I wouldn’t refer a friend or a good developer to this place! - IOS Software Developer Booking.com Employee Review

1.0
3 Jan 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Learn about scale and challenges Great brand name Good relocation rewards to Amsterdam as developer Lots of very good talented people around

Cons

If you are coming from a flexible tech companies prepare to hate this place in a few months. It used a great place to work but all the management is changed and now it a full of non techies running the show. Expect things like super strict work timings, 8 hours excluding lunch hours. Working from home is a luxury only available when your house is on fire or be prepared to be scrutinized. They don’t believe in people doing their best work at different hours. Very tight on these as of end of year 2017 and made it super hard to work. You will find many of your colleagues complaining and planning to leaving soon. mostly micro management from middle management is driving this place to the ground. Soon this is turning from tech company to an online sales front. There are no such thing as perks for working here. The bonus is heavily dependent on you reviews and this is controlled by the manager in your team, so guess how that goes if you step on the wrong toe or stand for your rights! Not even lunch is free, it’s from your salary! The tech stack is not something I want to get into, read other reviews. The pay isn’t competitive in any way with companies of the same scale. Tax is huge if you don’t get 30percent ruling. Even then there are taxes on house you rent and many others not mentioned anywhere. It’s upwards of 150EUR each bill you get from your first pay check. You DONT get insurance from Booking.com so expect to pay minimum 100 EURO per person in your family. This price increases exponentially with benefits you add like dental, maternity etc. Also expect at least 350 EUR needs to be covered by you every year even if you have insurance on your medical bill.

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Booking.com Response
8y
Thank you for taking the time to tell us what you like about working at Booking.com as well as letting us know where we could do better. We're sorry to hear that you wouldn't recommend us as things stand but we hope that you will be patient with us as we learn and improve because we would love to change your mind. We agree with you that we have lots of talented people operating on a big global scale and with lots of exciting challenges to tackle together. We're very proud also of the Booking.com brand that we have built together so thank you. However, we know that to continue to succeed we need to put as much effort into continuously improving our employee experience as we do our product. We know that for many developers, having flexibility about how and where you work is important and we take this feedback seriously. This is certainly not a closed conversation and we are always open to hearing from our tech and wider Booking.com community about alternative ways of working. That said, we also value close collaboration and teamwork so we strive to strike a balance between individual preference and what's right for the team. There's not an easy answer here but we value the ongoing input of you and your colleagues on this topic. Thank you also for sharing your perspective on the cost of living in Amsterdam as well as on our compensation package. We know that there are many unknowns when you relocate to a new country and we try to make crucial areas like taxes and healthcare as transparent as possible in the guidance provided by our recruiters and our relocation team. If you feel there is more we could do in this area, we would love your input. As you may know we have also done extensive work recently on benchmarking and adjusting our compensation package where needed to ensure that it is competitive which we hope will also be of help. As always, please feel free to continue to let us know how we can improve the experience for you and your colleagues. Many thanks, The People Team at Booking.com

Explore other reviews about Booking.com

5.0
30 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great, definitely recommend if looking for start up

Cons

No cons all pros only

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Booking.com Response
3d
Hi, thank you for the wonderful feedback! We're so glad to hear that Booking.com has been a great fit for someone with a startup mindset. Our culture of experimentation and innovation is something we're really proud of, and it's great to know it resonates. We hope you continue to thrive here! The Booking.com team
3.0
4 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Flexibility, make your own schedule

Cons

NO learning and development Opportunities for growth often required moving into a different role or team found the compensation to be below market

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