Instead of traveling on a weekend, begin your trip on a Tuesday or Wednesday, which are often the cheapest days to fly. Being flexible with timing can help with savings.
— Gillian Tans
Whether you are checking luggage or bringing a carry-on, always weigh and measure your bags to make sure they are below the airline's size and weight restrictions. Excess baggage fees can be costly. Avoid all baggage fees by only bringing a carry-on.
Booking.com has been very good at performance marketing. That's how we grew our business.
We wanted to go much bigger than anybody else. That's why we've targeted so many countries.
I don't think there's ever a wrong answer as long as people are willing to learn, share. You're never done learning.
Starting a business and building a product are not for the faint of heart. You have to learn to not let little disappointments get you down and to stay focused on the big picture.
Booking.com started with just a website, but we've always thought of our company as being more than just a website.
The mission of Booking is to empower people to experience the world. Whatever people want to do, wherever they want to go, they can book it with us.
My mother was from an entrepreneurial family and very creative. She always pushed me to take risks, to do things I wouldn't have thought of.
From the early days, Booking.com has been disruptive. Our aim is to create the best product for our customers, and we do that through constant innovation and testing.
Traveling is an experience that you can always carry with you. It makes the world come together more so we understand each other better.
If you run a global business, it's so important that you understand what happens in each place, and you can't do that remotely. I don't want to go anywhere and leave and not have seen the people who work for us. That doesn't feel good.
We want to make sure that we have the right products for Chinese people.
We found we were able to create better, customer-centric product features more quickly with a more diverse product team.
I've always been curious and taken many risks, but that is quite atypical for a woman. On the other hand, I think that's the only way to grow beyond yourself.
As a company powered by technology and digital innovation, Booking.com believes strongly in ensuring equal access and opportunity for all within the technology sector.
Tech is a key driver of social and economic change, and around the world, women like me are transforming businesses, industries, and communities.
Understand tipping culture. Whereas Americans tip 15-20% when dining out, most European countries don't tip, as a service charge is typically included in the bill. Make sure you're not over-tipping by doing research before traveling.
We are putting a lot of investments behind building customer loyalty. We need to make sure we keep investing in the right tech that will help customers. If we keep doing that well, we will keep progressing.
Our mission is to empower people to experience the world.
For me, it's about taking things that do not take a lot of space. Don't take a lot of shoes. I tend to pack a lot of dresses, for instance, because they take up less space.
When you start very young and you start to work, you're going to fail. That's how you learn.
Using science to tell us what customers are looking for is second nature for us here.
There are a few books I can recommend, but one you should read for sure is 'Do More Faster,' a book full of advice for young entrepreneurs. Looking back at the early days of Booking.com, I recognize a lot of things that feature in this the book - like 'fail fast, learn quickly.'
I found the Internet really fascinating.
Many people think we are a technology company, but we are totally customer-led.
The culture of Booking.com has been very good for me because it's a culture where you're allowed to fail. When you think about taking risks, if it's OK to fail, you actually do a lot more. And you learn a lot quicker.
Traveling changes you as a person. If you buy something, it's so different than if you put your money into traveling.
Typically, I get to the office around eight o'clock. I have a very mixed schedule, and I always try to keep time for things that are not planned. You need time for whatever might pop up in the week.
China's domestic travel is increasing, and that's why we are building our teams here in China.
We have built out the diversity of our product teams, and we saw the caliber of our testing and experimentation improve significantly.
Education is crucial in determining which profession women will choose, so it's important to spark interest in technologies at an early age.
There is a misperception among job seekers that opportunities for women in tech exist only for those with coding or engineering experience. To be sure, technology firms do need women with these skills, but they also need women with expertise in other areas, like marketing and finance.
I am a woman, and I am proud to say that I work in technology. But I also recognise that the combination of those two facts puts me in the minority.
Pack snacks. Food prices once you pass through airport security or within blocks of a major tourist attraction can be double the price. Pack travel-friendly snacks or visit a grocery store in the destination you are visiting to get a better price.
There are a lot of threats out there. Amazon can enter the travel market. Google could enter the accommodation space. But that is not something that we actively focus on.
In the beginning of Booking.com, we were travelling around Europe a lot. Sometimes we'd do five cities in a week.
Technology's great, but you can only be as good in technology as your people are.
A long time ago, we had to build interfaces to connect with other companies, and I thought that was a great idea. The company had to pay a lot of money to build it and basically launched it, but our whole operating system almost broke. So, we couldn't continue it. In the end, I had to go on the train to Paris to explain that I had spent millions.
An American customer can book in English all over the world, but also, somebody from Japan or China can book in their own language everywhere. We translate all of our content into these languages, and that's quite unique. We service our direct customers - the innkeepers - as well in their own language.
Eventually, we want to be able to say, whether in your own neighborhood or a city across the globe, our technology will be needed to break through barriers - whether it's money, time, languages, or simply choice.
What always drove me was my curiosity. That's what made me join Booking and not be afraid to leave a very successful job and then go into a startup.
If you're afraid of failure or getting it wrong, you'll never truly innovate or disrupt the market.
And as a woman, you need to take risks. Don't stay too long in your own swim lane.
I travel very light. I never want to check a bag. My only standards are a few sets of clothes, my white sneakers, my blue backpack, and my laptop. I don't have any special things otherwise.
I'm a master at getting as much in a day as possible.
We will invest more into China to make sure that our brand gets more known to Chinese customers.
If firms were made to hire according to quotas, it might optimize the percentage of women in the industry, but that doesn't necessarily translate into more quality products for the customer.
Recognizing that female participation in technology is lower than it should be, we are committed to bolstering female tech talent, eliminating obstacles and challenges they face, and fostering diversity.
Not only do we need more women in the technology sector, we also clearly need to refocus energy on improving gender equality in the global economy.
