OpenTable CEO Christa Quarles to step down

OpenTable Inc. CEO Christa Quarles will step down at the end of December, as first reported on Skift Table. Steve Hafner, Kayak CEO, who began overseeing OpenTable in February will continue to lead the business along with KAYAK’s portfolio of metasearch brands, according to the company.

Christa Quarles

Photo: OpenTable

Both Kayak and OpenTable are units of Booking Holdings. The move comes after executive changes over the summer that integrated the OpenTable and Kayak teams. 

“There are a number of synergies between KAYAK and OpenTable (users, competitors, challenges, technology needs) that make a combined leadership team very effective,” a company spokesperson wrote in an email. 

In 2014, The Priceline Group bought OpenTable for about $2.6 billion in cash. Earlier this year, the group changed its name to Booking Holdings.

Steve Hafner

Photo: OpenTable

“We will continue to focus on accelerating technology innovation to better serve our restaurant partners and allow them to leverage OpenTable as a leading platform to help grow their businesses, as well as our consumers who come to OpenTable for its technology ease and breadth of supply,” according to the company spokesperson.

Over Quarles’ tenure, she helped advance the company’s technology and commitment to diversity. Earlier this week, OpenTable announced a new centralized reservation feature for restaurant groups within its flagship product, GuestCenter. Earlier this month, Quarles noted that OpenTable was made up of 44 percent women while speaking at the Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit.

More than 47,000 restaurants worldwide use OpenTable technology, according to the company.

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