How Ibiza helped Booking.com’s Lewis Bell come to terms with his identity

Lewis Bell, senior technical sourcer and UK chair of LGBTQ+ employee resource group B.proud at Booking.com, speaks to myGwork about travelling, challenging stereotypes, and how he’s made diversity and inclusion his focus at the business.

The West Country of England, home to counties such as Somerset, is often characterised as a remote place. This is indeed the assessment of Lewis Bell, who grew up in the region and felt that being ‘the only gay in the village’ was not what he wanted in life. Lewis instead desired to be a travel rep: to get out of the West Country, out of the UK, and travel. “Teachers don’t always see that as a career,” he recalls, adding: “Being a travel rep was not a thing.”

This didn’t stop him, however. Aged 20, Lewis got his wish and left the UK to work in Ibiza, staying there briefly before moving on to the ski resort of Livigno, Italy. He returned to Ibiza, before his career later took him to Benidorm, Lanzarote, Turkey, and Andorra over the next five years.

After half a decade of adventures, Lewis decided to return to the UK and pursue a new job. “I’d only really been able to come out and open up whilst being a travel rep, and I think a lot of people will think that I was running away from being gay or didn’t want to be gay in my hometown.” It was the contrary, however: only through being away from perceived pressures was Lewis able to come to terms with his identity and learn to love and accept who he was. Truthfully, he wasn’t running from anything.

Upon returning to the UK, he decided he wanted to be surrounded by the LGBTQ+ community. “Queer as Folk was all I could remember when I was asking myself where the LGBTQ+ community was in the UK. I thought, ‘Let’s go to Manchester; let’s get to Canal Street.’”

Lewis remained in the travel industry, moving to work for a number of travel agents after moving to Manchester, while developing his skills at the same time. However, times change, and industries change with them. Amid the economic downturn and knock-on effects for the travel industry, Lewis was made redundant and took the decision to take a job as cabin crew.

“I absolutely loved it. I did a few years as cabin crew – long haul too – and got to see the world. It was a really good experience for me.”

You never know when your next job opportunity will present itself, which Lewis discovered while at 40,000 feet in the air. He was headhunted for a London luxury retailer, and with the encouragement of the flight captain, he took the chance. “What you do on the plane, they told me, is what we need you to do in the store.” It was a new role – for Lewis and the store – and he took it in his stride. This short break from the travel industry, in favour of hospitality, only broadened his horizons and skills – until family circumstances changed and he moved home to Somerset, leaving London behind.

Back home in Somerset, Lewis’s career pivoted again – this time to recruitment, where he worked recruiting personal assistants. It was in this role that his interest in diversity and inclusion grew, navigating gender stereotypes about the role of a PA and the person likely to be doing the job, as well as what Lewis identified as “people being too scared to bring [diversity and inclusion] up.” He threw himself readily into this role and soon found himself touring the company talking to associates and business leaders about what Pride was and the importance of workplace equality. Combatting stereotypes is a large part of this – assuming, for example, that gay men aren’t into football, when Lewis had himself helped to set up Isca Apollo FC, an LGBTQ+ football team – in order to overcome unconscious biases that people have.

This keenness to combat stereotyping and discrimination stayed with Lewis, who pivoted yet again, this time to work in tech to support LGBTQ+ people getting into the industry. He did this for a few years before finally arriving at his current workplace, Booking.com.

“Covid hit and suddenly I had the opportunity to work for the company I’d always wanted to. It was my ideal role: travel and recruitment, and so when they invited me to interview, I jumped at the chance.”

Now Lewis is responsible for training others in the business in diversity and inclusion, ensuring that teams and company culture reflect the many identities within the business and to whom the business sells. “It’s the best move I’ve made in my career.”

Booking.com had an established employee resource group (ERG) when Lewis joined, which undertook a lot of work to help build an inclusive workplace, predominantly from the company’s headquarters in Amsterdam.

Since then, the UK LGBTQ+ ERG at Booking.com has grown substantially, hosting events, charities, and speakers to explore both how staff at the company can support one another, but also how they can better support those in the community in need. A particular issue close to Lewis’ heart is sports, including supporting the organisation Football v Homophobia. Stereotyping has meant that in the past – despite having set up an LGBTQ+ football team – Lewis has been assumed to not be into the sport and missed out on opportunities as a result. Not anymore: he’s loudly and proudly championing the cause at the business and in his personal life, while enjoying the sport along the way.

“The skills are transferable too, between setting up a team and hiring people for a business. I could look at how we attracted diverse players to the team, and then explore how we replicate that at all levels of the company.”

We asked Lewis what his favourite travel destination is, and without hesitation, he answered: Ibiza. In his words, it was the first place he was able to come to terms with his identity, and the first place he was able to come out to friends and begin to live authentically. In the years since, he has grown and come into his own, tackling a range of challenges to overcome people’s assumptions and biases. The lasting impression it’s left on Lewis is clear: that everyone deserves their own Ibiza, and to have a space where they can be themselves uncritically. His job? To make sure that the workplace can be that space.

Booking.com is a partner of myGwork, the LGBTQ+ business community. You can check out its vacancies here.