Airbnb has appointed Pepijn Rijvers as its new chief business officer, effective September 1. Rijvers most recently served as chief business officer at Tripadvisor Group, where he joined in April 2025 as president of Viator. Before that, he spent 12 years at Booking.com. The appointment shows Airbnb’s focus on operational depth as it expands beyond its core rental business.
The hire marks the third time in months that Airbnb has recruited executives from its biggest rival. In May, the company announced that Andrea D’Amico and Lou Zameryka would join as vice president of hotels and global head of hotel enterprise, respectively. D’Amico spent 18 years at Booking.com, rising to VP and managing director for EMEA before departing in 2022, while Zameryka spent 17 years at the online travel agency (OTA), departing in 2023, according to LinkedIn. Their combined experience suggests Airbnb is prioritizing hotel integration as part of its broader OTA strategy.
Brian Chesky, Airbnb’s co-founder and CEO, highlighted Rijvers’ Booking.com background in a company-wide email, noting that the two platforms operate differently. While Booking.com focuses on completing transactions for travelers who already know their destination, Airbnb aims to help users discover where to go, where to stay, and what to do once they arrive.
Rijvers’ experience at Viator—where he described the experiences market as an “unclaimed space” in a 2025 PhocusWire interview—aligns with Airbnb’s push into that segment. He emphasized that the experiences category lacked standardized booking technology and consumer search tools, creating an opportunity for Airbnb to build a seamless, integrated marketplace. His perspective on the segment’s immaturity suggests Airbnb will approach it with a focus on infrastructure rather than just inventory.
Rijvers will oversee homes, hotels, enterprise operations, and global markets at Airbnb. His appointment follows the company’s recent partnership with Tripadvisor Group to integrate a selection of experiences onto the Airbnb platform, a move Chesky signaled during the company’s second-quarter earnings call. The shift suggests Airbnb is increasingly positioning itself as an online travel agency (OTA), blending its core short-term rental business with broader travel planning. The integration of Tripadvisor experiences is just the first step.
Rijvers succeeds Dave Stephenson, who left the company after eight years. Stephenson joined as CFO in 2019 and became the first chief business officer in 2024. He will remain involved in the transition until his departure at the end of the year. His departure also triggers organizational changes: Fallon O’Connor, currently VP of communications, will now lead both communications and people operations, consolidating employee experience functions that were previously under Stephenson’s purview. Meanwhile, Hiroki Asai and Ellie Mertz will take over partnerships and corporate development, respectively, with Mertz’s role expanding to include strategy, an area Stephenson had previously managed. The restructuring reflects Airbnb’s need to streamline leadership as it scales its OTA ambitions.
Tripadvisor Group issued a statement thanking Rijvers for his contributions and wishing him well in his new role. The move comes as Airbnb continues to expand beyond rentals.
