Serko Taps Former Airbnb Executive as Head of Unmanaged Travel

June 25, 2024 at 09:00 AM EDT

David Holyoke will lead Serko’s SME market growth and expansion

Serko Ltd. (NZX:SKO), a leader in online travel for business, announced today the appointment of David Holyoke as Head of Unmanaged Travel, to take effect on July 1st.

In his role as Head of Unmanaged Travel at Serko, David will spearhead the company's efforts to expand its offerings in the SME travel market. Leveraging his extensive experience in corporate travel, David will provide strategic leadership and direction, driving market growth and product innovation. His goals include enhancing Serko’s SME travel products through data-driven initiatives, optimizing the user experience, and strengthening partnerships such as Serko’s successful collaboration with Booking.com, Booking.com for Business.

Serko CEO Darrin Grafton welcomed David’s appointment, stating, "We have already achieved so much in bringing a leading SME travel product to market, highlighting the enormous potential ahead of us. David’s proven track record and expertise will be incredibly valuable in unlocking that opportunity. We’re thrilled to have him onboard and can’t wait to see what he is able to help us achieve in this next stage of growth."

David brings over 20 years of experience in the corporate travel industry, having held senior leadership roles at Airbnb and Travel Leaders. In his most recent role as Head of Commercial Strategy at Airbnb, David played a pivotal role in shaping the company's commercial direction. He also served as the founding GM for Airbnb for Work, where he built and scaled ventures in the corporate travel sector.

"I am proud to be joining such an innovative and forward-thinking company. I see immense opportunity for Serko in the SME travel market,” commented David Holyoke. “The Booking.com for Business partnership has already demonstrated the power of using data and experimentation to create and deliver a winning user experience, which is crucial for scaling in this segment. I'm excited to help lead the efforts to take this offering to new heights."

Booking.com for Business, a partnership between Serko and Booking.com, launched in 2022 and now serves over 640,000 registered companies, booking 2.5 million room nights during Serko’s most recent financial year.

This announcement comes on the heels of Serko’s recently awarded United States Patent* for its groundbreaking Unified Travel Interface, which serves as the backbone for what is commonly referred to as the “Connected Trip.” The patent transforms the traditional landscape of corporate travel management by seamlessly unifying travel content from disparate sources into a single, intuitive online user experience.

FURTHER INFORMATION

About Serko

Serko is a leader in online travel booking and expense management for the business travel market. Booking.com for Business runs on Zeno, Serko’s next generation travel management application, using intelligent technology, predictive workflows and a global travel marketplace to transform business travel across the entire journey. Listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange Main Board (NZX:SKO) and Australian Securities Exchange (ASX:SKO), Serko is headquartered in New Zealand, with offices across Australia, China and the United States. For more information, visit serko.com.

*About the patent

Title: Unified Travel Interface. US Patent 11,972,372 granted 30 April 2024. For more information, visit https://patents.google.com/patent/US11972372B2/en?oq=11972372