Best Startup
At Best Startup UK we track over 130,000 UK startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top United Kingdom based Founder operating in the Travel Accommodations space. If you think a Founder is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.co.uk.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Companies House UK, Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Ines Djelassi
CEO & Co-Founder of AirBetter
Follow Ines Djelassi:
About AirBetter, Lodgeo: AirBetter provides expertise in all travel and hospitality services.
Tom Valentine
Marketplaces CEO & Co-Founder of Secret Escapes
Secret Escapes has seen explosive growth since its formation in 2010, with turnover forecast to hit £100m in 2014. Tom Valentine, alongside his co-founder and CEO Alex Saint, has catapulted Secret Escapes into a well-known and respected brand in the UK, with a 60% net promoter score and 95% post-stay satisfaction. Much of the company’s success is down to a robust digital and TV acquisition framework, built and managed by Tom, which has allowed the company to confidently spend over £10m annually at a consistent, predictable and positive ROI. This has led to a profitable UK business and huge confidence in international expansion. Tom has scaled the team from less than 30 to over 100 across the UK, Germany, Sweden, Poland and the USA and recently secured GBP39m from Google’s venture arm to fuel global expansion plans.
Follow Tom Valentine:
About Secret Escapes, Smart Pension: Secret Escapes is a members-only travel club offering discounted rates on luxury hotels and holidays in the UK.
Matthew Luczynski
Co-Founder, Chief Strategy Office of Travala.com
Matthew Luczynski is a Tech & Marketing Entrepreneur, Strategic & Innovative Thinker, and the Founder of Travala.com. Book 2,200,000 hotels and homes worldwide with savings of up to 40%. Pay with 30 cryptos and credit card. Best price guaranteed and 24/7 Support. Matthew has worked on a number of start-ups within the travel space, with a focus on Fintech & Blockchain technology.
Follow Matthew Luczynski:
About Travala.com: Travala.com, the world’s leading cryptocurrency-friendly hotel booking service with the best prices on 2 Million+ properties, worldwide.
Doron Meyassed
Co-Founder & CEO of Plum Guide
In 2008 Doron founded Promise Communities (now C Space): a company specializing in solving brand, innovation and insight challenges through mass online collaboration. In eight years, he grew it into a 140+ person leading innovation agency delivering programs for the likes of Twitter, Spotify, Samsung, British Airways, Hilton, EE, and Diageo. Having sold the business to Omnicom, Doron now lives and breathes travel. Having moved country every few years and having a total undetectable accent, no one is really sure where Doron is from. He is also into some seriously bizarre music no one can quite understand, but that won’t stop him trying to explain.
Follow Doron Meyassed:
About Plum Guide: Plum Guide is the definitive list of the world’s best vacation rentals.
Arif Meharali
Co Founder of Plum Guide
Follow Arif Meharali:
About Plum Guide: Plum Guide is the definitive list of the world’s best vacation rentals.
Imran Arshed
Co-Founder and Head of Technology of Plum Guide
Imran has built and led development of large scale platforms of e-commerce and e-CRM systems for the likes BBC, Bacardi, Berghaus Laphroaig and Russian Standard. A problem solver at heart, Imran was writing code in his teens on an Amiga 500. From there, he went on to work with consulting firms, agencies and startups and held the notable leadership positions of Director and CTO. When not coding, you can find Imran at Cafe OTO listening to white noise.
Follow Imran Arshed:
About Plum Guide: Plum Guide is the definitive list of the world’s best vacation rentals.
Rachel Howes
Co – Founder of HomeRez
Follow Rachel Howes:
About Great National Hotels, HomeRez: HomeRez is a centralised service for the safe and simple booking of holiday rental properties.
Tom Marchant
Owner and Co-Founder of Black Tomato
Tom Marchant is an entrepreneurial traveler and co-founder of The Black Tomato Group, parent company of the award-winning bespoke luxury travel operator Black Tomato, strategic creative agency Studio Black Tomato and incentive travel group Black Tomato Agency. Black Tomato, a Virtuoso member, has been recognized as the leading innovative authority in global luxury travel by revered industry voices including Bloomberg, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Vogue. Tom Marchant and Black Tomato were awarded Conde Nast Traveler’s 2019 World’s Best Travel Specialists and Tom lauded as ‘one of the 50 people in the world changing the way we travel’. Marchant is a member Travel + Leisure’s A List contributor to Newsweek, Harper’s Bazaar and Inc.
Follow Tom Marchant:
About Black Tomato: Black Tomato is a bespoke luxury travel company that delivers imaginative and travel experiences around the world.
Matt Smith
Co-Founder and Director of Black Tomato
Matt Smith set up Black Tomato Ltd with Tom Marchant and James Merrett in 2005 and to date have had a broad strategic and operational remit across all areas of Black Tomato. Central to Matt’s role is the responsibility for both driving forward the day to day business operations and Business Development / Sales processes that have underpinned the Group’s commercial success and significant growth. I also oversees a number of critical areas of the business including, Office Infrastructure, Company /Staff Culture, IT, Security, Data Protection/GDPR, HR, H&S / F&S, Insurance, Legal Contracting , Procurement, Staff / Business expenses, Staff Reward / Engagement, Staff Training and Staff Meetings and Events. Alongside this, he leads critical strategic projects including those that increase profitability and productivity across the business in line with the constant reinforcement of BT’s ‘purpose’ and company culture both internally and externally.
Follow Matt Smith:
About Black Tomato: Black Tomato is a bespoke luxury travel company that delivers imaginative and travel experiences around the world.
Ryan Wylie
Co-Founder of SPLT
With over 15 years of running design and development teams, Ryan is perfectly placed to steer product for SPLT. He built and ran the world’s first MP3 player on Google’s Android platform, worked to define pre-investment products that have gone onto be million dollar operations, and helped Ford Motor Company to digitize and monetize a connected vehicle experience for global markets. A digital native, a hungry and hybrid innovator, he believes we can solve most problems with a better product or a better service.
Follow Ryan Wylie:
About SPLT: Splt is an integrated payment system designed to make paying for things as a group, effortless.
