Airbnb marketing boss Ben Hallam is departing the business and relocating to Hong Kong to take up the position of VP of customer engagement at Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, AdNews can reveal.
Hallam joined Airbnb nearly two years ago as head of marketing before being promoted to global marketing lead last year.
Prior to Airbnb, Hallam has ran the Coca-Cola account at Ogilvy & Mather Sydney for two years and held a number of senior account roles at Y&R Group in Sydney and Publicis.
Reflecting on his time at Airbnb, Hallam says his highlights include the Marriage Equality campaign from Clemenger Melbourne, 'Until We All Belong', launching Airbnb experiences and the business' foray into the luxury homes market.
In his new role, Hallam will be tasked with driving innovation, enhancing strategic partnerships and elevating the end-to-end customer journey across Shangri-La’s global portfolio.
“Shangri-La is a brilliant company who are investing to ensure their product and experience sets a new standard for the travel category. Their 'customer first' approach and appetite for innovation is super exciting, I can’t wait to bring it to life. Watch this space," Hallam says.
“We’d like to thank Ben Hallam for his contribution to the Airbnb family, in particular in leading Airbnb’s efforts supporting Australian marriage equality in 2017 through the Until We All Belong campaign. We wish Ben all the best in his future endeavours," Sam McDonagh, country manager, Airbnb Australia and New Zealand.
Airbnb has promoted Daniel Gervais to fill the role of head of marketing. He has been with Airbnb since 2013 and was one of the first employees in the Sydney team.
“Throughout his time at Airbnb, Daniel has been an integral part of growing the awareness of our brand among Australian and New Zealand travellers, with his leadership and involvement in projects including the Night At The Great Barrier Reef, our partnerships with Qantas and the Sydney Opera House and the global Live There campaign," McDonagh says.
“We couldn’t be more excited about the future of our marketing programs under his stewardship."
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