Gillian Tans

Gillian Tans is Booking.com’s Chief Executive Officer, a role she was appointed to in April 2016, She is responsible for the global strategy and operations of Booking.com, including the management of all business units within the organization.

Previously, Gillian served as Booking.com’s President and Chief Operating Officer, a role she had held since 2011, as well as other positions at the helm of Booking.com’s Global Sales, Operations, IT, Content and Customer Care departments. Under her leadership, Booking.com advanced its operations and sales across more than 224 countries and territories around the world.

Career When Gillian joined Booking.com in 2002, the company had a small footprint in Amsterdam, and eventually opened up a second office in Barcelona where she spent so much time there, she created an actual bedroom in the temporary office they were renting. She was quoted saying, “In the past, I'd often visit Barcelona and Berlin, as our first office outside of Amsterdam HQ was in Barcelona. Here our entire team worked in an apartment building. I actually created a bedroom within the office, as we were still signing up partners to be sold on Booking.com, so we were very conscious about what we spent. I visited this office for one week every month to get our business started in Spain.”

During her tenure over the past 14 years, the company has expanded to more than 10,000 employees in 174 offices all over the world who serve Booking.com’s global customers and accommodation partners.

Before joining Booking.com, Gillian spent four years with the international Golden Tulip Worldwide hotel group, where she served as Product Manager, Marketing Manager and Director of Sales. She also worked for the Intercontinental Hotel Group and with a number of independent hotels.

Gillian began her career at Hershey Entertainment and Resorts in Pennsylvania, and is a graduate of the Hotel Management School in Middelburg, in the Netherlands. She speaks English, Dutch, German and French.

Gillian was ranked by Inspiring Fifty on their 50 Most Inspirational Women in Dutch Technology list.

References

• http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=257404318&privcapId=33254
• http://www.pricelinegroup.com/booking-com/
• http://www.afr.com/lifestyle/travel/bookingcoms-gillian-tans-how-a-travel-executive-travels-20150421-1mpo4n#ixzz48qYX3anY
• https://www.tnooz.com/article/booking-coms-coo-on-whats-next-for-the-travel-dynamo/
• https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/gillian-tans-plenary-digital-action-day-2014
• http://www.inspiringfifty.com/nl2016/