Secret Escapes Attracts New Funding And A Battle-Hardened CEO

Mike Butcher

Mike Butcher is the European Editor for TechCrunch. A former grunge rock drummer, he became a long time journalist, and has since written for UK national newspapers and magazines including The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Telegraph and The New Statesman. Mike is also a co-founder and shareholder of TechHub, a co-working space/service/community with several locations... → Learn More

Tuesday, October 18th, 2011
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Secret Escapes, the exclusive flash sales for luxury hotel rooms along the lines of and Voyage Privé in France and Gilt Group in the US, is announcing a second funding round, although they are being coy about the level. Suffice to say this is a site which is pretty much ‘coining it’ amongst users, having attracted 750,000 active users since January this year and claims to be doubling turnover every three months. Tom Valentine, MD of Secret Escapes declined to give a figure for the new funding but said its “supporting major new marketing initiatives” to the tune of £5 million in 2012, so I think it’s safe to expect some TV advertising.