Agoda Names New CEO as It Aims to Go Global

Online travel agency Agoda has appointed a new CEO as part of a larger push to move the online travel agency beyond its original focus on Asia Pacific. Parent company Booking Holdings announced Monday it chose John Brown, the company's chief operating officer since 2014, to become Agoda's new CEO as of June 1. Brown replaces Rob Rosenstein, who was a co-founder of Agoda and has been its CEO since November 2010. Rosenstein will become chairman of Agoda and special advisor to Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel. Agoda — headquartered in Singapore but with its largest operational office in Bangkok —has been known as an Asia-focused online travel agency since its founding in 2005 and acquisition by Booking Holdings in 2007. It began early by specializing in discounted leisure hotel bookings across Asia. But Agoda now has set its sights on a bigger goal of competing with its sister brand Booking.com on the global stage. The idea is Agoda would accelerate its expansion beyond Asia. "The history of Agoda was APAC [Asia Pacific]to APAC," said Rosenstein in a recent interview before the management changes. "But even in the early days, Agoda sold rooms in Asia to Europeans, Middle Easterners, and Americans. As the business has scaled, it should come as no surprise that these have developed into more substantial markets and there’s a network effect." "So as you start to sell New York to Koreans, and Seoul to New Yorkers, you start to be able to do a decent job of selling that same New Yorker a room in New York," said Rosenstein. Glenn Fogel's appointment as Booking Holdings CEO was a key factor here in the changes. Almost immediately, Fogel challenged his team to find a way to strengthen the Agoda brand, sources said. Massive Hiring Spree Since early 2016, Agoda has been staffing up, but the speed accelerated in early 2017. Today, Agoda employs 3,900 workers, a 70 percent jump from two years ago and up 200 since the start of the year. That's a lot of so-called Agodans. As of this writing, the brand is advertising more than 150 open positions. While headquartered in Singapore, the company's biggest office is in Bangkok with nearly 1,000 workers. It has 41 offices, per Skift's count. The company says it has "representation" in 53 locations in more than 30 countries. In Europe, last year Agoda opened an office in Berlin, its third in Europe. It also has offices in the UK and Budapest. In November, it opened a fourth o