Ben Drew announces Viator departure after 12 years at Tripadvisor

After 12 years at Tripadvisor and four years as president of Viator, Ben Drew announced Tuesday he has made the “difficult decision” to step down.

“Through the four toughest years of my career, I was honored to stand alongside the team at Viator,” Drew wrote on LinkedIn, calling his time there “the journey of a lifetime.”

Drew said in his post that he is leaving April 12 for a "new opportunity in a new industry" and would share more details on that soon.

In his announcement, he pointed to the beginning of his tenure as president, rooted in the throes of the COVID pandemic and shared some of the company’s successes under his leadership.

“We didn’t just survive – we thrived,” Drew wrote in his post. “In 2023 we hit $737M in revenue, growing at 49% YoY, and became profitable. Moreover, we helped millions of people discover experiences they’ll remember forever and thousands of businesses make a living.”

He continued his list naming the creation of Accelerate, customer satisfaction rates, the polishing of travelers’ experiences from discovery to booking, partnerships, financial marks and consumer brand development as pride points.

Appreciation for Drew poured in from competitors, colleagues and industry leaders on LinkedIn and beyond.

Douglas Quinby, co-founder and CEO of Arival, expressed admiration for Drew - particularly during the pandemic period, which effectively shut down the travel industry mere weeks into Drew's period as president.

"There were more than a few in our industry who questioned whether Ben was up to the challenge," said Quinby. "Well, four years later, and Ben has overseen the brand during a period of extraordinary recovery and growth, and the financial performance of the company – 2023 revenue up more than 150% over 2019 and approaching full-year profitability – speaks for itself."

And Tripadvisor CEO Matt Goldberg weighed in on LinkedIn, expressing gratitude for Drew’s contributions during his residence at the company.

“Thank you Ben for your leadership at Viator over the last four years,” wrote Goldberg. “You and your talented team have an impressive track record of success, a well-honed strategy for building on Viator’s leadership position in travel’s fastest-growing category, and a strong plan in place to continue our momentum. Thanks to your hard work, Viator's future continues to be bright."

Viator confirmed Drew's announcement and looked to the future: “Ben has been an exceptional leader to our team, our travelers, our operators, and our partners," said a Viator spokesperson in an emailed statement. “We’re carefully considering our decision on Viator’s next leader.  In the interim, the business remains in the safe hands of our very capable and tenured management team.”

Departure comes on heels of sale speculation

Notably, Drew’s notice of resignation comes months after speculation started to swirl around the sale of Tripadvisor ahead of the company’s February earnings call. Goldberg was asked by an analyst how the potential sale might impact “the potential spinoff” of Viator - at the time, he said it wasn’t a priority. 

“I think you can see that our focus on the traveler, the experience they have with us and the way our product delivers over and over for them and has really shown itself to prove out in the results that we’ve seen to date. And that remains true. We are totally focused on the business,” Goldberg said on the February call.

“The announcement this week doesn’t change that,” Goldberg continued. “I’m focused on moving things forward and focused on our strategies, which I think are clear and really delivering and I know that our teams are doing the same."

Quinby alluded to the speculation in his comments on Drew's departure as shared with PhocusWire. Viator, he said, has plenty more to offer.

"While it’s definitely a loss for Tripadvisor, and Ben’s presence in our industry will be missed, Viator has a deep bench of talent," said Quinby. "There is still so much opportunity – and so much work still to be done – in travel experiences. The one question about the future really has to do with Tripadvisor, and to what extent that future includes – or should include – Viator.”

A future of "OTA-like profit margins"?

Drew spoke on the experiences sector during a Center Stage session in November at The Phocuswright Conference on tours, experiences and activities.

The experiences sector is rich for growth. And Viator has proven that under Drew's leadership - progressively accounting for a larger and larger percentage of Tripadvisor’s revenue. While discussing Tripadvisor’s positive financial results driven by Viator, Drew touched on another marker of success: The company’s expectation to be profitable on a full-year basis in 2024 for the first time.

But his vision went further than the next calendar year.

“We’re actually on a much longer-term journey toward kind of long-term sustainable, [online travel agency]-like profit margins, so the way that we’re doing that is through focus on repeat business,” said Drew.

Watch the full conversation, which also features GetYourGuide co-founder and CEO Johannes Reck and Quinby, below.