Full Video: Booking Holdings CEO at Skift Global Forum 2022

Booking Holdings has made great strides in its vacation home and short-term rental business, CEO and President Glenn Fogel said at Skift Global Forum in New York City on September 20.

"We're spending a lot of time, energy, and effort building up our home business," Fogel said. "Almost a third of our business is now in the home area, which is really wonderful."

Fogel talked with Dennis Schaal, Skift Founding Editor and Executive Editor, about Booking.com's competition with Airbnb, his vision for the "connected trip", and new insurance-like products that take advantage of financial technology, or fintech. Watch the full video, or read a transcript of it, below.

https://youtu.be/AiriI-1ELAM Interview Transcript

Dennis Schaal: Hello, New York, and all the people online. Glenn, thank you for being here, per usual.

Glenn Fogel: Well, thanks for having me. And these are very strange chairs.

Schaal: Glenn, our goal is to keep you on edge.

Fogel: I'm going to fall off, I think. Good. Go ahead.

Schaal: First, on a more serious note I wanted to... Today is actually the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Maria, and I wanted to give a shout-out to all the people in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic that have just been walloped by Hurricane Fiona. I think 90 percent of Puerto Rico doesn't have power right now. The electrical grid is a mess anyway, and I'm trying to reach friends in the Dominican Republic, haven't heard from them in days, and it's on its way elsewhere. So a shout out to them.

Fogel: I echo that. It's just tragic what's going on there right now. Just so many people affected and hopefully, FEMA and the others can help as quickly as possible.

Schaal: Yep, totally. So, Glenn, talk about some of the cool things you're doing at Booking Holdings. What's the most innovative thing you're doing over there these days, and what does it mean for your company and for the travel industry at large?

Fogel: There are so many things happening at once, it's sometimes hard for me to keep track of everything, but the truth is just getting back to basics has really been the most important thing for us. I heard apparently Sunday night, apparently, the pandemic's over, I heard in the news, but the truth is we're still suffering and we still are digging out from a hole. Yeah, we had great numbers for the second quarter. I mean, it was the first quarter that w