Airbnb has appointed Pepijn Rijvers, formerly an executive at Tripadvisor Group, as the company’s new chief business officer, according to a Tuesday news release.
In his new role, Rijvers is tasked with leading the homes, hotels, global markets and enterprise operations divisions as Airbnb focuses on scaling its hotel strategy.
Rijvers succeeds Dave Stephenson, who joined the short-term rental platform eight years ago and “built the function that established Hotels as a business” within Airbnb, co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky said in a companywide email shared Sept. 1.
Prior to his role as chief business officer at Tripadvisor, Rijvers spent 13 years at Booking.com in various senior leadership roles, which “gave him a clear view of why Airbnb needs to follow a very different path,” according to Chesky.
“[Booking.com] 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,” Chesky wrote. “Pepijn believes that by helping people discover what makes a place special, Airbnb can become the most local brand in the world.”
Airbnb announced additional leadership changes alongside Rijvers’ appointment. He replaces Stephenson, who served as the company's inaugural chief business officer and head of employee experience as well as its former chief financial officer.
“Dave was a steady force through one of Airbnb’s most turbulent and transformational periods,” Chesky said, including the COVID-19 pandemic and Airbnb’s initial public offering in 2020.
Fallon O’Connor was named head of communications and people, while the performance and rewards and workplace operations teams will join the finance division and report to Ellie Mertz, Airbnb’s current CFO.
Earlier this year, the company named Ahmad Al-Dahle, formerly lead of Meta’s generative artificial intelligence efforts, as its new chief technology officer. Gus Fuldner was also named global head of operations.
The latest leadership announcements also come as Airbnb expands its hotel business, last month signing an agreement with Lark Hotels, a boutique hotel management and development company. The partnership adds more than 75 Lark properties on the platform.
The agreement also builds on Airbnb’s strategy of adding "distinctive” properties as travelers seek the character and sense of place that boutique and independent hotels provide, according to Lou Zameryka, head of hotel enterprise and connectivity partnerships at Airbnb.
