UK: Vacation rental and holiday resorts company, Awaze, is set to create 75 new jobs at its Manchester headquarters, less than four months after closing its Earby base in Lancashire to support the growth of the firm.
The group’s new ‘centre of excellence’ in Manchester opened at the start of October, and now serves as a commercial, technology and marketing services hub. Awaze is aiming to employ 100 new and existing employees in the first 12 months since the move, with new roles earmarked in technology, revenue management, marketing, commercial and legal positions.
The new hires at Awaze, which owns brands such as Hoseasons, Cottages.com, Landal GreenParks, James Villa Holidays and Novasol, will work closely with their counterparts in Copenhagen to develop and hone new products for the benefit of their guests.
Awaze Group COO John Crosby told BusinessCloud: “Our aim is to build a state-of-the-art common web platform to house all our brands and provide the best possible experience for our customers and property owners alike. That requires the sharpest brains in the business at all levels and is exactly why we decided to set up in Manchester in the first place.
“There’s a fantastic tech community in the city already and we’re excited to be doing our bit to grow and add to it by creating these roles and recruiting from the local area.
“A pan-European vision like ours means there’ll be a range of complex issues to solve along the way, and that should be a very attractive proposition to the people we’re looking to recruit. We want quick-thinking problem solvers who thrive on a challenge, love being part of a team, and want to help us build game-changing travel solutions right here in the heart of Manchester,” he added.
Tim Newns, CEO at Greater Manchester’s inward investment agency, MIDAS, said: “In what has no doubt been a challenging year, we are delighted to have worked with Awaze to establish their UK HQ in Greater Manchester. The pandemic has rapidly accelerated growth within the e-commerce and retail tech industry and with such a strong standing in this sector – as well as supporting industries and technologies including FinTech, service design and AI – Greater Manchester is the perfect location for ambitious firms.
“This is fantastic news for Greater Manchester’s economy and workforce and just goes to show the pull the city-region has when it comes to attracting brands of this size and scale, not least because of the significant digital talent base. It’s clear to see Awaze is here for the long haul and we look forward to seeing them invest, grow and prosper in Greater Manchester for many years to come,” he added.
Awaze hosts over eight million guests a year in 110,000+ properties across 36 countries, and a number of its brands, such as Hoseasons, reported record sales days last summer when restrictions eased following the first national lockdown in the UK.
Crosby added: “If there’s one thing the global pandemic has taught us, it’s that people miss travelling and will do so again as soon as it’s safe to do so. The travel sector has clearly taken a big hit in recent months, but it’s a great industry and I’m convinced those who join us on our journey can look forward to exciting times ahead.”
Henrik Kjellberg, CEO of Awaze, appeared in the first set of ShortTermRentalz’ RockSTRz webinars in late 2020, alongside an expert panel to discuss “Which business models will succeed in a post-Covid world?”.
Joining Kjellberg and host Paul Stevens for the second discussion of the first series was Graham Donoghue, CEO of Sykes Holiday Cottages, Anna Skigin, CEO and co-founder of Frank Porter, and Jesse DePinto, co-founder and chief product officer of Frontdesk.
Watch the recording of the session in full at this link.
