Quickflix founder Sam McDonagh hired to ramp up presence of Airbnb in Australia and NZ
The co-founder of Quickflix, Sam McDonagh, has been named as Airbnb’s first Australia and New Zealand country manager as the accommodation rental site ramps up its presence in the local market.
The appointment of McDonagh comes as the company looks to build on a doubling of Australian listings on the site over the past 12 months, while the number of inbound travellers booking through Airbnb has tripled year on year.
It is also recruiting for a Sydney-based head of communications and marketing director in a sign the firm is preparing to increase its local marketing. The successful applicant will work closely with the international and Asia Pacific communications teams, marketing and social media teams as well as a local PR agency.
Airbnb head of global operations Varsha Rao said McDonagh’s first task will be to increase awareness of the site in the region.
“Australia and New Zealand are incredibly important markets for Airbnb both in terms of domestic and international travel,” he said. “Sam has a deep passion for travel and a great track record growing companies that are focused on strong customer communities which will make him a great asset to Airbnb.”
McDonagh, who co-founded Quickflix in 2002, said: “Airbnb is an incredible company that is quite simply changing the way people travel. This role represents a brilliant opportunity to work with one of the most dynamic communities of passionate hosts and travellers in the world today. I couldn’t be more excited to support the company’s efforts in Australia and New Zealand.”
McDonagh has also worked for iiNet as its chief sales and marketing officer and spent the last three years as an advisor to Deeperwater Ventures.
Steve Jones
Hopefully they’ll now do better than those disastrous segments on Channel Seven’s Sydney Weekender. Blind Freddy could have told them not to do a long segment promoting tourism to Melbourne on a program sponsored – and partly funded – by Destination NSW (NSW Tourism). [Edited under Mumbrella’s content moderation policy].
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