Pros
Decent benefits (free lunch, Friday drinks once a month, accommodation discounts, quarterly bonus) Working in Customer Service is very few people's dream job, but the majority of colleagues are what makes the difference. During my time at Booking I made some lifelong friends. The company also provides employees a chance to give back to their local community. Transparency is encouraged.
Cons
If you don't work in Amsterdam (and aren't able to move there) your chances of progression are very slim. It often seemed that employees in other offices get overlooked. I've seen the company grow exponentially and whilst there was always some effort to try to listen to the opinion of all employees in terms of innovation etc, it's simply not possible that everyone's opinion can be heard in a company of this size and so often individual initiatives are discarded/don't work out. Because of internal procedures, positive changes can be delayed. I'd consider this to be an issue with all large companies though, it's not a problem that's unique to Booking. Just something you have to come to terms with if you are going to work in a company of this size. My biggest criticism is that there's not really any opportunity for meaningful self development. Indeed the company tries, but again due to the vast number of employees - and the primary focus, of course, being on the key tasks and meeting the service level - opportunities and encouragement for other projects are sparse. At the end of the day, it becomes pretty clear that everyone is replaceable.
