VRWS Leadership Interview of the Day
In approaching the 9th edition of the Vacation Rental World Summit, we’re releasing a series of interviews to leaders, key players and highly motivated people in our industry whose companies make a deep impact in our space and will be present at VRWS.
The aim is to get you some insight into these leaders and the company they founded, manage or work for, as well as getting some behind the scenes on their thinking, their motivation and their drive.
ENRIQUE PLANAS
How would you describe your career path and what brought you to Holidu?
“Since the very beginning of my career, I’ve been very passionate about helping tech companies to grow their businesses and shape their start-up culture, whilst developing high performance/highly motivated teams. Overall, it’s been over 15 years, mainly working in Business Development and Digital Marketing.
In 2015, I moved from Chile to Germany to attend a one-year full-time MBA program in Berlin. Upon graduation, I stayed in Germany and decided that I wanted to join a company that would be value-driven, that would allow me to grow professionally, and that had an entrepreneurial culture where I could thrive. Thankfully, five years ago, I found ‌all these in Holidu, and joined without hesitation.
Working at Holidu has been by far the best work experience I’ve had in my entire career, and being in the vacation rental business has been the most inspiring and enriching experience. Events like the VRWS are the living proof of what I am talking about, where vacation rental professionals from all over the world meet once a year to improve and professionalize our industry. “
Just recently, Holidu delivered a two-day in-person experience to gather more than 400 workers. What’s the idea behind the “Culture Days” project and what’s your take on it?
“Holidu is extremely culture-driven. I’ve worked nowhere where the culture was so entrenched in every aspect of our work.
In the case of the Culture days, we wanted our company culture to be experienced firsthand by all of our team members, regardless of which office they are in. With over 400 colleagues from all 19 offices, we could spend two days full of exchange, entertainment, exercise and many new experiences.Â
Our Culture Days were a get-together to see new and old faces, make connections and look into the future of the company. It was also a great opportunity to reaffirm and live our values together, which is the heart of our company culture.”
As one of the fastest-growing travel tech companies worldwide, Holidu naturally invests lots of energy in attracting top talent in the IT space. How did your last Hackathon play out?
“Holidu is an extremely tech-driven company. Our developers are always looking for new ways to approach a problem or solve a customer’s pain point. Hackathons are an excellent opportunity to foster our problem solving mentality and customer centered values.
For our latest Hackathon, over 50 techies at Holidu and our subsidiary Bookiply – from Engineering and Product to Design and Business Intelligence – worked together on projects and out-of-the-box ideas.Â
We had 9 different teams who took part and presented their ideas to create an even better holiday experience. We enjoyed two days of fun, creativity, passion and food & drinks, which resulted in many innovative projects.”
VRWS 22 is about to land in Porto. What do you expect from the overall experience?
“Last year, we attended the VRWS in Annecy, and the level of the event pleasantly surprised us. Overall, we had a really positive experience; we did some meaningful business and paved the way to future connections and partnerships. Therefore, we are taking part in 2022’s version in Porto as well. We are looking forward to replicating last year’s success, showing the vacation rental world what Holidu is up to, meeting relevant people, and being on top of what is being cooked up in the industry. “
About Holidu:
Holidu’s mission is to finally make the search and booking of vacation rentals easy. The booking portal for vacation rentals allows travelers to book the ideal accommodation quickly and for the lowest price. The company also helps vacation rental owners multiply their bookings with less work through its software and service solution under the Bookiply brand. The brothers Johannes and Michael Siebers founded Holidu in 2014. The high-growth company is headquartered in Munich and has local offices in the most attractive travel destinations in Europe. For more information, see www.holidu.com and www.bookiply.com.
Social Media Contacts in contact information:
Instagram www.instagram.com/holidu/
Instagram (company) www.instagram.com/lifeatholidu
LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/company/holidu
Facebook www.facebook.com/holidude
Twitter www.twitter.com/Holidu
You’ll have the opportunity to listen to Enrique live on stage on Sept. 16th at 11:45 AM for a session on Survival Kit for Vacation Rentals: How to Steer Your Vacation Rental Business under Uncertainty
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