Amsterdam: Online travel agency Booking.com has announced plans to cut up to 3,000 jobs worldwide due to a corporate reorganization that will see almost all of its customer service operations outsourced to Luxembourg-based Majorel.
According to NL Times, at least 2,700 employees will lose their jobs at the OTA. However, it is believed they will be offered the opportunity to join Majorel, which currently employs nearly 67,000 people worldwide.
Customer service employees told the publication they learned about the restructuring through a video message from Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel. It is claimed that the majority of those transferred to Majorel will be offered a six-month contract, but there were concerns about what would happen to those who refused the transfer.
This is the company’s second mass layoff of Booking in two years since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, following Fogel’s announcement in August 2020 that around 25% of the company’s workforce [approximately 4000 employees] would be rendered superfluous. A month later it was revealed that Booking.com was closing five of its global offices in Bellevue, Washington [US]London and Cambridge [England]Toronto [Canada]and Split [Croatia].
Earlier in the pandemic, Booking.com reportedly received a $4bn investor bond loan to ‘support the near-term financial health’ of the company and €100m in state aid [including €65 million from the Netherlands]despite a profit of 4.6 billion euros in 2019 before the pandemic.
A spokesperson said NL Times that those transferred to Majorel will receive a minimum contract of six months from the second quarter of this year, allaying concerns about job security for those affected.
On the contrary, a number of Booking.com staff said that outsourcing would have a detrimental effect on its ability to help customers and handle their complaints.
Paul Downham, Vice President of Customer Service at Booking.com, said: “Providing exceptional support to our customers and partners 24/7 will remain vitally important to our business. We believe that working with the Majorel team and leveraging their industry-leading customer experience expertise is the best way to ensure that we continue to meet the needs of our customers and partners as we further expand the diversity of the offer on Booking.com through multiple trips. products and services.”
A Booking.com spokesperson told ShortTermRentalz: “As part of our commitment to providing exceptional support to our customers and partners 24/7 and our ambition to extend this same support to multiple products and travel services, we can confirm our intention to transfer most of our customer service staff outside of Manchester and Amsterdam to be employed by leading global customer service provider Majorel, from the second quarter of this year.
“We believe that working with a team of dedicated experts is the best way to meet the needs of our customers and partners as we continue to expand the diversity of our product offering on Booking.com.
“Majorel is a key strategic partner for us, already employing approximately 2,700 employees who support Booking.com, and we look forward to continuing to leverage their industry-leading customer service expertise to help us scale effectively to meet the ever-changing demands of our business. .
“We fully support all employees affected by these planned changes, including specific details on what employees at each location can expect, while ensuring continuity of service for all of our customers and partners,” they said. added.
The platform recently unveiled a new ad campaign featuring actor Idris Elba that will air during this Sunday’s Super Bowl, although it’s unclear how much Booking.com spent on his spot.
The aim of the campaign is to promote the company’s flexible booking policies as it seeks to capitalize on the expected rebound in travel this year.
In addition to Booking.com, Booking Holdings also owns brands such as Kayak, Priceline and OpenTable.
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