Where we started

Back in the early nineties, before Brit Pop had taken over the nation, a then unknown Mr Brent Hoberman, eager to impress the ladies, would try his luck with several flash hotels to get the top suite at a knock-down price for that evening.

By calling on the day of the booking Brent was successful in his quest, so not only did he get the room but he got the girl too. From here the idea for lastminute.com was born, he decided everyone should be able to live a five-star lifestyle for three-star cash.

Brent then joined forces with entrepreneurial dynamo 'in-the-making' Martha Lane-Fox and lastminute.com became more than just an idea, growing to sell a full range of lifestyle and travel products when it started trading in April 1998. Anything from theatre tickets to holidays was available to the public.

Now in its tenth year lastminute.com has grown into a worldwide business employing 1981 staff and is one of the most successful travel corporations on the planet.

In March 2000, lastminute.com floated on the London Stock Exchange. The funds raised were used to fund an acquisition shopping spree, which included:

• France’s leading travel company Degriftour Group
• Car broker giant Holiday Autos
• Travel agents' best-kept secret medhotels.com
• Leading travel technology company OTC
• lastminute.de

In May 2005, lastminute.com was purchased by Travelocity, part of the Sabre family of travel companies. Sabre, now owned by venture capitalist Texas Silverlake Partnership, is a leading travel technology companies that powers the travel industry with its fleet of products including its flights distribution tool.

lastminute.com founder and inspiration Brent stepped down as CEO in May 2006 to become company chairman handing the pink reins to Ian McCaig.

Ian joined lastminute.com as Chief Operating Officer from Nokia in August 2003, where he ran the communications company’s business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Handpicked by Brent to ultimately be his successor, Ian oversaw the purchase and implementation of 13 businesses before taking the top job.

Ian has steered lastminute.com to its most successful period, with the online business fast approaching an incredibly impressive 2.5 million visitors a week all looking for that inspirational deal to surprise a loved one (or maybe even someone else’s)...just like one young visionary with an eye for the ladies was doing at the beginning.

Ian McCaig, CEO, lastminute.com

Ian joined lastminute.com as chief operating officer in August 2003. He led the online agency’s aggressive acquisition strategy that saw the purchase of 14 businesses - including leading brands Holiday Autos, medhotels.com and OTC. The acquisitions were central in almost tripling lastminute.com’s total transaction value before it was purchased by Travelocity in 2005.

Ian then led the integration of lastminute.com’s and Travelocity’s European businesses before taking over from lastminute.com founder Brent Hoberman as Chief Executive Officer of the merged group in May 2006.

He joined lastminute.com from Nokia where he ran businesses in Europe, the Middle East and Asia and in 2002 launched some of the world’s first 3G networks.

Alfonso Castellano, Senior Vice President, Travelocity Europe and Group Managing Director, Consumer Brands

Alf took up his latest role at lastminute.com as Senior Vice President, Travelocity Europe and Group Managing Director, Consumer Brands in 2007 following seven years with the leading online travel and leisure retailer.

Alf’s previous seven years with the lastminute.com group, saw him hold a variety of senior management roles including General Manager Global Hotels and Head of Travel in the UK.

In his new role, Alf is responsible for development and trading performance of all consumer brands (including the flagship lastminute.com brand).

Before joining lastminute.com, Alf spent 10 years at TUI in the destination management and incoming business.

Ed Kamm, Chief Operating Officer

Ed joined lastminute.com from parent company Sabre in December 2003. Starting his career with Sabre back in 1994 as a Financial Analyst, Ed rose up the ranks to the position of Director of Business Planning and Operations for Latin America and the Caribbean before being appointed Vice President US Northern Division in 2000.

Ed is responsible for driving ‘shared service’ excellence, creating efficiencies and best practice across the business. He is also responsible for all change management projects.

Simon Thompson, Chief Marketing Officer

He joined the company as Chief Marketing Officer in April 2007 and is responsible for Pan European marketing strategy and implementation.

Simon arrived at lastminute.com from Motorola via Honda.

His career at Honda covered all aspects of the business from marketing, sales, product development, franchising and strategy across diverse markets such as the UK, Japan and the US.

His professional recognition includes numerous Cannes Lions Awards for outstanding creative work.

Simon, who is ranked among the UK’s top marketers by the Marketing Society, says his favourite holiday destination is “Majorca up in the hills and away from the sea and sand” and his dream destination is “Anywhere with 24 hour child care, 24 hour room service, 24 hour satellite TV and a free tennis coach”. Simon’s favourite night consists of “a meal followed by theatre and a stay in a local 5* hotel in my home town, completely pointless relaxation - perfect!”

Josh Feuerstein, Chief Product Officer

Josh Feuerstein joined Travelocity in March 2002 as Vice President of Hotels, based in the US. In October 2005, Josh moved to the UK, where he is now based in the lastminute.com European head office in London.

In his current role at lastminute.com, Josh is responsible for Europe-wide product strategy, development and optimisation across all categories. Josh is also responsible for hotel and resort supply for the EMEA region. Josh also serves as Hotel Segment Manager for Sabre Holdings.

Prior to joining Travelocity, Josh was a founding member of Site59, an industry-leading last-minute travel packaging company which was acquired by Travelocity in March 2002. At Site59, he was a key contributor to defining strategy, assembling the Site59 team, designing the consumer product and developing industry-first TRACE packaging technology.

Josh’s favorite Holiday destination is Kauai and his dream holiday destination is a safari/beach trip in Tanganyika

Vic Darvey, Vice President of Distribution and Business Development

He joined lastminute.com with the acquisition of travel technology company Online Travel Corporation in 2004. Vic co-founded Online Travel Corporation in 1997 and as Sales Director, grew it into the travel industry’s leading white label business.

Vic has built upon OTC’s foundation and continued to grow and expand the lastminute.com white label and affiliate businesses with major partners including supermarket giant Tesco, leading social networking site WAYN.com and over-50s specialist company Saga.