Shareholders in hotel booking website Booking.com have rejected the company’s plans to pay large bonuses to senior management, including a €50 million payment to chief executive Glenn Fogel.

The decision is not binding on the board, but is a stern rebuke, the Financieele Dagblad reported.

This year so far, 11 companies listed in the S&P 500 have been in similar situations and in the Netherlands, shareholders in health technology firm Philips also rejected the bonus plan.

Shareholders in Booking.com, which is headquartered in Amsterdam, have voted with a two-thirds majority not to pay the bonuses. The company has not given further details but did say there were ‘questions about the rationale’.

Last year, 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.