Australia: Melbourne-based holiday package company Luxury Escapes CEO has announced the departures of CEO Cameron Holland and general manager of marketing, Peita Golden, for undisclosed reasons.
The pair actually left the firm last month after both joining in 2018, with Holland taking up the role of COO before being promoted to CEO last February. The board asked co-founder and former chief, Adam Schwab, to serve as interim CEO until a new head could be appointed.
Schwab told Travel Weekly: “We have an incredible team and an unbelievable brand. I’m honoured to be able to work with such amazing people. The business is in a perfect position to accelerate out of the turn and continue our journey as we come out of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Luxury Escapes was founded in 2010 as an opportunity to provide the Australian market with easily accessible, luxury accommodation on an online platform. According to the Australian Financial Review, it has been consistently growing by 50 per cent each year.
The company was the centre of an acquisition race last year, with major Australian companies seeking to purchase some or all of the online travel agency. Qantas, Booking.com and Webjet were reported to be in the running, while Flight Centre dropped out early due to the high level of expense.
Other OTAs have continued to grow during this period. Traveloka acquired $250m in investment to boost consumer confidence, while France and Croatia have submitted plans to create state-funded booking platforms.
Andrew McEvoy, chairman of the board, also announced the appointment of Sam Kharamzi as the company’s first chief growth and consumer product officer. Kharamzi had previously led customer growth and experience at online print marketplace Redbubble and will focus on digital strategy, conversion optimisation, SEO, SEM and email marketing.
