Luxi joined the Expedia Group Geneva office in 2018, and works in the Pricing team. With a passion for a wide variety of outdoor activities, the Geneva, Switzerland, office is perfectly located for Luxi, close by to the wonderful Lake Geneva.

In Luxi’s role as a Program Manager at EG, she ensures that the teams and stakeholders she is working with are aligned and work together to deliver their capabilities on time, with a particular focus on optimizing pricing. Learn more about Luxi’s journey, having originally joined EG in a finance team, and then transitioning into tech.

Luxi Wang-Gauthier, Program Manager III, Geneva, Switzerland

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Tell us about your team and role.

I am a Program Manager here at Expedia Group and I joined in September 2018. In my role I drive all pricing programs for Trips: Package, Attach and Transport (Air, Car), ensuring that all teams are aligned and work together to deliver the capabilities on time. I am a part of the Pricing team and we focus on all pricing programs, aiming to optimize pricing levers to drive volume in the most efficient way to improve EG’s competitiveness

What makes my role exciting is that I work with exceptionally talented people who are passionate and knowledgeable in their domain, leveraging incredible collective intelligence to bring to life powerful pricing tactics, driving impactful results. Pricing is a very dynamic space as we see the impact of our pricing programs every day. The package pricing program is one of the strongest levers to generate hundreds of millions of NBV (Net Book Value) uplift per month.

What does your typical day look like in your role?

Program Managers spend our days in meetings with different teams. Especially in Pricing, we work with different teams that are instrumental to implementing pricing tactics, so it is important to keep all teams connected on a regular basis. My typical day would have at least three meetings, then between meetings, I’d be summarizing meeting notes and the actions to follow up on, then I’d organize meetings on specific topics that need a deep dive and group discussions. The Program Manager role is a central role that puts all teams together, so clear communication is key, as well as creating a positive trustworthy collaborative, environment where everyone feels encouraged to bring ideas and share their opinion so we can work in a structured and efficient way.

What is it like working in the Geneva office?

The Geneva office is very well located, close to the lake where we can go for lunch very easily. Employees in the office are very friendly. There are a lot of groups doing different sports, football, running, volleyball, tennis, squash, wake surfing, and yoga – which I lead classes for! You can always find a peer who outside of work also enjoys the same sports and activities. Overall, I love the dynamic and positive spirit in the Geneva office.

EG’s culture is very inclusive, we really feel that in the Geneva office, with an incredible number of nationalities represented. In the Geneva office, there are also very active Inclusion Business Groups. I am personally a part of WELL (Women at Expedia Leading & Learning). We take the initiative to organize events and invite guests to talk about topics that employees care about and also help to contribute to their career growth.

You were previously a part of the Finance division, what was this part of your career like?

I was part of the Commercial Finance team, supporting Expedia for Business lodging account management teams with contract negotiations. The team’s role was to provide recommendations to the commercial teams on different scenarios for negotiation, aiming to protect EG economics while incentivizing partners to provide good supply rates and boost their production. What I enjoyed the most was to learn about the different challenges commercial teams face, the priorities that partners have, and how we can work together to find a common solution that is win-win for both EG and our partners.

Why did you decide to change your career into technology? And what were the steps you took to make this career change?

Back to my time in finance, one of the opportunities I recall being a topic of interest for our partner and account management teams was discounts. I had always been curious to know more about the process, so I decided to join the Pricing team and learn more about how we bring all these complex pricing programs to life.

To get into the Program Management role, I was lucky to find a 6-month internal secondment opportunity in the Pricing team, and got the role. After a few months, as I was loving my role so much and doing a good job, mutually with my finance team manager, we decided that I could stay in the Pricing team, permanently.

What are some of your interests outside of work?

Outside of work, I love spend time in nature, hiking, sailing in the spring, summer, and autumn time, and skiing in winter. Recently I got into running so I very much enjoy going for a run by the lake after work.

The EG Geneva sport committee also sponsors the Geneva race once per year, it’s a great time to gather with colleagues during these events, running and encouraging peers during their race.

I am also a big fan of yoga, being a practicer for years. I completed my yoga teacher certification and I have been giving free classes to EG office for the last two years. When I first started, it was in a park with only with three people. Then, thanks to word of mouth, my classes got popular, so about a year ago, the office committee sponsored me to rent a studio so I could provide EG classes on a more regular basis. I really love these classes as it’s a dedicated time to take care of us mentally and physically, and sharing the benefits of yoga with my colleagues outside of work. It’s very heart-warming and rewarding to see people more relaxed and recharged after each class, with clearer minds and more energy to tackle the rest of the day, and week.

What is your proudest achievement at EG so far?

It’s hard to choose one achievement with both teams, we have achieved so many great things! If I need to choose one, it would be the launch of Air Competitive Rate Adjustment, which is a brand-new impactful pricing program that opens a new era of air pricing with dynamic adjustment capabilities based on real time competition data. It took a village, we worked with dozens of cross-functional teams across EG. For a year, we’ve worked relentlessly, overcoming all the challenges together and brought this program to life. Since the program has gone live, we are seeing strong volume uplift and significant improvement in our competitiveness, so we’re proud of what we have achieved.

Why would you recommend a career at EG?

EG is a great place to work. Besides what we are building in terms of technology, and what we do for partners and travelers, I would say that people are the key asset of the company. The level of intelligence and inclusiveness is remarkable. I am learning everyday from people who are experts in their domain and it’s a great feeling to know that what we do has real impact for travelers, partners and for EG. In terms of career development, there are plenty of opportunities to learn new skills, broaden your knowledge, and perspective. I really appreciate the flexibility that EG is offers in terms of career development.

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