Airbnb poaches Amazon’s Prime boss
Airbnb is bringing on Greg Greeley, Amazon’s current VP of Prime & Delivery Experience, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky wrote in a blog post today. His first day at Airbnb will be March 18.
At Airbnb, Greeley will be responsible for leading the home-sharing startup’s Homes unit. The Homes unit entails Airbnb’s standard offering as well as its recently launched Plus offering, which is geared toward bougie high-end travelers who prioritize “quality and comfort.” Greeley will also oversee Airbnb Collections, the Superhost program and eventual Superguest program. He will report directly to Chesky.
“Even among an amazing and diverse slate of candidates, Greg stood out for his phenomenal customer-first approach, global operations excellence, and a decades-long commitment to developing and mentoring talented leaders,” Chesky wrote.
Greeley joins Airbnb after 18 years of work at Amazon, where he held a number of senior leadership positions. Greeley is credited with helping create Amazon Prime and previously built Amazon’s European business.
In a LinkedIn post last night, Greeley announced his departure from Amazon, saying it was time for him to take on a new challenge. Now, it’s clear what that next challenge is.
“Words can’t express how excited I am to join the Airbnb team,” Greeley said in a statement. “I’ve used Airbnb for years, and the chance to work here and expand the positive impact its community is having around the world is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
As Chesky noted in his blog post, Airbnb ultimately envisions a world when everyone can belong anywhere.
“We have made a lot of progress on the ‘anywhere’ part,” Chesky wrote. “But over the next ten years, we want to make more progress on the ‘everyone can belong’ part. We want one billion guests to experience Airbnb, living like a local and being welcomed in every home. Greg is the perfect person to lead our Homes business and help us realize this vision.”
Although Chesky has said Airbnb has no plans to go public this year, Airbnb is continuing to set itself up as a dominant player in the travel and hospital industry from a product perspective. In January, Airbnb brought on outgoing American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault to its board of directors. Though, the departure of CFO Laurence Tosi followed shortly after.
Annually, Airbnb brings in billions of dollars in revenue, is profitable on an EBITDA basis and has more than $5.5 billion on its balance sheet, according to the company. With Greeley on board, Airbnb is better positioning itself to grow its higher-end products and bring in more revenue.
Featured Image: Airbnb