Airbnb Experiences appoints former Disney theme park exec
Airbnb has tapped a long time Disney executive to head up its Experiences business unit.
Catherine Powell has joined as Experiences chief after spending 15 years at Walt Disney Co.
She was most recently president of Disney’s Parks Western Region, overseeing Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris.
Established in 2016, Airbnb Experiences now offers more than 40,000 experiences in 1,000 cities.
"Catherine is the perfect person to lead this business. Some people can come up with creative ideas. Others know how to run big teams and scale big businesses. Catherine can do both," Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said.
Powell replaces Joe Zadeh as Experiences chief who moves to a new position of chief stakeholder officer.
"I’ve seen firsthand how Experience Hosts take Guests on amazing adventures. The potential for this business is virtually unlimited," Powell said.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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