Helloworld.com.au CEO departure

Helloworld.com.au CEO departure

The online arm of the Helloworld empire, helloworld.com.au, will soon be operating without its current CEO Jeremy Reitman, Travel Weekly understands.

In a major development, Reitman will commence a new US-based role with a popular holiday company next week, industry sources claim.

Travel Weekly has been told Reitman will formally join the holiday company in their Los Angeles office as early as next Monday, however sources have suggested his departure from helloworld.com.au took place weeks ago.

Speculation around Reitman’s role has been ongoing since mid April, however Helloworld has refused to comment about the move or any changes in leadership at the online company.

Reitman has been at the helm of Helloworld’s online business since February 2014, his placement announced on the eve of the closure of the popular bestflights.com.au and bestcruises.com.au websites. Reitman was appointed by ex-Helloworld chief executive Rob Gurney following a tenure at Expedia where he was director of digital marketing.

Only weeks ago current chief executive Andrew Burnes announced helloworld.com.au would transition to a new platform from 31 August, cutting its strategic alliance with Orbtiz Worldwide.

Burnes said that the strategic alliance between Helloworld and Orbitz had not delivered the revenue streams initially envisaged by both parties and had created too much conflict with Helloworld’s branded and associate members.

“The financial investment by Helloworld Limited in its development is over $18 million to date and between the ongoing losses of the .com operation and the channel conflict with the online site carrying the same brand as our branded and associate members, we have decided to transition the site to a more agent-aligned portal” Burnes said on the April 21 announcement.

Burnes said he “stands by his opinion that it is the groups’ responsibility to drive business in the door of our agency members, onto the phones of our agency members and onto the portals of our agency members including Helloworld.com.au”.

The operation has been costing approximately $6m a year over the last two years plus capital expenditure.

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