site booking service registration optional available in 42 languages owner the priceline group launched 1996 ; 20 years ago 1996 alexa rank 90 august 2016 update 1 current status online booking.com b.v headquarters in amsterdam type subsidiary founded amsterdam netherlands in 1996 headquarters amsterdam netherlands key people gillian tans ceo parent the priceline group subsidiaries booking.com villas.com website booking.com booking.com is an online accommodation booking website started as a small start up in enschede in 1996 based in amsterdam netherlands and since 2005 owned and operated by united states based priceline . its operations centre is located in amsterdam . 2 booking.com has over 1 000 000 properties globally under contract 3 and that it deals with more than 900 000 room nights reservations each day . 4 in 2013 it accounted for more than two thirds of priceline s revenue . 5 booking.com is available in more than 41 languages . 6 contents 1 history 2 corporate affairs 2.1 marketing 2.1.1 selected partnerships and agreements 2.1.2 advertising 2.2 operation 2.2.1 applications development 3 brand 4 controversy and criticism 5 references 6 external links history edit booking.com was formed when bookings.nl founded in 1997 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 7 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 . 8 in july 2005 the company was acquired by the priceline group for usd133 million and later it cooperated with activehotels.com a european online hotel reservation company purchased by the priceline group for usd161 million . 9 in 2006 active hotels limited officially changed its name to booking.com limited . 10 the integration successfully helped priceline to change its financial position from a loss of usd19 million in 2002 to usd1 .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 . 11 darren huston was appointed as chief executive officer of booking.com in september 2011 by the priceline group 12 and also served as president and chief executive officer of the priceline group since january 1 2014 13 until his resignation on 28 april 2016 . 14 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 . 12 corporate affairs edit marketing edit selected partnerships and agreements edit in august 2012 ctrip.com international ltd ctrip a chinese online travel company and booking.com formed a partnership with a commercial agreement . this allows ctrip to access booking.com s global portfolio . 15 panorama group indonesia s largest tour and travel company has spent 2 millions on launching bookpanorama.com . strategic partnership have been formed with booking.com so that it will be able to access booking.com s portfolio of more than 270 000 hotels across 179 countries in the world . 16 in 2014 sprylogics international corporation which provides local mobile solutions for consumers as well as mobile applications has signed an agreement with booking.com . so that sprylogics poynt app and poynt enabled sdk would be able to use the extensive hotel data of booking.com . 17 in october 2014 ural airlines one of the top russian airlines announced that it is now formed a partnership with booking.com . 18 advertising edit booking.com was the top spender in the travel & tourism category for google adwords in 2011 with its estimated annual spending on google adwords of 40.4 million . 19 in 2013 booking.com s first brand campaign booking.yeah was launched online aired on television stations and in movie theaters and on tv networks for the u.s. market with advertising agency wieden kennedy amsterdam . 20 in september australia became the second market to view the campaign . 21 later in 2014 canadian 22 the u.k. 23 and german 24 branding campaign were also being launched by booking.com . operation edit applications development edit in november 2010 booking.com launched its own hotel and accommodation booking app in ipad version . 25 in february 2011 booking.com launched its android version hotel and accommodation booking app . 25 in april 2012 booking.com announced the launch of the first global last minute hotel app booking.com tonight . it is an app designed for iphone and ipod touch . 26 in october 2012 booking.com launched its first app in windows version which allows customers to complete their hotel and accommodation bookings directly from the new windows 8 platform . 27 after launching the initial iphone app booking.com updated the version of the iphone app with a new function passbook . 28 in december 2012 booking.com launched its native kindle fire app which is available for download in all amazon s appstores including the u.s. u.k. germany spain france italy and japan . 29 a continuous growth in booking.com s mobile bookings has been shown since 2011 . booking.com announced over pr newswire in 2014 that its mobile bookings grew 160 % in 2013 which the total transaction value of mobile accommodation bookings grew over to 8 billion . in 2011 the mobile bookings figure was 1 billion and tripled to over 3 billion in 2012 . 30 brand edit booking.com developed villas.com as product extension . it is more focused on vacation rental market which covers villas apartments and rental homes . 31 controversy and criticism edit in september 2012 the united kingdom s competition authority the office of fair trading oft issued a statement of objections against booking.com its direct competitor expedia and the hotel chain ihg . 32 the oft alleged 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 made a proposal to the oft to change their restrictions . the oft accepted the proposal but it was later rejected by a higher authority at a tribunal . 33 in march 2014 booking.com sent a request to ukrainian and crimean hotels to clarify if they have connections to viktor yanukovych and 17 other ukrainians who the european union sanctions were imposed on . since booking.com is a dutch company which headquarters are based on amsterdam it is required to obey the trade restrictions of the eu so that business is not allowed to be done with those sanctioned individuals . 34 booking.com s behavior aroused deprecation from its russian competitors . 35 in the beginning of november 2014 it was known that by accessing booking.com reservations criminals were able to obtain customer details through demands for prepayment . 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 . 36 in february 2015 an open letter published by german hotelier marco nussbaum co founder and ceo of the budget design hotelbrand prizeotel the brand hijacking of booking.com met strong criticism . his letter explained detailed how the adwords policy of booking.com is doing damage to his business . the letter was noticed in specialist media and led to a discussion about current difficulties and challenges of online distribution within the hotel industry . 37 in april 2015 the 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 . 38 booking.com further agreed to extend and apply its proposal across all eu states . 39 hotels are still prevented from discounting prices directly on their own websites . 40 booking.com remains under investigation by competition authorities in the united kingdom the czech republic france germany italy austria hungary sweden and switzerland . 41 the eu has warned that booking.com and tripadvisor may have reached market dominance beyond the point of no return . 42 references edit booking.com site info . alexa internet . retrieved 2016 08 19 . 1 the age 3 october 2014 booking.com now australia s biggest . booking.com . levy ari 2013 01 22 . booking.com challenging parent priceline in u.s. travel . bloomberg . retrieved 2014 02 23 . about us . booking.com . booking.com . retrieved 15 october 2014 . schaal dennis 2016 . the definitive oral history of online travel . skift . retrieved 15 june 2016 . schaal dennis 25 june 2012 . how booking.com turned the other otas into converts . retrieved 15 october 2014 . active hotels becomes booking.com . 19 october 2009 . booking.com the best acquisition in internet history . 12 september 2012 . retrieved 15 october 2014 . a b darren huston named chief executive officer of booking.com . 26 september 2011 . retrieved 15 october 2014 . darren huston named as president and ceo of the priceline group . 7 november 2013 . retrieved 15 october 2014 . 2 ctrip and booking.com forge global travel partnership . 7 august 2012 . retrieved 15 october 2014 . mimil hudoyo 20 february 2013 . panorama and booking.com launch international hotel reservation site . retrieved 15 october 2014 . spyl v 20 february 2013 . booking.com to integrate parking hotel data into poynt . retrieved 15 october 2014 . ural airlines has begun working with booking.com . rusbiznews.com . 6 october 2014 . retrieved 19 october 2014 . kim larry . what industries contributed the most to google s earnings . wordstream.com . retrieved 19 october 2014 . booking.com launches booking.yeah its first ever brand campaign created for the u.s. market . amsterdam . 22 january 2013 . retrieved 15 october 2014 . ricki 16 september 2013 . booking.com launches first ever australian brand campaign with mick molloy via w k amsterdam . retrieved 14 october 2014 . booking.com launches first canadian brand campaign . toronto . 22 january 2014 . retrieved 15 october 2014 . booking.com launches first uk brand campaign . london . 18 february 2014 . retrieved 19 october 2014 . booking.com ramps up european push with german branding campaign . travolution . 16 july 2014 . retrieved 19 october 2014 . a b scott jennifer 27 february 2013 . booking.com embraces mobile apps . computerweekly.com . retrieved 19 october 2014 . booking.com launches first global last minute hotel app . amsterdam booking.com . 10 april 2012 . retrieved 19 october 2014 . booking.com joins windows 8 push with launch of its first windows app . amsterdam booking.com . 29 october 2012 . retrieved 19 october 2014 . booking.com enables passbook on latest release of iphone app . amsterdam booking.com . 16 october 2012 . retrieved 19 october 2014 . booking.com launches native kindle fire app . amsterdam booking.com . 6 dec 2012 . retrieved 19 october 2014 . booking.com s mobile bookings grow 160 % in 2013 . amsterdam booking.com . pr newswire . 21 february 2014 . retrieved 19 october 2014 . about villas.com . http www.villas.com . retrieved 19 october 2014 . external link in website help http webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk 20140402142426 http oft.gov.uk news and updates press 2012 65 12 http www.tnooz.com 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