Pros
- Access to some really great hotels - Good car hire - Fantastic Regional management
Cons
Booking.com is clearly a fantastic company for the end user. There is a huge amount of love from a UX perspective. The company has grown insanely quickly in the last 10 years or so and therein lies a problem. There are some wonderful area & regional managers at Booking.com, however the "Senior Account Managers" are controlling & devious. They are in their position on the back of time served with the company, rather than any form of people management. My senior account manager was clearly out of her depth with regards to people management, and was extremely temperamental. The role at Booking.com is also not communicated effectively at the interview for an Account Manager. Make no mistake about it - this is not an Account Management position, but customer service. You are required to answer hotel enquiries all day, every day. It feels like an old fashioned boiler room - with much emphasis placed on how many calls you make per day. It may work for some people but for me I was not aware of the customer service aspect of this role before I started. The atmosphere within the Manchester office is also toxic. There are a number of issues with the team, who are regularly kept on their toes with "one-to-one" meetings about the most petty of incidents. Managers will ask their staff why it was that they weren't as loud as normal in meetings, you will be questioned as to why you were 5 minutes late back from lunch & you will also be instructed to make that time back up at the end of the day. At the heart of the Manchester office there is a power struggle. The two Senior Account Managers when I left were desperately clinging to power in any way they saw fit & would lash out at anyone unfortunate to be within shouting distance. It is a cloak & dagger office - if you play the game you'll be well suited - if you don't then you'll be out.
