You are leading Expedia for Business, the B2B segment of Expedia group. What key services and benefits does Expedia Group B2B offer?
Our secret ingredient is that we have both a B2C and a B2B business. When you have a B2C arm, you are acutely aware of a traveller’s experience – from their shopping experience to booking, in-trip, post-trip etc. We are constantly getting all those learnings, expertise, customer service support, data, and technology and putting that back into the product and the technology to make it better for our business partners. In fact, we are expanding the technology that powers our own world leading travel brands - Expedia, Hotels.com and FeWo-direkt - to our B2B partners via Travel OS, our travel operating system. You can think of this as tested tech that now powers end-to-end travel experiences for more than 400 million loyalty members of the biggest banks, airlines, and hotel companies in the world. For instance, we have an AI-powered fraud capability that saves billions of dollars in fraud attempts. We knew there was a market for this and have started to roll out this capability for commercial use.
How do you empower travel or non-travel companies to succeed in the universe of travel?
The global travel market is 2 trillion dollars, so there are a lot of opportunities. Our innovation in technology and travel experience empowers companies of any size to succeed in the universe of travel. Last month, we announced that we would power Mastercard’s “Travel with Rewards” loyalty program, enabling cardholders can redeem credit card loyalty points for travel bookings. Travellers making bookings will also gain access to Expedia Group’s customer service – whether speaking to live agents or leveraging the company’s self-serve capabilities, such as the Virtual Agent tool – allowing travellers to make changes or ask questions about their trip. Another great example is our work with our partner Marriott. For more than ten years, we have powered Marriott’s flight booking path with our technology. Since then, we’ve expanded into helping Marriott travellers book package holidays, again thanks to our template technology.
As one of the very few female leaders in the global travel industry: what challenges did you face personally in your career?
To a large extent, I have been very fortunate to have had strong female role models throughout my career who helped me progress. You also can’t ignore women's challenges in the labour market. Women make up 39 per cent of global employment but, during the pandemic, accounted for 54% of overall job losses. In travel, women comprise over half the global workforce but are often concentrated in low-skilled or informal work. Many employers still don’t support them enough through maternity, motherhood, menopause, through being caregivers. These are issues for millions of women that are still under-appreciated. It needs to change. One personal challenge for me was a few years ago when my sister in the U.S. was diagnosed with cancer. I live in London and knew that supporting her the way I wanted to would be frequent time away from work. I was ready to leave my job if necessary and was fortunate that Expedia Group supported me – allowing me to be the sister I wanted to be… As a company, we believe that our team needs a healthy work-life balance and needs to be able to take time for their personal lives. We’re not just workers, we’re people, and we must treat people as such.
How can the lack of female representation in senior positions be overcome?
Senior representation is not just a board or executive management issue; it stems from a lack of support and equity for women. This can start as early as school – take the example of girls' underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, a field poised to be one of the fastest-growing parts of the global workforce in the next decade. Female role models give the next generation of girls someone to look up to, inspiring them to pursue STEM disciplines. And it continues in their careers, from when they apply to join a company to the critical first promotion from entry-level to management. Companies must also take a serious look at the cultural reasons women don’t progress and how they can be more supportive of women in their careers. Female representation is a key priority for me, and I’m proud to say I have a 50/50 gender split on my leadership team.
Does your leadership style differ from male colleagues? And if so, how?
I value being the same person I am at work and in my private life. I don’t know if it is different for male colleagues, but it is what I do. There is no superhero cloak that I put on when I walk through the office entrance; I just try to be me.
Personally, do you prefer a hotel, a resort or a small rental in the middle of nowhere?
One of my dreams is to be in the middle of nowhere with my family, just great food, wine, conversation, and laughter. It’s too easy to get distracted nowadays; it’s good to find a time and place to reconnect with your loved ones, and holidays are the perfect time to do that.
What is your favourite destination and why?
Venice – aside from the magic of the city itself, I have memories of being there at different moments in my life – as a 13-year-old with my mom just starting my teenage years, as a 21-year-old with a best friend after college graduation when we were about to embark on our professional life, and then as a 37-year-old for my brother in law’s wedding, and, most recently it was my first big trip after Covid.
What adventure experience is number one on your bucket list?
I am going to see the gorillas in Uganda. I’ve been on a safari in Tanzania, and it was one of the most amazing vacations ever.
About Ariane Gorin
Ariane is President of Expedia for Business, where she is responsible for Expedia Group’s global B2B business. She joined Expedia Group in 2013 as Vice President of Market Management for EMEA and rapidly expanded the hotel network in the region.
Before, she spent ten years at Microsoft in various sales, distribution and marketing roles and was a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group in San Francisco and Paris.
Gorin received an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University and a BA in economics from the University of California at Berkeley. She currently serves on the board of directors of Adecco Group and is on the advisory council of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London.
