Booking.com coding interview
questions, leaked.
16 problems reported across recent Booking.com interviews. Top patterns: array, hash table, string. The list below is what most reported candidates actually saw, plus the honest play if you can't grind all of it.
Booking.com's assessment hits array and hash-table patterns hard. Out of 16 reported problems, 9 are array-focused and 6 touch hash tables. You're looking at medium difficulty as the baseline: 9 of 16 land there, with only 4 easy warm-ups and 3 genuinely hard problems. That's tilted toward the middle, which means execution matters more than flashy algorithms. If you blank on a sliding window or hash-table collision mid-assessment, StealthCoder runs invisibly and surfaces a working solution in seconds. The real risk isn't pattern unfamiliarity. It's choking on something you've seen before.
Top problems at Booking.com
| # | Problem | Diff | Frequency | Pass % | Patterns |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Reward Top K Students | MEDIUM | 100.0 | 46% | Array · Hash Table · String |
| 02 | Sliding Window Maximum | HARD | 87.5 | 48% | Array · Queue · Sliding Window |
| 03 | Delete Duplicate Folders in System | HARD | 87.5 | 54% | Array · Hash Table · String |
| 04 | K Highest Ranked Items Within a Price Range | MEDIUM | 85.5 | 45% | Array · Breadth-First Search · Sorting |
| 05 | Two Out of Three | EASY | 85.5 | 77% | Array · Hash Table · Bit Manipulation |
| 06 | Coloring A Border | MEDIUM | 85.5 | 50% | Array · Depth-First Search · Breadth-First Search |
| 07 | Order Two Columns Independently | MEDIUM | 85.5 | 61% | Database |
| 08 | Reconstruct Itinerary | HARD | 74.9 | 44% | Depth-First Search · Graph · Eulerian Circuit |
| 09 | Integer to Roman | MEDIUM | 66.4 | 69% | Hash Table · Math · String |
| 10 | Maximal Square | MEDIUM | 66.4 | 49% | Array · Dynamic Programming · Matrix |
| 11 | Permutations | MEDIUM | 60.5 | 81% | Array · Backtracking |
| 12 | Backspace String Compare | EASY | 60.5 | 49% | Two Pointers · String · Stack |
| 13 | LRU Cache | MEDIUM | 52.0 | 45% | Hash Table · Linked List · Design |
| 14 | Roman to Integer | EASY | 52.0 | 65% | Hash Table · Math · String |
| 15 | Number of Islands | MEDIUM | 52.0 | 62% | Array · Depth-First Search · Breadth-First Search |
| 16 | Valid Parentheses | EASY | 52.0 | 42% | String · Stack |
Frequencies derived from public community-tagged interview reports. Click a row to view on LeetCode.
You have a week, maybe less. You can't out-grind the list above. StealthCoder runs invisibly during the actual Booking.com OA. The proctor cannot see it. Screen share cannot detect it. Built because the OA filter rejects engineers who'd pass the on-site. That's a broken filter. This is the workaround.
Get StealthCoder- array9 · 56%
- hash table6 · 38%
- string6 · 38%
- matrix4 · 25%
- depth first search3 · 19%
- heap priority queue3 · 19%
- breadth first search3 · 19%
- math2 · 13%
- sorting2 · 13%
- stack2 · 13%
Arrays dominate the prep surface. You'll see them paired with sorting, heaps, and matrix operations, so don't treat array problems as trivial. Hash tables are the second pillar, often combined with strings or used for deduplication and ranking logic. Graph and search problems (DFS, BFS) show up but stay modular: Reconstruct Itinerary and Number of Islands are the only two that really demand graph thinking. The hard tier includes Sliding Window Maximum (monotonic queue discipline), Delete Duplicate Folders (trie plus hashing), and Reconstruct Itinerary (Eulerian path). Start with the 9 medium problems and lock in array manipulation and hash-table logic before attempting the hard ones. StealthCoder is your safety net if a dynamic programming or trie pattern surfaces during the live assessment and you hit a wall.
Companies with similar patterns
If you prepped for Booking.com, these companies recycle ~60% of the same topics.
You've seen the list.
Now make sure you pass Booking.com.
Memorizing every problem above in a week is a fantasy. StealthCoder is the hedge: an AI overlay that's invisible during screen share. It reads the problem on screen and surfaces a working solution in under 2 seconds. Built because the OA filter rejects engineers who'd pass the on-site. That's a broken filter. This is the workaround. Works on HackerRank, CodeSignal, CoderPad, and Karat.
Booking.com interview FAQ
How many array problems should I solve before the assessment?+
Target the 9 array-focused problems reported. They span sliding windows, subarrays, matrix traversal, and ranking. Prioritize Sliding Window Maximum and Maximal Square because they force you to think about state updates and space-filling. The rest will feel like variations once you nail those two.
Is hash-table prep enough, or do I need to study tries and graph algorithms?+
Hash tables are core (6 problems), so lock that in first. Tries and graphs are lower frequency. One reported problem (Delete Duplicate Folders) uses tries; two use graph patterns. If you're short on time, hash tables, arrays, and strings will carry you further than drilling graph theory.
What's the difficulty distribution I should expect?+
56% medium, 25% easy, 19% hard. That means you'll spend most of your assessment in the medium tier. Easy problems are confidence builders; hard ones might cost time. Expect to solve the easy batch quickly, grind through mediums, and either solve or skip the hard tier depending on how much time you have left.
Should I study dynamic programming or backtracking before the OA?+
Both appear in the dataset, but neither dominates. Maximal Square requires DP thinking, and Permutations tests backtracking. If you're fluent in those patterns already, brush up. Otherwise, focus on arrays and hash tables first and handle DP or backtracking as they arise during the assessment.
What's the fastest way to prep if I have one week?+
Day 1-3: solve the 4 easy problems and get comfortable. Day 4-5: grind the 9 mediums, focusing on arrays and hash-table combinations. Day 6-7: tackle one hard problem per day and make sure you understand where you got stuck. Skip anything you haven't seen. The assessment will show you the rest in real time.