Booking Holdings, being one of the biggest travel businesses on the planet, faced most of the same challenges brought about by the coronavirus pandemic - just at a bigger scale.
Furloughs, layoffs, a crash in volumes of activity and how to prepare for the future have occupied the mind of its boss, Glenn Fogel, as they have all leaders in the industry.
But when you're often at the center of the relationship between accommodation providers and consumers, or figuring out how best to connect all the elements together in a trip, being Booking Holdings during 2020 has given the group numerous challenges to overcome.
The first one for Fogel was personally getting over the virus, having been infected in April at the start of the crisis.
Since then the number of items on the recovery agenda at the company are many and wide-ranging, from understanding how and when (perhaps even if) to restart its hefty digital marketing activity to what to give more weight to over the next 12 months as different elements of the industry restart at different rates.
Fogel gives his perspective on these issues and more in a wide-ranging interview at The Phocuswright Conference 2020, in conversation with PhocusWire for one of the main executive interviews at the event last month.
The beginning of the interview references the previous session at the conference, which featured angel investor and outspoken figure in the world of startups, Jason Calacanis (that interview can be seen here).
See the full interview below...
Executive Interview: A Giant Pivot with Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel - Phocuswright Conference