Booking.com

booking.com

Booking.com is the world leader for booking hotel accommodations online. Users are guaranteed the best price for any type of property, whether it is a small bed and breakfast or a five-star luxury suite. A truly international company, Booking.com is available in over 40 languages for properties in 195 countries. 

Booking.com was formed when bookings.nl, founded in 1996 by Geert-Jan Bruinsma, merged in 2000 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 into Booking.com and Stef Noorden was appointed as its CEO^[5] In 1997, Bruinsma wanted to post an ad in De Telegraaf, the Dutch newspaper with the highest circulation. The ad was rejected since De Telegraaf only accepted ads with the phone number, not with a website. In 2002, Expedia refused to buy bookings.nl.^[6]

In July 2005, the company was acquired by Booking Holdings for USD133 million, and later it cooperated with ActiveHotels.com, a European online hotel reservation company, purchased by Booking Holdings for USD161 million.^[7]

In 2006, Active Hotels Limited officially changed its name to Booking.com Limited.^[8] The integration successfully helped Priceline to change its financial position from a loss of US$19 million in 2002 to US$1.1 billion in profit in 2011. This acquisition was praised by some social media as “the best acquisition in Internet history” since no other acquisition in the digital travel market had shown to be as profitable.^[9]

Darren Huston, was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Booking.com in September 2011 by Booking Holdings,^[10] and also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Booking Holdings since 1 January 2014^[11] until his resignation on 28 April 2016.^[12] Huston was the former executive of Microsoft Corporation, the largest software company in the world in 2003. Later he served as President and Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft Japan from 2005 and Microsoft Corporation’s Corporate Vice President, Consumer & Online from 2008.^[10]