Booking.com has reached a settlement with Dutch multi-sector pension fund PGB, with the pension fund agreeing to let go of its requirement for Booking.com to join the fund in exchange for an undisclosed compensation fee.
The settlement, which sees Booking.com lower a provision it has on its balance sheet for pensions by $170m (€148m) according to a SEC statement filed by the firm, was necessary after Dutch courts repeatedly ruled that Booking.com was a travel agency and as a consequence was legally required to join PGB and pay any outstanding pension contributions for all its current and former workers.
PGB said in its 2024 annual report that it had received compensation from Bookling.com for a so-called insurance-related disadvantage.
This disadvantage arises if the employees of an exempt company are, on average, younger than the active members of the fund, which is the case for Booking.com as it has a large number of relatively young employees.
In return, PGB had agreed to exempt Booking.com from mandatory participation.
This article was first published on Pensioen Pro, IPE’s Dutch sister publication. It was translated and adapted for IPE by Tjibbe Hoekstra
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