Dutch catering sector lobby group KHN has signed up almost 2,000 restaurants to its own restaurant booking website Bookdinners which it hopes will compete with popular established sites such as Iens.

Restaurant owners are unhappy at the high costs they have to pay to Iens – either €1.50 or €2 per person plus a monthly subscription of €29 or €69 – broadcaster NOS said.

The KHN website is currently free but will cost €15 a month from July, with no booking fee per reservation. It expects to have 3,000 members by then.

‘Restaurants have profited from Iens but we note that the power of platforms is increasing and the conditions of use are getting worse,’ spokeswoman Bernadet Naber told NOS. ‘Bookdinners is the answer to restaurants’ complaints.’

Iens was taken over by Tripadvisor in 2015 and the US giant took over its main competitor Couverts in 2016. The website has an estimated 20 million visitors a year and a network of more than 20,000 restaurants.

KHN said it is also looking into launching a website for take-away services. There is widespread anger at the the decision by market leader Thuisbezorgd to increase its commission from 12% to 13% per order at the beginning of this year.