About us
The HolidayPirates Group operates across 10 countries in Europe and North America and is the preferred travel search platform for millions of enthusiasts, explorers, and holiday makers.
Headquartered in Berlin, the multi-award-winning platform’s editorial team find and share the best, often unique, travel deals from packages, flights, and hotels through to car hire, holiday homes, luxury stays and weekend breaks.
The company has grown into an entity that can boast 30 million monthly sessions, 10 million Facebook fans and 2.5 million Instagram followers with services in 7 different languages.
Our users stay up to date with great deals by setting custom alerts on our app, on WhatsApp, following us on social media, subscribing to our newsletter or simply visiting one of our market specific websites.
Timeline
2011: Igor Simonow founds UrlaubsPiraten, where he publishes travel deals online in Germany
2012: HolidayPirates launches in the UK and co-founder Sebastian Kaatz registers “HolidayPirates GmbH” in Berlin.
2013: PiratinViaggio launches in Italy as well as UrlaubsPiraten in Austria. Facebook is chosen as the company’s marketing platform.
2014: E-commerce expert (and future CEO) David Armstrong assumes the new role of COO to internationalise and scale the business. VakantiePiraten launches in The Netherlands, WakacyjniPiraci in Poland, and VoyagesPirates sets sail in France.
2015: ViajerosPiratas launches in Spain and Ferienpiraten in Switzerland. The Group also begins to integrate the booking capabilities of preferred partners.
2016: David Armstrong becomes CEO of the Group and the co-founders, Igor and Sebastian, start stepping out of day-to-day operations.
2017: WhatsApp and Instagram launch in several markets and TravelPirates opens for the US-market.
2018/19: The Group's annual Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) approaches half a billion Euros each year.
2020: The Group adopts a hybrid work policy. Employees gain the flexibility to work from anywhere.
2021: The company replaces its tech stack to facilitate the vision, strategy and scalability of the business model.
2022: After weathering the pandemic storm without needing to raise funds or take loans, The HolidayPirates Group is back at the forefront of the industry, helping fulfill travel dreams all over the world.
2023: The company opens headquarters in Berlin - the central hub at the heart of the hybrid working model. The Group launches the first Virtual Tour Operation [VTO] program in the Italian market, followed quickly by the German and Dutch markets.
Our Captains
Carlo Speth - Head of Market, DACH
Location: Berlin
Expertise: Editorial content, social media strategy, SEO and developing new business sectors.
Career Highlights: Editor-in-Chief for HolidayPirates DACH presence for many years, leading to the role of Head of Market.
Academic background: Law, Germany.
Why travel? To seek out the culinary hot-spots all over the world.
David Armstrong – CEO HolidayPirates Group
Location: Berlin/Munich
Expertise: Scaling e-commerce/online companies in travel, turnaround and change management
Career Highlights: Timesoft (co-founder), fly.de (founder), ocean24.com, FTI Group,
Academic background: History & Politics, US/Germany and Business Administration & Management, UK
Why travel? I'm passionate about discovering new places and experiencing other cultures
Judith Eyck – Head of Virtual Tour Operating, Market NL & Data Analytics
Location: Berlin
Expertise: Building and scaling commercial strategy, travel tech.
Career Highlights: Co-founder at Vakanties.nl, CEO of Zoover and Marketing Manager at Sunweb
Academic background: Cultural Economics
Why travel? To escape city life and breathe in nature, see horizons, and discover great hikes.
Magdalena Klaffenböck – Acting Head of Marketing
Location: Berlin - Passau
Expertise: Growth Marketing, Acquisition, Lead Generation, CRM
Career Highlights: Gaining deep knowledge of all things marketing at HolidayPirates, resulting in this leadership role.
Academic background: Tourism and Business Studies
Why travel? I couldn't imagine anything better than to help people live their travel dreams.
Mara Zatti – Head of Brand & Communications
Location: Berlin
Expertise: PR, Journalism, communications and brand management
Career Highlights: Lecturer at German and Italian Universities, Journalist and Editor at “Zeit Sprachen”, Responsible for Southern Europe and LatAmerica PR and Communications (Babbel)
Academic background: Master of Arts, Italy and a PhD in Classical Archaeology, Germany
Why travel? To meet new people and escape the routine, my biggest enemy!
Pablo Santaella Robles – Head of Market, Spain
Location: Seville
Expertise: Business development, with a focus on the travel sector and tourism.
Career Highlights: Working at Airbus in logistics, and Meliá Hotels International prior to climbing aboard at the HolidayPirates Group
Why travel? Travel opens your mind! As Mark Twain said: "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness."
Phil Salcedo - Head of Market, UK & North America
Location: Liverpool
Expertise: Building and training award-winning teams across Europe, North America, and APAC, with a focus on travel, events and dining.
Career Highlights: BBC Producer; VP of Publishing, Travelzoo; roles in oil exploration and yacht chartering in Canada and Australia, and 18 years in the online travel industry
Academic background: LLB Law, London University
Why travel? Insight and innovation is not found in one location.
Simon Erdem – Head of Product & Development
Location: Berlin
Expertise: SEO, BigData, web development and scaling product teams
Career Highlights: Transitioning from SEO Consultancy and Information Architecture into a 10 year career in product and e-Commerce systems, primarily in checkout optimization, payment processing.
Academic background: Business Computing
Why travel? Meeting new people and cultures to gain new perspectives and broaden the mind.
Stefano Bergamaschi – Head of Market, Italy & France
Location: Berlin
Expertise: Editorial content, tourism, business development
Career Highlights: Knowledge and management of 3 main European markets (Content Lead and Head of Market Italy, Head of Market France, Content Lead UK)
Academic background: Bachelor and Master’s degree in Tourism (Milan)
Why travel? ‘Cause there’s nothing better than that!
Vivien Schwarz-Elbelazi – Head of People & Culture
Location: Berlin
Expertise: Vast experience in human resources management, talent acquisition, change management and project management across different industries since 2007 and a Systemic Coach.
Career Highlights: Group Lead of talent acquisition at Zalando, Co-Founder of a charity organisation.
Academic background: Business Administration (Germany), certified coach (Humboldt-University, Germany)
Why travel? Encounters with people of different beliefs, cultures and foods. Exploring new places or just simply when I am in need of sun at a beach.
Frequently asked questions
Which countries do the HolidayPirates Group operate in?
The HolidayPirates Group operates across 10 countries in Europe and North America and is the preferred travel search platform for millions of enthusiasts, explorers, and holiday makers.
The Netherlands - VakantiePiraten
The United Kingdom - HolidayPirates
The United States - TravelPirates
Where is the HolidayPirates Group based?
We are headquartered in Berlin, but due to our hybrid working model many of our pirates live and work all over Europe.
How does the HolidayPirates Group find travel deals?
Our expert editorial teams search innumerable databases for cheap flights, hotels and travel packages. Similarly we comb the web for vouchers, bus and train deals and even price errors. In addition, through our partners' solutions we provide thousands of offers from well-known tour operators and airlines.
How can I find out about new deals?
You can stay up to date with our great deals by setting custom alerts on our app, on WhatsApp, following us on social media, subscribing to our newsletter or simply visiting one of our websites.
The deal I want isn’t available as listed, what happened?
The best deals are often time sensitive - to avoid missing out, you can subscribe to customisable push notifications on your preferred messaging app, or email updates to receive the best deals as soon as they become available.
I have a problem with my booking, who can help?
While we find and share the best deals on our platforms, the bookings are ultimately made with an online travel agency. We call these our booking partners, and if you need to adjust, cancel or seek support with your booking please contact them directly.
How can I find out about careers with the HolidayPirates Group?
We are always looking for talented, dedicated and highly motivated individuals, as our success depends on our employees' competence, drive and motivation. For that reason we happily offer exciting tasks within a fun and friendly working environment with a great company culture, competitive terms and good opportunities for career development.
To find out more, visit us here
How do I contact the HolidayPirates Group?
For general enquiries, please email: ahoy@holidaypirates.com
For press enquiries please email: press@holidaypirates.com
Please note that if your query is regarding a travel booking, you must contact the booking partner directly.