Holiday Extras has unveiled a £1 million recruitment drive and launched a range of short breaks in the UK.
The ancillaries specialist has also recruited Elizabeth Hogg as its chief operating officer to help strengthen the product, people and operations as the travel sector recovers from the pandemic.
She has worked in accountancy and senior finance roles with firms such as Pret A Manger, Big Issue Invest, restaurant group Corbin & King, and No1 Lounges.
As well as her appointment, the company plans to recruit for more than 50 new roles – including 20 software developers – across its teams in the UK and Germany.
Other roles being sought are contact centre agents, designers and people managers.
Holiday Extras has also launched a ‘Fast-Track Accelerator’ programme, to train coders over a 12-week period.
Hogg’s role was formerly held by David Norris who moved earlier in the year into a newly-created position as chief growth officer to help Holiday Extras’ growth plans.
The company did restructure during the 2020 downturn and made a number of redundancies. However, it said its new recruitment drive and Hogg’s appointment are part of its “ambitious new strategy”.
The short breaks are hotel-plus-ticket packages for family trips to attractions such as Legoland, The Shard and river cruises. Details of theatre breaks will soon be revealed.
Holiday Extras recently reported its best booking day since the pandemic began, and said it is emerging from the crisis “with a clear vision and renewed drive”.
It has also checked all cancelled bookings – about 700,000 transactions – to ensure that refunds and vouchers have been issued to eligible clients.
Its new Flextras promise offers travellers the chance to cancel their booking up to an hour before they are due to take off.
Hogg said: “While we might not have been able to travel, our team has been working tirelessly on our mission to remake holiday-making.
“We’re an exciting business with a great strategy and this year will see us be more ambitious than ever, moving faster and making the most of the precious time our customer has when they’re taking a break.
“We’ve worked hard to adapt to the climate and we’re looking for passionate people to join our mission as we look to give travellers the most hassle-free holiday yet.”