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Former StubHub CTO joins Booking.com

Former StubHub executive Matt Swann has been appointed as chief technology officer at travel e-commerce firm Booking.com.

In his new role, Swann will lead Booking.com’s technology strategy to support the company’s continued growth as a global technology leader in travel and experiences.

Gillian Tans, president and chief executive at Booking.com, said: “His long history leading high-performing tech organisations in the e-commerce space, as well as his broad expertise in everything from AI to event ticketing to international payments will help propel the next waves of innovation and growth at Booking.com, empowering us to develop entirely new travel experiences for our customers.”

In his previous role with StubHub, where Swann also served as CTO, he helped to lead the company’s technology strategy to drive growth and innovation for the secondary ticketing business.

“I’m really thrilled to be embarking on this new adventure with Booking.com,” said Swann. “The brand’s relentless focus on customer-centric innovation, along with their continued applications of new technologies to truly enhance the traveler experience presents an exciting opportunity to help one of the world’s largest global brands continue to push the boundaries of technology innovation.

“I’m looking forward to diving in with the Booking.com team to help further the brand’s mission to help people experience the world.”

Prior to his time with StubHub, Swann held top positions with Citibank, where he set the technical vision and strategy for one of the world’s largest and most scalable financial platforms, as well as vice president and global payments chief at Amazon, where he and his teams delivered a revolutionary mobile commerce system that enabled hundreds of millions of customers to buy and sell on the platform.

Swann makes the move at a time when travel firms are expanding their businesses into the live experiences and ticketing sectors. Earlier this year, Airbnb Experiences saw its business grow 10 times faster than its original Homes feature, with the former notching 1.5 million bookings a year.

Live music events have taken prominence in the Experiences section, leading Airbnb to launch a separate Concerts page in February this year.

Image: Booking.com