Maintaining your core brand personality in the face of rapid expansion is key in order to be successful says Secret Escapes CEO Alex Saint.
Born out of the recession in 2011, Secret Escapes made luxury travel accessible to all by combining the best of flash sales with four and five-star hotels and holidays.
Now,聽with an 800-strong team and 42 million members, the company achieved revenue of 拢49m on gross bookings of 拢273m in 2016.
This has resulted in over 拢650m cumulative gross bookings since 2011 and a compound revenue growth of 185 per cent.
Keeping true to the company鈥檚 initial objectives while also moving with the times has been key to its success since its launch Saint told 老九品茶Cloud.
鈥淲hilst the company has expanded rapidly since launch, we have maintained our core personality and initial desire to provide an all-in platform that inspires people to escape,鈥� he said.
鈥淥ur approach has always been to have a sensible business model that acknowledges the need to spend money to acquire customers.鈥�
However it鈥檚 also vital to move with the times and use technology strategically he explains.
鈥淥ne piece of advice is to never underestimate the importance of testing 鈥� we use meticulous data-driven strategies to determine everything we do, from marketing our product to CRM developments,鈥� said Saint.
Flash sales in the marketplace was a relatively new concept when the site was created,聽so building聽a strong marketing proposal was also vital for the young team.
Thanks to the emphasis on this Secret Escapes has been disrupting the traditional ways in which people book their getaways 鈥� which has attracted loyal members across the globe.
鈥淲e run a disciplined marketing organisation which has helped us to meet our global growth targets since 2011,鈥� said Saint.
鈥淏y offering a best-in-market price guarantee, as well as engaging content and highly tailored emails, we have managed to keep our business model unique enough to maintain its leading position in the travel sphere.鈥�
The proposition behind the site is that hotels keep 30 to 40 per cent of their rooms unfilled, which lose all value if they don鈥檛 sell out on the night.
By selling these potentially missed opportunities at a discount of up to 60 per cent off Secret Escapes creates revenue for these businesses and provides an inspiring platform with a variety of products that has ensured growth in membership over the years, Saint says.
Back in October, the company closed a $111m (拢83m) Series D investment and debt facility. This round, led by Singapore-headquartered Temasek, will be used for driving growth and acquisitions over the next few years.
鈥淭he next challenge is developing and investing in our less mature markets, developing our mobile functionality for our Asia territories and keeping an eye on new acquisition opportunities,鈥� said Saint.