The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

Hostelworld Marketing People on the Move

Hostelworld raids Asos for CMO Yale Varty

Author

By Jennifer Faull, Deputy Editor

October 9, 2019 | 3 min read

Hostelworld has appointed Asos’ marketing boss Yale Varty as its chief marketing officer.

Yale Varty

Yale Varty, Hostelworld CMO

It’s a long-awaited replacement for Kristof Fahy, who left one year ago after just 10 months in the role to take on an interim marketing job at checkatrade.com before joining Moonpig earlier this year.

Varty has joined from online fashion giant Asos where he led marketing.

He began his career in consulting with Accenture in Seattle, working with companies in tech, e-commerce, retail and communications. He then moved into the travel industry to work at Expedia, where he held various positions within the marketing team.

He will join Hostelworld's executive leadership team and report into CEO, Gary Morrison.

Morrison said: “I’m really excited about adding someone of Yale’s calibre to my executive leadership team. His deep understanding of e-commerce, coupled with his background in the travel industry, is fundamental as we look to push boundaries in our sector.”

Varty will take on leadership of Hostelworld’s London office and develop a fresh strategy to take the brand into 2020.

“Hostelworld is a brand that shapes people’s lives and attitudes through travel, and the journey the company is embarking on is very exciting,” the marketer said. “When Gary reached out to me, I was inspired by his vision and what I could be part of, and I’m excited to play my part in driving our ambitious plans forward.”

The pressure will be on to turn around Hostelworld's fortunes after it reported a drop in revenue for the first half of this year.

Revenues were down from €42.6m in the first half of 2018 to €38.8m during the first six months of 2019.

Morrison partly blamed the “full global rollout of the free cancellation product”, which led to its number of cancellations reaching 250,000.

Hostelworld Marketing People on the Move

More from Hostelworld

View all

Trending

Industry insights

View all
Add your own content +