Four senior technology appointments to ‘turbocharge’ Holiday Extras

Ancillaries provider Holiday Extras has appointed four senior technology experts to “turbocharge” the group’s mission to become a “world-class” product and technology business.

Rob Grigg has joined as chief technology officer; Álvaro de Nicolás is chief digital strategy officer; Milan Juza is strategic technology advisor and Hugh Chappell is growth and performance advisor.

Together they offer more than a century’s combined experience in technology and delivery leadership.

De Nicolás lives in Majorca but will be spending most of his time at Holiday Extras’ campus on the Kent coast near Folkestone.

He is a senior advisor to international travel wholesalers, several large hotel chains, private equity investors and start-ups.

His experience includes senior roles in media, financial services, telecoms, and travel firms such as Hotelbeds Group, Webbeds and Awaze.

Grigg has built and led product and technology teams and software delivery in several industries including airline, insurance, futures trading, energy trading, fashion retail, learning and development and fintech.

For the last two years he has been involved with several start-ups, including his own, building mobile solutions on cloud, big data and API services.

Juza has worked in tech for nearly 20 years in sectors including telecoms, media, financial services and, most recently, travel.

He spent three years at Tui Group where he led a global e-commerce technology team and currently works as a CTO for The Gym Group.

Entrepreneur Hugh Chappell recently helped LadBible with its £360 million stock listing. He has also worked for Apple, sold several of his own businesses, and is an experienced programmer.

Matthew Pack, Group chief executive of Holiday Extras, said: “Holiday Extras is delighted to have attracted four senior technical directors of such calibre to help us realise our ambitions.

“Our new directors and advisors bring us a wealth of experience and talent to expedite the delivery of HEHA – the Holiday Extras Holiday Assistant – our super-powerful search-once service for customers and travel agents.”

Chappell said: “HX has a strong leadership team with tremendous vision and appetite to grow the business. I am delighted to be bringing my knowledge to the team as we continue to build one of the biggest brands in the travel industry.”

Juza added: “Technology is the first thing a customer sees when they start booking a trip, so it’s crucial that a travel company gets it right. I’ve helped the biggest brands in travel do just that, and I’m looking forward to helping HX do the same.”

De Nicolás commented: “I’ve lived and worked all over the world in senior tech roles, and choosing to commute from Mallorca to Holiday Extras is a big commitment for me. What makes the trip worth it is the culture and the strategy of the business.”

Grigg said: “My passion is building and leading strong agile technology teams who can bring solutions to life that have a positive impact on people’s lives and deliver against ambitious business goals.”