Holiday website Booking.com has amended its bonus strategy for the company’s board following last year’s protests by shareholders, the Financieele Dagblad reported on Friday.

Last June two thirds of shareholders voted against the planned bonuses for senior management, including a €50 million payment to chief executive Glenn Fogel.

The company went ahead with the payment anyway, but this year has introduced new requirements for the board which mean Fogel will miss out on $1.8 million of his cash bonus and the other board members $1.5 million between them, the FD said.

Fogel will still receive a bonus totalling $30 million, much of which is in performance-related shares.

The company described the move as an ‘exceptional’ intervention. Booking’s AGM takes place on June 6 and it ‘remains to be seen if shareholders find it sufficient’, the FD said.

In 2020, Booking.com paid back the €65m it received from the Dutch government to help pay wages in the first three months of the coronavirus pandemic, following the public and political outcry over a €28m bonus package for its three top executives.

Booking’s results improved dramatically in 2022 following the lifting of coronavirus restrictions on travel.

The company booked record sales of $17 billion, an increase of 71% on 2021 on a constant-currency basis. Net income for the full year 2022 was $3 billion, an increase of 162% on 2021.