Our Story
Humble origins
It all began with one man in a small office space in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. A tech guy with an entrepreneurial spirit wanted to bring together Dutch travellers and the places they wanted to stay with the help of an online booking service, Bookings.nl. This little start-up grew steadily in its first few years, jumping from its first employee in 1999 to 50 people by 2002. The formula for this growth and success was pretty simple: working hard to get it right every day for our customers, and following customer demand in expanding to new markets.
New beginnings
By 2005, Bookings.nl had local support offices in the UK, France, Spain, Portugal and Germany, setting the company well on its way to becoming the market leader for European bookers. This growth and its potential, driven by the locally relevant and demand-driven strategy, did not go unnoticed by other large players in the travel-sphere. What was then The Priceline Group (now Booking Holdings Inc.) acquired Bookings.nl and combined it with another European company, Active Hotels, in 2006 to give us the Booking.com we know today.
Making it easier for everyone to experience the world
Booking.com is now the biggest player in Booking Holdings' portfolio, booking roughly 1.5 million room nights every 24 hours in over 150,000 destinations around the world. With more than 29 million total reported listings worldwide, including more than 6.5 million options in homes, apartments and other unique places to stay, we continually strive to ensure our customers have the best selection of places to stay in their chosen destination. With global headquarters in Amsterdam and local offices around the world, our employees live the Booking.com mission every day by supporting customers and accommodation partners through service and innovation in finding the perfect fit for every stay, every time. All with localized content, 185 million+ verified guest reviews, and round the clock customer service in 40+ different languages and dialects.