Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Birmingham Post
Birmingham Post
Business
Jon Robinson

A Place in the Sun's Laura Hamilton backs Instagram travel firm promoted by influencers and celebrities

A Place in the Sun presenter Laura Hamilton has invested in an online travel company promoted by influencers and celebrities such as Amanda Holden, Nicole Scherzinger and Peter Andre.

Altrincham-headquartered Trending Travel has raised more than £380,000 during its Crowdcube campaign, which is expected to end this week.

The TV presenter is one of more than 300 investors to back the business.

READ MORE: Retail expert warns more brands may collapse after McColl's rescued by Morrisons

Trending Travel had originally set a fundraising target of £300,000 and said it is valued at £4m.

Other investors to have backed the company during its Crowdcube campaign include Steve Endacott who was previously non executive chairman at Teletext Holidays, a co-founder at Holiday Taxis and COO at On Holiday Group.

Launched in 2020, the company sells package holidays with a focus on sending celebrities and influencers along to endorse the destinations.

Trending Travel says it uses influencer marketing to turn 'likes' into bookings and has more than 257,000 followers on Instagram.

According to its Crowdcube page, the company will use the additional funding to make "key hires" as well as "vastly improving" its customer user experience.

It added: "Social media is a trillion pound industry. We aim to harness the power of social media by turning likes, follows and engagement into holiday bookings by collaborating with influencers, celebrities, and content creators.

"We believe travel marketing is filled with bland and uninspiring content, failing to create a compelling call to action.

"Our research indicates that hotels, airlines and destinations struggle to track ROI on influencer activity.

"Our solution offers trackable campaigns, verified statistics, and valuable data analysis."

Since the company was launched, it has made £2.5m in travel bookings and posted a revenue of £763,000 and loss of £329,000 in 2021.

It added: "Our goal is to develop a strategy to increase media sales through the promotion of hotels, airlines & destinations.

"We believe these areas are receptive to influencer marketing and our demographic of 18-40 year social media consumers.

"We also aim to create influencer ambassador roles, allowing us to grow a following around key demographics to help build brand loyalty.

"We are crowdfunding to invest into key roles - marketing, sales and UX technology aimed at finessing the online booking process and help achieve our goals."

The business is led by chief executive Keith Herman and co-founder Sophie Foster.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.