What Agoda's New Tech-Heavy CEO Will Mean for the Booking Holdings Business
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Booking Holdings announced Omri Morgenshtern as the new CEO of its online travel agency division Agoda, effective July 1. John Brown who after 11 years at Agoda — four years as CEO — will become chairperson.
Morgenshtern currently serves as the chief operating officer of Agoda.
“The business will continue to benefit from Brown’s knowledge and expertise … Over the years, Omri has played a critical role in directing Agoda's product and service offerings,” Glenn Fogel, CEO of Booking Holdings, said in a press statement, while offering no reason for the change in leadership.
Morgenshtern was earlier the co-founder and CEO of Israel-based Qlika, a startup specializing in online marketing optimization, which Booking Holdings acquired in 2014.
After the acquisition, the Qlika team joined Agoda to automate and scale its marketing systems. Morgenshtern joined Agoda as senior product owner, algorithms and learning systems, and was later promoted to vice president of product development, then to chief product officer before taking on the role of chief operating officer in 2018.
Calling it a sensible decision to appoint a tech-heavy founder as CEO, Dan Lynn, co-founder at Zuzu Hospitality, said the pace of innovation is only increasing in online travel agencies.
"These travel companies need to co
