Booking must participate in the pension scheme for the travel industry, the Court of Appeal in The Hague ruled in a ruling this week. Based on this ruling, Stichting Reiswerk will send a renewed request to Booking next week for the submission of wage statements, on the basis of which the premium can be determined for the social fund. This is according to Frank Radstake of the ANVR, who is also chairman of the Reiswerk foundation, an initiative of ANVR and trade unions FNV and CNV, which deals with matters in the field of employment, learning and the labour market. Booking.com has always opposed affiliation to the pension fund, social fund and collective labor agreement for the travel sector, arguing that it is an IT company. The Supreme Court already thought differently in 2021 and decided that Booking is primarily an (online) travel agent. The Court of Appeal in The Hague now says that the online travel agent is also in the main. This means that the company has to join the pension fund for the travel industry with retroactive effect to the end of the 90s, when Booking was founded. Whether Booking will actually join in the short term in accordance with the ruling remains to be seen, according to Radstake. Booking has the option to appeal against the ruling. “I’m very curious to see if this is finally the end of the case that has been running since 2014,” says Radstake. “It’s actually amazing that it had to take so long.” The recent ruling is one in a long series. The issue goes back to 2016, when the subdistrict court in Amsterdam ruled that Booking is not a travel organization. That ruling was upheld by the Amsterdam Court of Appeal. In 2018, he stated that Booking would not be a travel agent. That is exactly the argument that the booking platform also uses to prevent affiliation with the pension fund for the travel industry. Booking considers itself an IT company. Affiliation of the 4,600 employees to the pension fund for the travel industry would cost Booking 405 million euros, lawyers for Booking previously stated. Reiswerk Pensioenen appealed against the ruling to the Supreme Court in April 2021 and was vindicated. The Supreme Court ruled in April 2021 that there can be no discussion about Booking being a travel agent. The case was referred back to answer the question of whether everything Booking does in the field of IT is also in the service of its activities as an online travel agent. The Court of Appeal in The Hague has now established this. Radstake, with a wink: ‘As an online travel agent, Booking is in any case very welcome as a member of the ANVR.’ (Archive photo Frank Radstake).
