CHALLENGE

Country-by-country compliance was unsustainable at global scale

Booking.com connects millions of travelers with accommodations, ground transportation, and experiences across hundreds of markets. As e-invoicing and e-reporting mandates accelerated across Europe, the tax team recognized the need for a more strategic approach in relation to the Transport leg of its business. .

Alexandra Dubois (Alex), who leads e-invoicing and billing, saw mandates stacking up quickly in Hungary, Portugal, Malta—each requiring coordination across tax, product and tech, finance, legal, and customer service teams.

"The mandates came in quick succession for Booking.com Transport. We were always compliant and on time, but we knew we needed a more scalable, strategic approach to keep pace with what was coming."
— Alexandra Dubois, Senior Tax Manager

With tax-relevant data spread across multiple systems and each new market requiring significant cross-functional effort, Alex built the business case for a unified solution that could grow with the regulatory landscape.

SOLUTION

A strategic partner for global e-invoicing at Booking Transport’s scale

After building the business case, Alex and her cross-functional team ran an RFP process, evaluating multiple vendors before selecting Fonoa as their strategic e-invoicing partner. The decision came down to a few critical factors:

• Global country coverage. Operating in hundreds of markets, Booking.com Transport needed a partner already live or building toward the same footprint.
• One integration, many mandates. A single API integration with Fonoa, with minimal customization per country, meant the team wouldn't have to rebuild for every new market.
• Focus on customer success and agility. Alex wanted a real partnership, not a rigid vendor relationship. Flexibility in Fonoa's roadmap (not just for countries, but service offerings as well) and a shared sense of urgency mattered. Cultural fit was important too.
• Data validation built in. Fonoa's validation capabilities helped Booking.com Transport ensure they were collecting and formatting the right data for each market without disruptive changes to the customer journey.

"Data validation can’t be treated as a one‑off exercise. The integrity of our operations depends on having reliable, up‑to‑date information, which means building recurring data checks into your tax processes.
— Alexandra Dubois, Senior Tax Manager

Implementation started with centralizing Booking.com Transport's tax-relevant data, which had been scattered across reservation and financial systems, into a single orchestrated source. This initiative was among the first for broader data strategy improvements across the company, positioning the tax team as an early mover internally.

"Of course broader data centralization discussions were happening already. However, orchestrating our data internally to a single source and integration with Fonoa meant putting words into action."
— Alexandra Dubois, Senior Tax Manager

OUTCOME

From months to days: a standardized global compliance engine

The shift from reactive, country-by-country implementations to a unified solution with Fonoa has transformed how Booking.com Transport approaches e-invoicing mandates.

Implementation timelines have shrunk from months to weeks and in some cases even days, and the team now has a standardized playbook for every new country launch. The solution delivers a near-perfect invoice acceptance rate, giving the team confidence that compliance is handled correctly at scale.

Engineering, finance, and customer service teams now follow a repeatable process for onboarding new countries where requirements are clear and relatively simple, instead of scrambling for each new mandate. There are still some complex, unique requirements out there. And with mandates continuing to accelerate toward real-time, transaction-level reporting, Booking's team feels prepared rather than overwhelmed.

"For Booking.com Transport, we have a solid game plan, a standardized way of working, and a strategic solution with Fonoa. We know it works. And as tax authorities become more data-driven and demand real-time reporting, it all comes down to having the right data and the right foundation. We're ready."
— Alexandra Dubois, Senior Tax Manager