Booking CMO Adds Apartments to Complex Marketing Mix

Pepijn Rijvers, who's been chief marketing officer of Booking.com for three years, has a big problem — how will the company market 28 million reported listings of hotels, vacation rentals, apartments, guest houses and boats? That's likely more lodging listings than any booking site on earth. Rijvers spins the accommodations bonanza as giving himself "even more to talk about with our customers." The challenge is not to have a muddled message, and websites and apps that confuse time-pressed consumers with an over-abundance of options even as other businesses opt for a curated set of choices instead. At the upcoming Skift Forum Europe in Berlin on April 26, Rijvers will talk about the battle to own the customer. In a TV commercial, Booking.com touts its price guarantee "on all kinds of accommodations." The Booking.com Watersports ad states" "But we can guarantee the best price on any hotel, like this one, or any home, boat, treehouse, yurt — whatever. We guarantee the best