FAQ: Booking Holdings Financial Services

We set up Booking Holdings Financial Services (BHFS) to process payments on our platform. If you’re located in the European Economic Area (EEA), BHFS refers to Booking Holdings Financial Services International Ltd., which is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.

BHFS will handle all your payments on the Booking.com platform. If you're eligible, you’ll be asked to agree to BHFS’ terms and conditions (the BHFS Payments Agreement) and complete the BHFS Know Your Partner (KYP) form to identify yourself.

We don't expect anything in your day-to-day operations to change once BHFS starts processing payments for you. However, please read this article on activating and processing payments with BHFS to find out more.

BHFS helps us enhance the safety, security and reliability of payments relating to your use of the Booking.com platform. It also increases our ability to prevent financial crime, enabling you and your guests to make secure payments.

Being able to provide you with regulated payment services allows us to lay the foundation for introducing new improvements and scaling our payments services in the future. This means we can innovate and offer top-notch payment services that will deliver more value to you and your guests.

BHFS will launch its payment processing services in phases across our markets, starting with select partners in certain member countries of the European Economic Area (EEA). In May 2022, we invited the first batch of partners to complete the BHFS KYP form. In the upcoming months, BHFS will gradually take on the role of Payments by Booking.com as our new payment service provider.

This phased approach allows us to validate the operating model and effectiveness of the transition, thus ensuring the operational readiness of our new payment service provider.

There are no short-term consequences if you don’t migrate to BHFS. Aside from BHFS handling all your payouts, how your payments are currently processed will not be affected.

However, this will change in the future as we scale our payment services through BHFS. Therefore, we highly recommend migrating to BHFS when it’s available.

BHFS needs to verify your identity so we can confirm you are who you claim to be. The documents needed to verify your identity can be uploaded through the BHFS KYP form. This is a three-part account verification form intended to gather data regarding the property’s ownership, your identity and your bank details.

You can access the KYP form by clicking on the banner in your extranet. We’ll also send you an invitation to fill in the form via email.

The KYP form takes five to ten minutes to complete, if you have all the necessary documents at hand.

You can only submit the KYP form once you’ve filled in all the fields. You can’t edit, view or modify your information after clicking submit. If you leave the KYP form unfinished, it will be in the ‘verification’ stage. During this stage, you’ll see a banner in your extranet linking to it, which will allow you to access and modify your information.

You won’t be able to make any changes once the form has been submitted. We’ll reach out to you if we need more information to complete the KYP process.

You can always access the form using the link you received via email or by clicking on the banner in your extranet. The link in the email and banner will stay active until you’ve completed and submitted the KYP form.

Any invalid data or verification errors will be highlighted in the form.

Everything you enter is saved when you click Save and continue at the bottom of each KYP page. This information will be displayed when you access the form again. If you close the page without clicking Save and continue, your data will not be saved.

After submitting the KYP form, we’ll review and verify your information. We’ll send you a notification via email informing you that the KYP process is complete. At a later stage, we'll also let you know when BHFS will start processing your payments. That will be your BHFS activation date. In case we need more information to complete the KYP process, we’ll let you know what actions you need to take.

No, this is not possible.

No, we’ll contact you once the verification process is complete, or if we require more information.

Yes, it will.

We need this to verify your identity and ensure the security of all our partners.

The party we're in contract with is responsible for completing the KYP form. They're required to invite associated parties – such as anyone with 25% or more ownership of the property – to be represented in the KYP form. If you’re a property manager, you can disclose the role of each associated party member separately.

If you want to change an additional individual’s email address – that is, any individuals you've added under 'property ownership and management' – you can return to the KYP form anytime before submission to remove the email address and add a new one.

We’re required to store terminated account information for five years. Your information will be stored securely for the duration, after which we’ll safely delete it.

We’re committed to keeping you and your business safe. That’s why we employ an array of people, tools and processes to ensure your personal information is always used securely and in compliance with any applicable privacy requirements. Read more about how we handle your personal information in the BHFS Privacy Statement.

Access to your personal information is limited to employees who are designated to manage, maintain and review this information. We will not share or use your personal information in any other way.

Once approved and activated, you will receive payouts for reservations in your bank account just as before. The main difference is that the payouts will come from BHFS instead of Booking.com B.V.

Yes.

No, you don’t need to pay additional fees for BHFS to provide you with payment processing services. Any fee arrangements you currently have with Booking.com B.V. will remain unaffected.

Once you enter the BHFS Payments Agreement and have completed the KYP form, we’ll let you know when BHFS is ready to begin processing your payments.

The size limit is 20MB.

We advise uploading an ID that doesn’t expire within six months. If you upload one that’s close to its expiration date, we’ll reach out and ask you again for another valid ID once the expiration date has passed.

This is normal – once a file is uploaded, you can no longer view it on the KYP form.

This is not a problem because we ask for verification from the party we have a contract with, as well as associated parties who have 25% or more ownership of the property.

Address documents, such as bank statements, utility bills and credit card statements, can be resubmitted during the upload stage. You can retake ID photos in the review stage by clicking ‘take a new photo’. However, you cannot re-upload files after submission.

You can resend the invitation. Please remove the existing email address and add the new or correct one.

If you’re getting an error message while trying to submit the KYP form, please try again. There’s no limit to how many times you can submit the KYP form. If you can’t open or complete the form, reach out to your support team.

Because BHFS will be providing you with payment processing services, you need to agree to the terms and conditions for those services, as set out in the BHFS Payments Agreement. We recommend that you read the BHFS Payments Agreement to understand how it will apply to you. 

BHFS will process payments relating to your use of the Booking.com platform. These include payments made on our platform by your guests when they make a reservation.

Your agreement with Booking.com B.V. will continue to apply during your migration to BHFS. Your payments will be handled as per usual until BHFS begins processing payments for you.

The BHFS Payments Agreement only concerns the processing of payments. It doesn't affect the provision of the Booking.com platform and the other services offered under your agreement with Booking.com B.V. Furthermore, the BHFS Payments Agreement contains certain information required by regulations that apply to BHFS – for example, regarding your rights under those regulations.

There are limitations on your liability to BHFS under the BHFS Payments Agreement. In any 12-month period, your liability is capped at the higher of EUR 100,000 and the aggregate commission you’ve paid to us during that period. This is subject to exclusions.

BHFS’ liability to you is also similarly capped, but its obligations to settle payments to you or address problems that might arise during payment processing aren’t capped.

If you’re a large business, you will indemnify BHFS and Booking.com against losses connected to certain claims brought by third parties. The liability cap doesn’t apply to these indemnity payments. Please refer to clause 17 of the BHFS Payments Agreement for more information.

Your rights will vary depending on the size of your business. You can find these details in your BHFS Payments Agreement. Generally, all partners using BHFS can expect that:

• BHFS will provide you with regular information about your payments through the extranet
• If BHFS processes a payment incorrectly or processes an unauthorised payment, you may have the right to a refund if you ask for it within a certain time period
• If you make a complaint, and we can’t resolve it, you have the right to take it to an external and independent complaints body

When you enter into the BHFS Payments Agreement, your obligations will include:

• You’ll need to provide and update BHFS with the information it needs to comply with its legal obligations
• You must act within the law
• You must follow any guidelines we provide to you that allow BHFS to meet its obligations to third-party payment processors, such as guidelines relating to rules set by Visa and MasterCard

BHFS can terminate the BHFS Payments Agreement for any reason with at least 2 months' notice. For larger businesses, the notice period is 15 days. BHFS has the right to terminate the agreement more quickly – or immediately – in certain circumstances, such as if there’s reason to believe you’re breaking the law or you’ve seriously or repeatedly breached the BHFS Payments Agreement

BHFS can also suspend payouts or terminate the BHFS Payments Agreement without notice if there’s reason to believe there’s a threat to security.

BHFS can make changes to the agreement for a variety of reasons, but must give you at least two months’ notice. In certain cases, BHFS can change the agreement more quickly when it’s necessary for us to meet our legal requirements, or if you’re a larger business. If you disagree with a change, you can end the BHFS Payments Agreement in the extranet at any time before the change takes effect.

BHFS has the right to:

• Decline or delay the settlement of payout amounts when the payment or booking is unlawful, or where there’s reason to believe it’s necessary to protect BHFS or Booking.com against an increased risk of you not meeting your financial obligations – however, BHFS must pay any delayed payments once the reason for the delay no longer exists
• Set off amounts or other liabilities you owe to a member of the Booking Holdings Group of companies against amounts or other liabilities that they owe you

No, it isn’t. While your agreement with Booking.com B.V. is governed by Dutch law if you're in the EEA, the BHFS Payments Agreement is governed by Irish law and falls within the jurisdiction of the Irish courts.