Airbnb Appoints Former Tripadvisor & Booking.com Executive to Lead Growth

Airbnb - the global holiday accommodation rental giant - has appointed former Tripadvisor and Booking.com executive Pepijn Rijvers as chief business officer with responsibility for the homes, hotels, global markets and enterprise operations divisions.

Mr Rijvers joins Airbnb from Tripadvisor, where he was in charge of consumer businesses and hotels; and previously spent 13 years in various senior management roles at Booking.com.

Airbnb Co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky, said: “Pepijn was one of the strongest operators ever at Booking, and his experience there gave him a clear view of why Airbnb needs to follow a very different path. Booking is an intent platform: people arrive knowing where they’re going and use it to complete a transaction. Airbnb has the opportunity to start much earlier—helping people discover where to go, where to stay, and what to do when they get there.

"Pepijn believes that by helping people discover what makes a place special, Airbnb can become the most local brand in the world. He cares deeply about design, culture, and innovation, and the more time I’ve spent with him, the clearer it’s become that he has both the operating depth and the soul to be a transformational leader at Airbnb."

"Pepijn’s also a true entrepreneur. He started his first business at 17. When he joined Booking.com in 2008, it was the first time he’d joined a company as an employee. His entrepreneurial mindset shapes how he leads. He can move from the 50,000-foot question of why we’re doing something all the way down to the smallest details of how it works. He stays close to the team at all levels and isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty."