10 Things You Didn’t Know about Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel

Glenn Fogel is the CEO of Booking Holdings. For those who are unfamiliar with that name, Booking Holdings is a corporation that is responsible for running a number of travel websites such as Booking.com and Priceline.com. Combined, these websites provide travel services in about 40 languages to interested individuals in about 200 countries. Here are 10 things that you may or may not have known about Glenn Fogel:

1. Studied Economics

For his bachelor’s degree, Fogel went to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School where he proceeded to study economics. On the whole, while economics might not be a hard science, it nonetheless offers a fair amount of useful insight into economic matters, meaning that it is an excellent choice for students who are interested in entering the world of business.

2. Studied Law

Later, Fogel went to Harvard Law School where he studied law. As a result, he is now a member of the state bar association in New York.

3. Spent Some Time As an Investment Banker

Before he became involved with travel websites, Fogel spent some time as an investment banker. However, even then, he became connected with his eventual field to some extent, seeing as how he specialized in air transportation in those days. Since then, it seems safe to say that his expertise and experience with the air transportation industry has proven beneficial to some extent for his current role.

4. Joined The Priceline Group

Fogel joined Booking Holdings when it was still called The Priceline Group. For those who are unfamiliar, Bookings Holdings started out as Priceline.com Incorporated, which makes sense because that was the corporation’s initial travel website. In turn, Priceline.com became The Priceline Group, which was the name that saw use from 2014 to 2018. It isn’t until very recently that The Priceline Group became Booking Holdings.

5. Overlooked International Operations

For a time, Fogel overlooked The Priceline Group’s international operations, which was a huge responsibility to say the least. Moreover, it prepared him for his current role, seeing as how the skills honed by overseeing fields such as strategy, marketing, and technology prepared him for overseeing the same fields but on an even bigger scale.

6. Strong Believer in Booking Holdings’ Acquisition Strategy

When interviewed by CNBC, Fogel voiced support for Booking Holdings’ acquisition strategy, which can be summed up as buying other travel websites. Essentially, he said that said strategy was a critical reason for the corporation reaching where it is now, so much so that he suggested that they might have been acquired out by some other corporation if they hadn’t been the one doing the acquiring.

7. Doesn’t See the Acquisition As the Hard Part

Speaking of which, Fogel doesn’t see the acquisition as the hard part. Instead, once the acquisition has been completed, the bigger challenge comes from getting the two different sets of operations to work well together, which is something that can result in further costs because it is much easier said than done.

8. Sees Plenty of Potential in Asia

Like a lot of other business people, Fogel sees plenty of potential in Asia. Essentially, people in Asia are getting richer. As a result, more and more of them are becoming more and more interested in seeing the world. Likewise, the same is true for people who want to visit Asia as well, not least because there are a lot of Asian regions with their own individual attractions.

9. Has Been Teaming Up with Chinese Counterparts to Break Into Chinese Outbound Market

Traditionally, foreign travel companies have had a hard time breaking into the Chinese outbound market. Fogel and Booking Holdings has been investing in Chinese travel services such as Ctrip and Meituan Dianping to increase their share of that particular market, which serves both sides’ interests. Booking Holdings benefit by breaking into the Chinese outbound market, while its Chinese counterparts make it easier for them to offer travel services for their customers for foreign countries.

10. The Name Change Was Prompted By Booking Being the Biggest Subsidiary

The name change was prompted by the fact that Priceline.com isn’t as big as Booking.com. As a result, the previous name was hindering Fogel and Booking Holdings’s efforts to work with their counterparts in foreign markets because of name recognition issues. In Fogel’s opinion, it makes sense for the corporation to have its name reflect the biggest of its constituent subsidiaries.