- Vision finding, photographs identified as White Miracle Suite on Booking.com: booking.com/hotel/it/white-miracle-suite.en-gb.html
- Vision finding, the same property on Agoda: agoda.com/en-ie/white-miracle-suite/hotel/rome-it.html
- Vision finding, photo match with another Rome listing (potential further clone): booking.com/hotel/it/idyllia-borgognona-luxury-home.en-gb.html
