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Booking.com

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Booking.com
Type of businessSubsidiary
Type of site
Travel and accommodation services
Available in43 languages
Founded1996; 28 years ago (1996)
Enschede, Netherlands
HeadquartersAmsterdam, Netherlands
Area servedGlobal
OwnerBooking Holdings
CEOGlenn Fogel
IndustryTravel agency
ParentBooking Holdings
URLbooking.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
Launched1996; 28 years ago (1996)
Current statusOnline
Booking.com's head office in Amsterdam

Booking.com is one of the largest online travel agencies.[1][2] It is headquartered in Amsterdam, and is a subsidiary of Booking Holdings. Booking.com provides lodging reservation services for approximately 3.4 million properties, including 475,000 hotels, motels, and resorts and 2.9 million homes, apartments in over 220 countries and territories and in over 40 languages. It also sells flights in 55 markets and tours and activities in more than 1,300 cities.[1] Hotel partners have reported not being paid for months at a time, leaving small hoteliers out of pocket.[3]

History

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See also: Booking Holdings § Finances

In 1996, Geert-Jan Bruinsma, a student at Universiteit Twente, founded Bookings.nl.[4][5][6] In 2000, Booking.com was formed when Bookings.nl, merged with Bookings Online, founded by Sicco and Alec Behrens, Marijn Muyser and Bas Lemmens, which operated as Bookings.org. The name and URL were changed to Booking.com and Stef Noorden was appointed as its CEO. In July 2005, the company was acquired by Priceline Group (now called Booking Holdings) for $133 million, and was merged with ActiveHotels.com, a European online hotel reservation company, purchased by Priceline Group for $161 million in September 2004.[7]

In 2006, Active Hotels Limited changed its name to Booking.com Limited.[8] The integrations of Booking.com and Active Hotels helped its parent company improve its financial position from a loss of $19 million in 2002 to $1.1 billion in profit in 2011. The acquisition of Booking.com was praised by some social media as “the best acquisition in Internet history” since no other acquisition in the digital travel market had been shown to be as profitable.[9] Between 2010 and 2012, the company launched mobile apps for the iPad, Android,[10] iPhone,[11] iPod Touch,[12] Windows 8,[13] and Kindle Fire.[14] Since January 2013, many advertisements dubs "booking.com" as "booking.yeah."[15]

In 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States decided within the Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com B. V. case that the term "Booking.com", via the suffix ".com", had created an identity that could be differentiated from the generic verb and hence could be trademarked.[16] In the summer of 2023, Booking.com announced the start of testing an artificial intelligence-based travel planner. AI Trip Planner is based on ChatGPT technology. It is intended to help choose a direction, plan a route, or answer specific questions. Initially, the service will be available to a limited number of users in the United States.[17][15] In November 2023, Booking.com launched the ability to make cruise reservations in the United States, in partnership with World Travel Holdings.[18]

Management history

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Darren Huston was appointed chief executive officer of Booking.com in September 2011,[19] and also served as president and chief executive officer of Booking Holdings from 1 January 2014[20] until his resignation on 28 April 2016 after his extramarital affair with another employee was revealed.[21][22] Gillian Tans was then appointed CEO.[23] Tans resigned in 2019, after which Glenn Fogel became CEO.[24]

Controversies and criticism

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Anti-competitive allegations

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In September 2012, the United Kingdom's competition authority, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), issued a statement of objections against Booking.com, Expedia, and IHG Army Hotels alleging that Booking.com and Expedia had entered into separate arrangements with IHG which restricted the online travel agent's ability to discount the price of room-only hotel accommodation. Booking.com, Expedia and IHG proposed the OFT to change their restrictions. The OFT accepted the proposal, but it was later rejected by higher authority at a tribunal.[25][26]

In April 2015, French, Swedish and Italian competition authorities accepted a proposal by Booking.com to drop its "rate parity" clause and thereby allow competitor travel agents to offer lower hotel prices than Booking.com.[27] Booking.com further agreed to extend and apply its proposal across all EU states.[28] Hotels are still prevented from discounting prices directly on their own websites.[29] In April 2015, the European Union warned that Booking.com is one of several internet firms that may have reached market dominance beyond the point of no return.[30]

In March 2017, a Turkish court halted activities of Booking.com in Turkey due to a violation of Turkish competition law in a case filed by the Turkish Association of Travel Agents (TÜRSAB). The ruling blocked the website in Turkey; however, website and application can be used from foreign countries to make reservations for hotels in Turkey.[31][32]

Leaks of customer data

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In November 2014, it was revealed that criminals were able to obtain customer details from the website. Booking.com said it was countering the fraudsters and refunding customers from the UK, US, France, Italy, the UAE, and Portugal, all of which had been affected. Since the fraud, Booking.com has made changes so data can only be accessed from a computer linked to the hotel's server. Its teams have also worked to "take down" dozens of phishing sites, as well as working with some banks to freeze the money mule bank accounts.[33] The website was again targeted by hackers in June 2018.[34]

On April 6, 2021, the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) imposed a €475,000 fine on the company for failing to report the breach within the time frame mandated by the General Data Protection Regulation. Criminals obtained the personal data of over 4,000 customers including the credit card information of almost 300 people.[35]

Brand hijacking accusations by German hotelier

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In February 2015, an open letter published by German hotelier Marco Nussbaum, co-founder and CEO of the "prizeotel" budget-design hotel brand, was highly critical of Booking.com's "brand hijacking" activity in which the company bids significant sums of money to be the top listing on Google Search for several hotel brands.[36]

Charging commissions on prices including VAT

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In July 2019, luxury-hotel chain Aldemar, invoking "practices [by Booking.com] that go against the laws of the market," terminated its participation in Booking's offerings. The Greek Hotels Association denounced the practice of Bookings.com of charging its percentage fee on the VAT-inclusive full-room price. The company responded that according to the terms of its bilateral agreements with hotels "everywhere," each party to such an agreement is free to walk away from it.[37][38]

In November 2023, Booking.com agreed to pay roughly 94 million euros to settle a VAT/tax dispute in Italy.[39]

Inclusion of listing in Israeli settlements

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See also: List of companies operating in West Bank settlements

On February 12, 2020, the company was included on a list of companies operating in West Bank settlements involved in activities that "raised particular human rights concerns" published by the United Nations Human Rights Council. The company was categorized under "the provision of services and utilities supporting the maintenance and existence of settlements".[40][41]

In September 2022, the company added a warning to its listings in Israeli settlements, although the language was toned down at the request of the Israeli government.[42]

Criticism of manipulative sale techniques

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In 2019, following dialogue with the European Commission and national consumer (CPC) authorities, Booking.com committed to clarifying marketing statements to consumers regarding time-limited offers, the amount of rooms available to book, price comparisons, and the type of vendor offering the accommodations. Changes were also made to make sure that sponsored listings were flagged and that the total price was presented to consumers.[43]

Booking Holdings Inc, was sued by Texas for allegedly engaging in deceptive trade practices in citing hotel room prices in 2023.[44]

Criticism over request for Dutch aid during COVID-19 pandemic

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In April 2020, Booking.com drew criticism when it applied for government aid from the Dutch government's relief programme for business affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, while paying billions to shareholders, with $6.3 billion in cash on its balance sheet.[45] In response, on May 22, Booking.com announced that it would not seek further wage subsidies from the Dutch government, and instead look for long term answers.[46] The company laid off 25% of its global workforce.[47]

Flaw in OAuth login process

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In November 2022, Salt Labs discovered flaws in the login process of Booking.com. The flaws could have enabled a bad actor to take over guest accounts.[48] Salt Labs note that Booking.com resolved the vulnerability promptly.

Guests contacted by fraudsters, posing as hotel staff

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In 2023, the BBC's Watchdog discovered that guests had been contacted by fraudsters over the official Booking.com messaging system, spoof emails, and WhatsApp resulting in financial loss and leaked customer data. Guests complained that it was very difficult to contact Booking.com about this issue, citing poor customer service.[49] The fraudsters direct guests to replicas of the Booking.com website containing the reservation data and personal details of the guest and ask them to make a payment, a temporary transfer of funds or card validation.[50]

In November 2023, the BBC highlighted that the practice had become so lucrative that cyber criminals were offering up to $2,000 (£1,600) for login details of hotels.[51]

Payment delays

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In 2023, Booking.com was accused of leaving accommodation hosts thousands of pounds out of pocket because of payment delays. Hosts from Scotland,[52] England, Europe,[53] Australia,[54] New Zealand,[55] Sweden,[56] Netherland,[57] Denmark,[58] Croatia,[59] Hungary,[60] Japan,[61] Thailand, and Indonesia say they were affected. The company blamed "unforeseen technical issues".[62] The payment scandal has received the most press coverage in Hungary in July, August and September 2023. New details of the payment scandal have been front page news on the most respected and trusted Hungarian news sites[63][64][65][66][67] for several weeks.

The Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) found it necessary to request an expedited investigation against the Booking.com regarding their undergoing debt case toward the Hungarian accommodation providers.[68] At the same time the Hungarian Tourism Agency (MTÜ) offered legal aid to the ones affected in the matter and sent a questionnaire to Hungarian accommodation providers to assess the extent of the problem.[69] Hungary's competition watchdog GVH raided the Budapest office of Booking Holdings on 6 September 2023 as part of a probe into the online accommodation booking and service market in Hungary in context of the expedited investigation.[70][71]

Glenn Fogel, CEO of Booking.com, apologized in a letter on 7 November to those hosts who were affected by the payment scandal.[72][73]

Cancellation and relisting at higher prices

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Booking.com has been accused of cancelling hotel reservations and relisting the same hotel rooms at the same dates for much higher prices.[74]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Booking Holdings 2023 Annual Report Form (10-K)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 22 February 2024.
  2. ^ Harger, Jim (25 August 2015). "Booking.com signs 10-year lease for its growing global contact center in Wyoming". Advance Publications.
  3. ^ Taylor, Josh. "Travel website Booking.com leaves hoteliers thousands of dollars out of pocket". The Guardian. The Guardian. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  4. ^ Lightfoot, Ashley (27 September 2022). "How Booking.com Became Travel's Biggest Brand". Latana.
  5. ^ Schaal, Dennis (2016). "The Definitive oral history of online travel". Skift.
  6. ^ Schaal, Dennis (2018). "The Oral History of Travel's Greatest Acquisition: Booking.com". Skift.
  7. ^ Schaal, Dennis (25 June 2012). "How Booking.com turned the other OTAs into converts". Skift.
  8. ^ "Active Hotels becomes Booking.com". 19 October 2009. Archived from the original on 31 May 2021.
  9. ^ "Booking.com, the best acquisition in Internet history". Hotel Marketing. 12 September 2012.
  10. ^ Scott, Jennifer (27 February 2013). "Booking.com embraces mobile apps". Computer Weekly.
  11. ^ "Booking.com Enables Passbook on Latest Release of iPhone App" (Press release). Booking.com. 16 October 2012.
  12. ^ "Booking.com Launches First Global Last-Minute Hotel App" (Press release). Booking.com. 10 April 2012.
  13. ^ "Booking.com Joins Windows 8 Push with Launch of its First Windows App" (Press release). Booking.com. 29 October 2012.
  14. ^ "Booking.com Launches Native Kindle Fire App" (Press release). Booking.com. 6 December 2012.
  15. ^ a b "Booking.com Launches 'Booking.yeah', Its First-Ever Brand Campaign, Created for the U.S. market". Booking.com. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
  16. ^ "Booking.com V. USPTO" (PDF).
  17. ^ "Booking.com Launches New AI Trip Planner to Enhance Travel Planning Experience". Booking.com. 27 June 2023.
  18. ^ Oladipo, Doyinsola (9 November 2023). "Online travel agency Booking.com to sell cruises". Reuters.
  19. ^ "Darren Huston Named Chief Executive Officer of Booking.com" (Press release). 26 September 2011.
  20. ^ "Darren Huston Named as President and CEO of the Priceline Group" (Press release). Booking.com. 7 November 2013.
  21. ^ WEINSTEIN, BRUCE (2 May 2016). "Here's the Real Fallout From the Priceline Sex Scandal". Fortune.
  22. ^ "Priceline Group CEO Darren Huston Resigns; Chairman Jeffery H. Boyd Appointed Interim CEO" (Press release). PR Newswire. 28 April 2016.
  23. ^ "GILLIAN TANS APPOINTED CHAIRWOMAN OF BOOKING.COM". Northstar Travel Group. 27 June 2019.
  24. ^ "Booking Management Shakeup Leaves Gillian Tans Out as CEO of Flagship Unit". Skift (Press release). 26 June 2019.
  25. ^ "Skyscanner wins appeal, UK watchdog to rethink OTA hotel rate clubs". Phocuswire. 26 September 2014.
  26. ^ "Investigation into the hotel online booking sector". Office of Fair Trading.
  27. ^ Vidalon, Dominique (21 April 2015). "France, Sweden, Italy accept booking.com antitrust proposals". Reuters.
  28. ^ "DECISION" (PDF). Swedish Competition Authority. 15 April 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 September 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  29. ^ "Hoteliers claim Booking.com parity agreement still wrong and anti-competitive". PhocusWire.
  30. ^ Hern, Alex (24 April 2015). "EU warns of 'point of no return' if internet firms are not regulated soon". The Guardian.
  31. ^ Solaker, Gulsen (29 March 2017). "Turkish court halts activities of Booking.com over breach of competition law: association". Reuters.
  32. ^ "Turkish travel association seeks to extend Booking.com ban to Airbnb, Expedia, Skyscanner". hurriyetdailynews. 8 August 2018.
  33. ^ Howard, Bob (7 November 2014). "Scammers target leading online travel agent Booking.com". BBC News.
  34. ^ WHITEHEAD, JOANNA (4 June 2018). "Customers were targeted by phishing emails and instructed to provide payment details". The Independent.
  35. ^ Page, Carly (2 April 2021). "Booking.com Hit With €475,000 GDPR Fine For Late Reporting Of Data Breach". Forbes.
  36. ^ "BRAND HIJACKING – OPEN LETTER TO PETER VERHOEVEN, MANAGING DIRECTOR EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA AT BOOKING.COM". 22 February 2015.
  37. ^ Kourlibini, Vicky (19 August 2019). "Συνεχίζεται η κόντρα Βooking-ξενοδόχων για τις τιμές στα δωμάτια" [Bookings and hoteliers' clash over room prices continues]. Capital magazine (in Greek). Athens, Greece.
  38. ^ Bellos, Helias (3 July 2018). "Στρατηγική συμφωνία Aldemar με HIG Capital στον τουρισμό" [Strategic agreement between Aldemar and HIG Capital on tourism]. Kathimerini (in Greek). Athens, Greece.
  39. ^ "Booking.com settles Italian tax dispute with 94-million euro payment". reuters. 10 November 2023.
  40. ^ "UN rights office issues report on business activities related to settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory". Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. 12 February 2020.
  41. ^ "Database of all business enterprises involved in certain activities relating to Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank (A/HRC/43/71)". ReliefWeb. 14 February 2020.
  42. ^ Alsaafin, Linah (5 October 2022). "Is the Booking.com reversal on Palestine corporate hypocrisy?". Al Jazeera.
  43. ^ "Booking.com commits to align practices presenting offers and prices with EU law following EU action". European Commission (Press release). 20 December 2019.
  44. ^ "Booking.com Owner Sued by Texas on Alleged Deceptive Practices". BNN Bloomberg (Press release). 10 August 2023.
  45. ^ "Booking.com's Call for Help Draws Dutch Outcry, Policy Rethink". Bloomberg News. 24 April 2020.
  46. ^ "Booking.com won't ask for more wage subsidies, looks to long term answers". www.dutchnews.nl.
  47. ^ "Booking.com to slash workforce 25%, Amsterdam implications unclear". www.dutchnews.nl.
  48. ^ "Traveling with OAuth - Account Takeover on Booking.com". 2 March 2023.
  49. ^ "The One Show: Booking.com". BBC. 2023.
  50. ^ "Mysterious leak of Booking.com reservation data is being used to scam customers". 2 February 2023.
  51. ^ "Hackers are increasing their attacks on Booking.com customers". BBC. 2023.
  52. ^ "Booking.com owes hosts in Scotland thousands in room payments". BBC. 14 August 2023.
  53. ^ "Accommodation hosts go unpaid by travel firm". 10 August 2023.
  54. ^ "Aussies claim accommodation giant has left them thousands out-of-pocket". 9now.nine.com.au. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  55. ^ "Booking.com glitch: Kiwi holiday homeowner battles to get thousands from global accommodation giant". The New Zealand Herald. 11 August 2023.
  56. ^ "Larmet i högsäsongen – svenskar utan betalning". www.expressen.se (in Swedish). 2 August 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  57. ^ "Verhuurders Booking wachten nog altijd op achterstallige betalingen". RTL Nieuws (in Dutch). 7 August 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  58. ^ Boysen, Af Albert Bastian (19 September 2023). "Booking-gigant mangler at betale: - Det er under al kritik". ekstrabladet.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  59. ^ "Slobodna Dalmacija - Sve je više bijesnih iznajmljivača, isplate s Booking.com-a i dalje im ne stižu; Još nema ni odgovora na glavno pitanje". slobodnadalmacija.hr (in Croatian). 13 September 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  60. ^ spabook (26 July 2023). "Booking hasn't paid several accommodation providers for a month, smaller accommodations are in trouble - Spabook". Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  61. ^ "Booking.com未払い相次ぐ「売り上げすべて吸収されたまま…」宿側が集団提訴へ 原告側弁護士"これほど大きな未払いは初めて"【news23】". TBS NEWS DIG (in Japanese). 11 October 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  62. ^ Taylor, Josh (30 September 2023). "Travel website Booking.com leaves hoteliers thousands of dollars out of pocket". The Guardian.
  63. ^ "Van, akinek még mindig nem fizette ki a pénzét a Booking". rtl.hu (in Hungarian). 14 August 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  64. ^ "Összeszedtük, amit eddig tudni lehet a Booking.com pénzvisszatartási ügyéről". telex (in Hungarian). 10 August 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  65. ^ Alvarez, Péter (18 August 2023). "Tovább dagad a Booking-botrány". index.hu (in Hungarian). Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  66. ^ "Booking-botrány: újabb kérdőívet küld az MTÜ a szállásadóknak". Portfolio.hu (in Hungarian). 18 August 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  67. ^ spabook (12 August 2023). "Öntsük tiszta vizet a Booking botrány poharába: arányaiban mekkora a probléma - Spabook" (in Hungarian). Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  68. ^ spabook (15 August 2023). "Expedited investigation takes effect against Booking.com regarding their debt case - Spabook". Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  69. ^ spabook (5 August 2023). "Már a szakpolitika is foglalkozik a Booking botránnyal - Spabook" (in Hungarian). Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  70. ^ "Hungarian competition watchdog raids office of Booking Holdings". Reuters. 6 September 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  71. ^ spabook (6 September 2023). "Razzia a Booking.com budapesti irodájában - Spabook" (in Hungarian). Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  72. ^ spabook (11 November 2023). "Booking.com CEO Glenn Fogel Issues Apology and Compensation for Payment Scandal - Spabook". Retrieved 13 November 2023.
  73. ^ spabook (7 November 2023). "Levélben kért bocsánatot a Booking vezérigazgatója a szállásadóktól - Spabook" (in Hungarian). Retrieved 13 November 2023.
  74. ^ Marchitelli, Rosa; Blair, Jenn (6 May 2024). "Taylor Swift fan had concert tickets and a place to stay. Then Booking.com pulled the rug out from under her". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
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