Airbnb Names Ex-Booking.com Hotel Boss and Viator President as Chief Business Officer

Source Skift: Airbnb Names Ex-Booking.com Hotel Boss and Viator President as Chief Business Officer

What It Says Airbnb has appointed Pepijn Rijvers as its new Chief Business Officer (CBO), tasking the industry veteran with scaling both the company's core homes business and its expanding hotel inventory. Rijvers brings over a decade of experience from Booking.com, where he led hotel and marketing initiatives, and most recently served as President of Viator. He replaces Dave Stephenson, whose departure marks the second major C-suite exit for Airbnb in nine months. Under a concurrent internal reorganization, responsibility for experiences and services will move to Chief Experience Officer Hiroki Asai, allowing Rijvers to focus exclusively on supply growth for homes and boutique hotels.

Why It Matters The appointment of a high-profile executive from Booking.com—Airbnb’s primary global rival—is a clear signal that the company is moving aggressively into the traditional and boutique hotel space. By hiring the person who previously managed Booking’s hotel and short-term rental divisions, Airbnb is signaling it will no longer rely solely on "alternative" accommodations. For short-term rental (STR) operators, this indicates increased competition for platform visibility as boutique hotels become a "strategic priority" for the brand.

Useful Signals

• Hotel Expansion: Airbnb recently added thousands of boutique hotel units across 20 major global cities, including New York, London, and Singapore.
• Leadership Flux: The transition follows the December 2025 departure of CTO Ari Balogh, suggesting a broader evolution of Airbnb’s top-tier leadership team.
• Strategy Shift: CEO Brian Chesky aims to position Airbnb as a "discovery platform for where to go, stay, and what to do," rather than a purely transactional booking site.
• Organizational Focus: Splitting the CBO’s duties allows for a more specialized focus on supply acquisition (Rijvers) versus product experience (Asai).

STR Tech Report Take This is a "war hire" intended to strip market share from established Online Travel Agencies (OTAs). Rijvers’ background at Viator also suggests that while his immediate mandate is supply, his influence will likely help Airbnb better integrate its "Experiences" wing with its lodging inventory. STR technology vendors should anticipate Airbnb evolving its API and onboarding tools to accommodate professional hotel management systems more seamlessly. For individual hosts and property managers, this move reinforces the need to professionalize listings, as they are now officially competing against the inventory standards of the global hotel industry.

Original Source https://skift.com/2026/09/01/airbnb-names-ex-booking-com-hotel-boss-and-viator-president-as-chief-business-officer/