Latest news with #GlennFogel
Skift
3 days ago
- Business
- Skift
Travel's Best Paid CEOs: Where They Rank
The pay for a dozen travel company CEOs in the S&P 500 attracted compensation greater than half of their peers in the S&P 500. How does the compensation of travel CEOs compare with peers in the S&P 500? The three highest-compensated CEOs of travel and travel-related companies in 2024 were Glenn Fogel of Booking Holdings ($44.8 million), Bob Iger of Disney ($41.1 million), and Uber's Dara Khosrowshahi ($39.4 million), according to the Wall Street Journal's annual survey of S&P 500 CEO pay. Fogel ranked 16th among all S&P 500 CEOs, Iger was 19th, and Khosrowshahi was 21st — placing all three in the top 25. We included Iger and Khosrowshahi in our list. Although Disney is a media and e
Middle East Eye
02-05-2025
- Business
- Middle East Eye
'Stop Booking Apartheid' targets Booking.com's Israeli settlement profits
A coalition of workers and activists has launched a campaign targeting online travel agency which they accuse of profiting from Israeli war crimes. The 'Stop Booking Apartheid' campaign, led by Palestinian and left-wing organisations including Progressive International and BDS Netherlands, is targeting 55 listings in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. The travel site, which is headquartered in the Netherlands and has a parent company in the US, also lists sites in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights. Israeli settlements built on stolen Palestinian land are considered illegal under international law. has featured listings in 12 different illegal West Bank Settlements, seven settlement neighbourhoods in occupied East Jerusalem, and 28 settlements in the Syrian Golan Heights. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Launched on Friday, the 'Stop Booking Apartheid' campaign is also led by No Tech for Apartheid, a coalition of Google and Amazon workers campaigning against the companies' involvement with Israel, and a newly formed group made up of workers in response to the 'internal repression of Palestine solidarity in 'They want us to pretend that providing war criminals with a revenue stream is business as usual' - worker 'We wish more of our co-workers realised what the company is really asking of us,' one worker, a member of the group, said. 'They want us to pretend that providing war criminals with a revenue stream is business as usual. It's time to put an end to this complicity - or else becomes a shameful, indelible stain on our resumes and conscience.' Kimia Talebi, the Watermelon Index organiser for Progressive International, added: ' workers are refusing to be complicit in the displacement of Palestinians, yet they are being silenced and ignored by the company. Workers have a right to know about the legal risks posed to them in processing illegal settlements." did not respond to Middle East Eye's request for comment by time of publication. In 2024, Booking Holdings recorded a gross profit of $23.7bn. Its CEO is American former investment banker Glenn Fogel. UN illegal settlement database On 8 May, Stop Booking Apartheid will carry out a day of action at offices around the world, including at the company's headquarters in Amsterdam and in Manchester, northern England. BV and its parent company, Booking Holdings Inc, which is incorporated in the US tax haven state of Delaware, are both listed on the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights database of businesses operating in Israeli settlements. Watermelon Index names and shames companies complicit in Israel's war on Gaza Read More » Companies are placed on this database if they engage in any number of listed activities, including the 'provision of services and utilities supporting the maintenance and existence of settlements', 'the supply of equipment for the demolition of housing and property', and the 'use of natural resources, in particular water and land, for business purposes'. Like Expedia and Airbnb, is included in the database for facilitating tourism and hospitality services in the settlements. In 2022, said it would introduce a warning for customers visiting listings in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. But a brief search conducted by Middle East Eye revealed locations in Israeli settlements listed without any such warning, just the inclusion of 'Israeli settlement' in the address, with some advertising that they are "excellent" or "good" locations. One such listing includes a set of rave reviews, the most recent of which lauds the 'stunning location' and 'biblical views'. Rights groups file complaint against for listing Israeli settlements Read More » In February, analysis carried out by the Guardian found 760 rooms being advertised in hotels, apartments and other holiday rentals in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, on and Airbnb. Dutch NGO Somo said it found that had listed 70 properties in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank between 2021 and 2023. Somo accused of violating the Netherlands' anti-money laundering rules by profiting from listings in illegal Israeli settlements. In May last year, legal and human rights groups in the Netherlands filed a criminal complaint against to hold it "to account for profiting from the commission of war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territory". At the time, denied the claims and said there are no laws prohibiting listings in Israeli settlements, adding that various US state laws would prohibit divesting from the region. Japanese guesthouse suspended The Stop Booking Apartheid campaign comes after the Guesthouse Wind Villa in Kyoto revealed on Thursday that it had been 'suddenly suspended' by 'without any prior inquiry, just three days after receiving a letter from the Israeli ambassador'. The guesthouse had previously asked an Israeli guest, a former combat medic in the navy reserves, to sign a declaration confirming he had not participated in war crimes during his military service in Gaza. A hotel in Japan asked an Israeli tourist to sign a declaration that he had not committed war crimes during his military service as a condition to check in, Ynetnews reported on Saturday. The tourist said this occurred after he presented his Israeli passport at reception. — Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) April 27, 2025 Gilad Cohen, Israel's ambassador in Japan, wrote in a letter to the governor of Kyoto that: 'This discriminatory act, based solely on nationality, caused the guest significant emotional distress." 'We trust that you will take the necessary steps to help ensure that such cases do not occur again and that Kyoto remains a welcoming destination for all visitors,' the letter stated. Replying to Cohen in an open letter, the Wind Villa pointed out that it had asked guests from other countries to sign the declaration and that it was a requirement of all guests identified as 'potentially having been involved in war crimes'. Now, has removed the Kyoto guesthouse from its platform, telling the owners that, 'We have detected that you were discriminatory towards guests'. However, according to Wind Villa, the Israeli guest did not use to make his reservation.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Booking Holdings posts upbeat quarterly results helped by international travel
(Reuters) -Online travel agency Booking Holdings beat analysts' expectations for first-quarter profit and revenue on Tuesday, as sustained demand for international travel helped the company offset weakness in the U.S. amid fears of a recession. The company has been benefiting from a sustained rise in tourism to Southeast Asian destinations from high-income Chinese tourists. This has also helped drive up the price of lodgings and travel services in the region. However, U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on imports have caused widespread worries of a recession, resulting in a pullback in consumer sentiment as well as in discretionary spending. Earlier today, hotel operator Hilton Worldwide cut its forecast for 2025 room revenue growth, becoming the first U.S.-based hotel operator to temper its outlook as consumer spending on travel takes a hit from a global trade war. Booking posted an adjusted profit of $24.81 per share for the quarter ended March 31, compared with analysts' average estimate of $17.33 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG. "There is uncertainty in the market around the near-term geopolitical and macroeconomic environment," said CEO Glenn Fogel. Total room nights for Booking came in at 319 million nights during the quarter, an increase of 7% from last year. It posted first-quarter gross bookings of $46.7 billion, a year-over-year increase of 7%. Total quarterly revenue was $4.76 billion, up from $4.41 billion a year earlier. Analysts, on average, estimated revenue at $4.59 billion.
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Online Travel Pay Roundup: Booking CEO Leads With $126 Million
Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel earned $126.4 million in "compensation actually paid" in 2024, according to the most recent financial filings with the SEC. That calculation includes the fair value of awards for 2022, 2023 and 2024. Current Expedia CEO Ariane Gorin, who took the job on May 13, 2024 and formerly was president of Expedia for Business, earned $37.3 million in the compensation actually paid calculation. The SEC introduced the "compensation actually paid" starting in 2023 reporting for pay during 2022. It aims to account for the value of unvested stock and option awards as of year-end. For example, a significant driver of Gorin's award value was the 23% jump in Expedia's share price last year. In summary compensation tables, the SEC also requires disclosures of CEOs' total compensation award. Fogel's pay award in 2024 was $44.8 million, Gorin's was $24.9 million, and Expedia former CEO Peter Kern, who was in the post four-plus months that year before Gorin took over, was awarded $485,500. These compensation awards typically included salary, bonus, stock and option awards, incentives and other compensation, such as for corporate jet use and insurance premiums. CEO Compensation Booking Holdings and Expedia Group 2024 CEO Company All-In Pay % Change CAP* % Change Glenn Fogel Booking Holdings $44.8 million -(4%) $126.4 million -(9.4%) Ariane Gorin Expedia Group $24.9 million N/A $37.3 million N/A * Note: CAP means Compensation Actually Paid and reflects fluctuations in the value of equity awards and share prices by the end of the year. Source: Security and Exchange Commission filings In assessing Fogel's 2024 performance, the board pointed to his "exemplary leadership;" company records in revenue, gross bookings and room nights; growth in short-term rentals, expansion of the Genius loyalty program into additional verticals, and further integration of AI. The median salary of Booking Holdings' employees was $96,228 in 2024, and the CEO to employee pay ratio was 466:1. Expedia didn't detail specifically how Gorin's performance impacted her compensation, but stated that the most important metrics in determining executive compensation are stock price performance, adjusted EBITDA, and operational efficiency. In 2023, Expedia's share price jumped 73%, far outperforming market averages. The company notched record adjusted EBITDA, and "substantially completed the company's technological transformation and strategic vision for a platform operating model," Expedia stated. Though Gorin wasn't in the CEO role for the full year, Expedia used what her full-year compensation would have been to calculate the CEO to median employee pay ratio. Expedia's ratio was 224:1. The median salary at Expedia in 2024 was $111,666. Kern's $485,000 all-in compensation in 2024 was relatively modest for several reasons. He worked only to mid-May as CEO and relinquished his vice chairmanship and board role in September 2024. More importantly, after being awarded $296 million in compensation in 2021, Kern received no equity compensation in the following years. The compensation actually paid to Booking's Fogel ($126.4 million) in 2024 greatly exceeded that of the highest paid hotel CEO: Hilton's Christopher Nassetta was awarded $58.7 million. Gorin's $37.3 million would have put her in third place among hotel CEOs, ahead of Wyndham CEO Geoffrey Ballotti at $25.4 million. Other online travel agencies have yet to report CEO pay for 2024. Correction: We incorrectly reported former Expedia CEO Peter Kern's "compensation actually paid" figure in 2024. It was - ($116.5 million), not $116.5 million. Get breaking travel news and exclusive hotel, airline, and tourism research and insights at Sign in to access your portfolio
Euronews
03-03-2025
- Business
- Euronews
The Big Question: How will AI transform the travel industry?
Did you know that tourism accounts for 10% of the EU's gross domestic product (GDP), according to the European Parliament? Statista also estimates that revenue for the EU-27 travel and tourism market will hit $220.1 billion (€210.3bn) in 2025. The rebound in travel following the pandemic has driven much of the sector's gains in the past few years. Glenn Fogel, CEO of says: 'We have just seen such incredible desire to travel. You can actually see it, how much people want to travel because as soon as a country opened up, people would just jump to travel. So we got a big, big boost for the first few years of coming out of Covid. That desire to travel, it never ends. 'Now, of course, the question is, is it going to continue or not? And sometimes people talk about, 'Well, prices are so high, so will people be able to travel or is there going to be a recession and people won't have the money to travel?'' In this episode of The Big Question, Glenn sat down with Angela Barnes to discuss the issues shaping the travel sector: sustainable tourism, overtourism and the wildest future trends. Balancing sustainability with profitability With an increased focus on sustainability in the travel sector, travel companies and their partners are facing more hurdles in maintaining profit margins while increasing sustainability options for consumers. Fogel emphasises: 'Sustainability is critical for the future of our industry. Our mission is to make it easier for everybody to experience the world. If the world isn't worth experiencing, that's not going to be good for travel.' Rapidly changing and often overlapping regulations are also posing barriers to profitability in the travel sector, by forcing companies to invest significant time and resources in working out how to adhere to them. EU regulations such as the Digital Markets Act (DMA) have contributed to higher costs and more cumbersome processes for European companies like unlike other global competitors like Google, which are far bigger and can more efficiently handle overlapping policies as well as rapid regulatory changes. Other non-EU travel companies, often as big as also don't have to adhere to EU regulations. That significantly affects ability to compete with them, while also seeming to 'punish' other successful European travel companies and the domestic travel sector as a whole. Regarding those competitors, Fogel says: 'They don't have their engineers dealing with the regulations. Their engineers are creating better services for their consumers. So my thinking is: Why did we come up with this? We're going to make things harder for the European companies to compete against the global travel industry.' How is AI likely to change travel? Artificial intelligence tools such as AI trip planner, help travellers with more personalised itineraries, while also providing more customer support. However, Fogel notes: 'What's more important though, in the future is a thing called agentic AI and that's an area where the computer is doing the work for you. So instead of you having to be typing into the browser or the app all the information and going through it, it's doing it for you.' Agentic AI is likely to allow the entire travel industry network, from consumer to supplier and the partners in between to coordinate through their own AI agents and plan travel solutions. This will, unfortunately, be likely to lead to job losses, particularly in the customer service area. 'The future is not supersonic but hypersonic' Coming to the future of travel, Fogel said: 'But what's really interesting in the future is not supersonic but hypersonic. And where you actually are going into the edge of space and you'll be able to do a trip from, say, London to Australia in a fraction of the time it takes now to do that. Now, will it happen or not? Who knows? Part of the issue is sustainability.' He clarified that hypersonic travel is unlikely to be introduced in the next decade and that has no investment in it currently. However, the company would be likely to add it to its inventory if and when tickets for hypersonic travel are available for sale. Fogel also highlighted that will not be providing private jets for ultra luxury travel, saying: 'That's not something that we do and we have no plan to do it. It's a very, very small segment and it's not very sustainable.'
