Booking.com

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Globe icon of the infobox
Booking.com
Website logo
Mediation and comparison for booking travel accommodation
languages multilingual
operator Booking Holdings
editorial staff Booking Holdings
items over five million accommodations
On-line 1996
https://www.booking.com/

Booking.com is a website for comparing travel rates and a meta search engine for booking travel accommodation. The website is owned by the US Booking Holdings and is headquartered in the Dutch capital, Amsterdam .

content

Booking.com headquarters in Amsterdam

The website can be used to book hotels and holiday apartments , flights and rental cars, and to reserve taxis to the airport. A search and filter system can be used to search for hotel stars , type of accommodation, location and proximity to individual areas, user reviews and requests for accommodation facilities, such as B. for individual age groups and types of community, leisure activities, the exercise of sport and recreation, interior furnishings, outdoor opportunities and accessibility can be filtered. Information about the accommodation is given and determined in a booking process. For hosts, the site offers several tools for setting up, managing and analyzing accommodation.

Statistics and data

The website has approximately 29 million entries in 137,971 locations in 229 countries and territories worldwide. More than 1.55 million room nights are reserved on the website every day. The site is available in 43 languages. According to a study by the European hotel association Hotrec , 65.6 percent of hotel bookings in Europe are made there. On November 10, 2015, the site had already referred a billion guests. In April 2018, the site had listed over five million properties for the first time. The market share is just under 66 percent.

Measured by Alexa Internet Rank, the site is the 87th most viewed Internet site in the world , a majority of which comes from the United States, Europe and Japan . In Austria it is ranked 35th.

history

Booking.com was launched in 1996 by Geert-Jan Bruinsma under the address bookings.nl in the Netherlands. In 2000 the site was merged with Bookings Online, which was founded by Sicco and Alec Behrens, Marijn Muyser and Bas Lemmens, and has since been marketed under the address Bookings.org. The name and URL were later changed to Booking.com and Stef Noorden was appointed Chief Executive Officer .

In 2002, Expedia refused to buy Bookings.nl. In July 2005, the website was booking Holdings (formerly Priceline Group) for 133 million US dollars purchased. The site later also partnered with ActiveHotels.com, a European online hotel reservation company acquired by Booking Holdings / Priceline, which was acquired for $ 161 million.

In 2006, Active Hotels Limited officially changed its name to Booking.com Limited. The integration helped the parent company improve its financial position from a loss of $ 19 million in 2002 to a profit of $ 1.1 billion in 2011. This acquisition was therefore also lauded by some social media as one of the best acquisitions in internet history as the digital travel market turned out to be very profitable.

Darren Huston was named CEO of Booking.com by his parent company in September 2011 and served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Booking Holdings since January 1, 2014. When a relationship in the workplace was revealed, he resigned on April 28, 2016. Huston was the former CEO of Microsoft Corporation , the largest software company in the world, in 2003. She was succeeded by the Dutchwoman Gillian Tans .

In June 2019 it was announced that Booking.com had acquired a stake in the Internet currency Libra .

marketing

Booking.com and its affiliates were the largest travel and tourism spenders on Google Ads in 2016, spending $ 3.5 billion on it. In January 2013, Booking.com's first brand campaign, “Booking.yeah”, was launched online for TV channels, cinemas and TV channels in the USA with the advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam. The second market for the campaign started in Australia in September 2013. In January 2014 the company launched an advertising campaign in Canada, in February 2014 in the United Kingdom and in July 2014 in Germany.

Partnerships

The Booking Holdings group of companies also includes Agoda and Priceline for accommodations, Kayak for flight searches and OpenTable for restaurant reservations, RentalCars.com as the market platform for rental cars and Ctrip , a Chinese online travel company.

As Indonesia's largest travel company, the Panorama Group has been cooperating with Booking.com for hotel bookings since February 2013 .

In 2014, Sprylogics International Corporation , which provides on-premise mobile solutions, signed an agreement with Booking.com to allow Sprylogics' Poynt app and Poynt-Enabled SDK to leverage Booking.com's vast array of hotel data.

In October 2014 Ural Airlines partnered with Booking.com. In October 2017, UEFA announced a partnership with the site. Start-up companies have been supported since 2017 .

criticism

General criticism

Booking.com's Better Business Bureau (BBB) ​​profile lists 657 customer complaints and 17 negative reviews, mostly related to poor service, advertising and billing issues. Many of the complaints are related to the property the guest booked, and Booking.com mediates between the two.

Security and Cybercrime

In November 2014, it became known that criminals had been able to obtain customer data from the website. Booking.com said it will counter the scammers and repay affected customers from the UK , US , France , Italy , United Arab Emirates and Portugal . Since the scam, Booking.com has made changes so that data can only be accessed from a computer connected to the hotel server. The teams also worked to remove dozens of phishing sites and worked with some banks to freeze fraudulent bank accounts . The website was hit by hacker attacks again in June 2018.

Decoy offers

In the past, the site often advertised best price guarantees, which did not always apply and had a strong impact on competition. Legal steps have therefore been taken in Germany to prevent this. However, the site continues to advertise with decoy offers and wants to encourage interested parties to book quickly. To do this, she uses several sales tricks.

Manipulative methods

Customers were urged to book with false information such as "Only one room left". After an intervention by the EU Commission in 2019, the platform promised to refrain from such tricks in the future.

Commissions too high

The site was also criticized for the high commissions requested, which can be up to 40 percent. However, this rejected the site, saying that they average between 11 and 15 percent.

Cancellations

For some of the hotels, bookings can be canceled via Booking.com. The accommodation operator incurs fees for this. There is a lot of excitement about the Delayed Cancellation feature, which only tries 24 hours after a cancellation to find a replacement before the accommodation becomes available again. On average, 39 percent of bookings are canceled. This means that the site has the most cancellations compared to similar portals.

Brandjacking

In February 2015, an open letter from German hotelier Marco Nussbaum, co-founder and CEO of the budget design hotel brand “prizeotel”, was very critical of Booking.com's brandjacking activity. His letter went into details about how Booking.com was using Google Ads and how it was hurting its business. The letter was discussed in specialist media and led to a discussion of current difficulties and challenges for online sales in the hotel industry.

Investigations in Ukrainian hotels

In March 2014, Booking.com sent a request to Ukrainian and other Crimean hotels to clarify whether they had ties to Viktor Yanukovych and 17 other Ukrainians who were sanctioned by the European Union . The site is prohibited from doing business with sanctioned persons.

Competitive advantages and best price clause

In April 2015, the European Union warned that Booking.com was one of several internet companies that may have achieved a dominant position beyond the point of no return. Therefore, French, Swedish and Italian competition authorities accepted a proposal by Booking.com to remove the “rate parity” clause and thus offer competing travel agencies lower hotel prices than Booking.com. Booking.com also agreed to extend and apply its proposal to all EU countries. However, hotels are still prevented from discounting prices directly on their own websites. The prohibition of the best price clause is intended to prevent the site from offering cheaper prices for accommodation than on the individual websites. The Federal Cartel Office decided this in 2015 and set Booking.com a deadline to implement this by January 2016. Austria and pressure from Switzerland followed later .

Country blocks

In March 2017 a Turkish court banned Booking.com's activities due to a violation of Turkish competition law and had the site blocked. As a result, Booking.com stopped selling rooms in Turkey to Turkish users. However, the website and application can be used from abroad for hotel reservations in Turkey.

The site was suspended in Russia in May 2018 in response to U.S. sanctions against Russia.

Web links

Commons : Booking.com  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Booking.com signs 10-year lease for its growing global contact center in Wyoming. In: MLive.com. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Matthaes Verlag GmbH, Stuttgart, Germany: Booking.com introduces new tools. In: AHGZ.de. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b Booking.com: The largest selection of hotels, homes, and holiday rentals. Retrieved September 5, 2018 (UK English).
  4. ↑ Julia Ptock: Top Topics: Market Share of Booking.com | Billion in sales at Adyen | GDPR implementation by Facebook | Ebay dealer awards given | Over 100 million Amazon Prime users. Retrieved September 5, 2018 (German).
  5. ↑ Booking.com breaks the record: One billion guests since it was founded. In: presseportal.de. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Booking.com announces milestone over five million listed overnight accommodations in alternative accommodations. In: OTS.at. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Corinna Flemming: Competition in danger: Booking.com's dominance is growing inexorably. Retrieved September 5, 2018 (German).
  8. ↑ Booking.com Traffic, Demographics and Competitors - Alexa. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Top Sites in Austria - Alexa. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  10. ↑ The Oral History of Travel's Greatest Acquisition Booking.com . In: Skift . ( skift.com [accessed September 5, 2018]).
  11. ^ Dennis Schaal: The Definitive Oral History of Online Travel. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  12. ↑ The Oral History of Travel's Greatest Acquisition Booking.com. In: Skift. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  13. ↑ How Booking.com conquered the world. In: Skift. June 25, 2012, accessed September 5, 2018 .
  14. ↑ Active Hotels becomes Booking.com. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  15. ^ "Booking.com, the best acquisition in Internet history". In: Hotel Marketing. September 12, 2012, accessed September 5, 2018 .
  16. ↑ Darren Huston Named Chief Executive Officer of Booking.com. In: Darren Huston Named Chief Executive Officer of Booking.com. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  17. ↑ a b Darren Huston Named as President and CEO of the Priceline Group. In: Darren Huston Named as President and CEO of the Priceline Group. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  18. ^ Priceline Group CEO Darren Huston Resigns; Chairman Jeffery H. Boyd Appointed Interim CEO. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  19. ↑ This is how Facebook money works. In: oe24.at . June 18, 2019, accessed June 18, 2019 .
  20. ↑ Google can rejoice: Priceline Group spent $ 3.5 billion on PPC in 2016. In: tnooz. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  21. ↑ Booking.com Launches 'Booking.yeah', Its First-Ever Brand Campaign, Created for the US market. In: Booking.com Launches 'Booking.yeah', Its First-Ever Brand Campaign, Created for the US market. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  22. ↑ Booking.com launches first-ever Australian brand campaign with Mick Molloy via W + K Amsterdam. In: Campaign Brief Australia. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  23. ↑ Booking.com Launches First Canadian Brand Campaign. In: Booking.com Launches First Canadian Brand Campaign. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  24. ↑ Booking.com launches first UK brand campaign. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  25. ↑ Booking.com ramps up European push with German branding campaign. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  26. ↑ CTRIP and Booking.com Forge Global Travel Partnership. In: CTRIP and Booking.com Forge Global Travel Partnership. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  27. ^ Matthaes Verlag GmbH, Stuttgart, Germany: Booking.com with new partners. In: AHGZ.de. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  28. ^ "Panorama and Booking.com launch international hotel reservation site". (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 24, 2017 ; accessed on September 5, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ttgasia.com
  29. ↑ Sprylogics signs agreement with Booking.com to integrate parking hotel data into Poynt. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  30. ↑ Ural Airlines has started working with Booking.com - RusBizNews.com. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  31. ↑ UEFA starts partnership with Booking.com. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  32. ↑ Matthaes Verlag GmbH, Stuttgart, Germany: Now Booking.com is also promoting start-ups. In: AHGZ.de. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  33. ↑ Booking.com USA, Inc. (Part of Booking Holdings, Inc.) | Better Business Bureau Profile. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  34. ↑ Bob Howard: Scammers target travel agent online. In: BBC News. November 7, 2014, accessed September 5, 2018 .
  35. ↑ Booking.com targeted by hackers with email scam asking customers for payment details. In: The Independent. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  36. ↑ Hackers' bid to steal hundreds of thousands from booking.com customers. In: The Sun. June 3, 2018, accessed September 5, 2018 .
  37. ↑ Harriet Mallinson: Booking.com customers targeted by hackers in WhatsApp and text scam. In: Express.co.uk. June 4, 2018, accessed September 5, 2018 .
  38. ↑ Thorin Laundry: Hotel portals in comparison: rooms at the best price. In: FAZ.NET. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  39. ↑ SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg Germany: Travel portal: These tricks are used to lure Booking.com customers. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  40. ↑ heise online: Booking.com soon without psychological tricks. Retrieved December 23, 2019 .
  41. ↑ Booking.com rejects criticism of excessive commissions - derStandard.at. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  42. ↑ Cancellations. In: Booking.com website FAQ. Retrieved March 14, 2019 .
  43. ↑ Booking.com is driving hoteliers to white heat again. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  44. ^ Matthaes Verlag GmbH, Stuttgart, Germany: Most cancellations are made on Booking.com. In: AHGZ.de. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  45. ↑ Brand hijacking - Open letter to booking.com. In: This is how the hotel works today. February 22, 2015, accessed September 5, 2018 .
  46. ↑ Booking.Com Investigates Hotels for Links to Sanctioned Ukrainians. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  47. ↑ Alex Hern: EU warns of 'point of no return' if internet firms are not regulated soon. April 24, 2015, accessed September 5, 2018 .
  48. ↑ Dominique Vidalon: France, Sweden, Italy accept booking.com antitrust proposals. In: US. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  49. ↑ "DECISION" (PDF). Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  50. ↑ Hoteliers claim Booking.com parity agreement still wrong and anti-competitive. In: tnooz. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  51. ↑ a b Rolling Pin Media GmbH: Booking.com and Expedia unsuccessful in court. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  52. ↑ Booking.com: Judges stop the world's largest hotel portal. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  53. ↑ Bundeskartellamt: Booking.com has to end the best price model. In: ZEIT ONLINE. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  54. ↑ Booking.com has to abolish the best price rule. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  55. ↑ Dominant position? - The National Council takes a look at booking.com . In: Swiss Radio and Television (SRF) . September 18, 2017 ( srf.ch [accessed September 5, 2018]).
  56. ↑ A Turkish Court Has Temporarily Shut Down Booking.com. In: Fortune. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  57. ↑ Reuters Editorial: Turkish court halts activities of Booking.com over breach of ... In: US Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  58. ↑ Turkish travel association seeks to extend Booking.com ban to Airbnb, Expedia, Skyscanner. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  59. ↑ Hotel agency: Booking.com has to cease operations in Turkey. In: Spiegel Online. March 29, 2017. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  60. ↑ n-tv news: Turkish judges block Booking.com. In: n-tv.de. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .
  61. ↑ Russia Considers Ban of Booking.com Over US Sanctions. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .