OpenTable CEO Is Out as Kayak Team Takes Lead
Skift Take
The complete consolidation of Kayak and OpenTable's teams means OpenTable — Booking Holdings' only restaurant business — won't have a dedicated leader. It's disappointing to lose one of the few female CEOs in the restaurant tech space, especially the one who's arguably the most visible.
Christa Quarles will step down as OpenTable CEO, effective at the end of the year. Quarles notified OpenTable staff via email this morning.
Kayak CEO Steve Hafner will take the lead at OpenTable with no plans to name a new CEO. "It’s a recognition that we’ve combined both OpenTable and Kayak functionally, by department. We have one marketing team, one finance team, one product team," he said.
Kayak, like OpenTable, is part of the larger Booking Holdings group.
In June parent company Booking Holdings made big executive changes at OpenTable, removing some of Quarles' authority and resources and placing her under Hafner. As part of the restructuring, which Hafner characterized as a directional change in a memo to OpenTable staff, other high-level positions at OpenTable were eliminated, including its chief financial officer role and senior marketing and product positions. Other high-level employees were shifted under Kayak's structure: OpenTable's chief technology officer and general counsel now report to Kayak executives with the same titles.
Despite the consolidation, Ha
