Tripadvisor Group has appointed former Booking.com executive Pepijn Rijvers as president of Viator, effective April 1.
It has been nearly a year since former Viator president Ben Drew announced he was stepping down after four years in the role and 12 at Tripadvisor. Rijvers will take up the position from April 1.
Pepijn Rijvers
Rijvers spent more than 12 years at Booking.com in various roles, including managing director of hotels and accommodations and chief marketing officer. He left the company three years ago and soon after joined the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
The announcement comes as Tripadvisor Group focuses on experiences as they become "the strategic and financial center of the group."
During the company's fourth-quarter earnings call, CEO Matt Goldberg said Viator accounted for 46% of total revenue.
"I've talked about our vision to be the most trusted source for travel and experiences. And now experiences is positioned to be the largest revenue contributor relative to Tripadvisor. We will surpass that this year, that's our expectation. And it's also growing very healthy, both in terms of top line and bottom line," Goldberg told PhocusWire in an interview.
Goldberg said he landed on Rijvers as the best person to lead Viator following a global search and that he initially joined as an advisor for six months. Goldberg highlighted Rijvers' experience of helping to scale Booking, understanding marketplaces and his background in product, supply, marketing and data.
"I just can't think of a better person anywhere in the world to lead Viator and help us scale experiences in the next phase of our growth," Goldberg said.
Tripadvisor is also promoting Kristin Dorsett, Viator's chief product officer, to COO of the experiences brand.
Source: PhocusWire