Luxury Escapes acquires travel photography start up Travel Shoot

Luxury Escapes acquires TravelShoot start-up

In June 2021, TravelShoot – founded by Melbourne-based entrepreneur Sarah Pearce – joined the LE portfolio. TravelShoot connects travellers with some of the world’s leading photographers for photo sessions during their holidays.

We sat down with General Manager Sarah Pearce to talk everything TravelShoot.

How did you come up with the idea for TravelShootTravel Shoot ?

One of my friends in New York is a photographer; he wanted to photograph my husband and I on the Brooklyn Bridge for his portfolio during our 2015 trip. The travel images were so good I shared them on social media. The response was amazing. Friends and family asked how I booked the shoot and that was the brainchild for me to create TravelShoot. Travel Shoot.

How did you get the business to where it is today?

It has been hard but rewarding all the same. I was selected for a one-off Shark Tank episode, and I ended up securing investment after the show. The media interest in this new travel concept opened a lot of doors, including a global contract with a major Australian travel company. I learnt the most about how this business could work in the travel sector when I was selected for the 2018 Qantas AVRO Accelerator – the program solidified that my product was profitable and a unique ancillary option for any travel company.?

I applied a lot of the lessons learnt from working with Qantas and started to see a lot of interest from industry partners, but then the pandemic hit and – as any travel business knows – the world went quiet. I was already open to the idea of an acquisition for Travel Shoot as I learnt about the potential of how easily book-able this experience could be in a customer journey on the Qantas AVRO program, so I decided to use the downtime in the pandemic to expedite the acquisition. A lot of my travel start-up founder friends decided to close during that time, but after years of blood, sweat and tears, and the hundreds of photographers I had recruited, I wasn’t prepared to give up. So, I created my acquisition deck, leveraged all my business contacts, and sent the deck to every contact I had – this included Adam Schwab.

There were a few serious buyers in both the travel and content agency sector – however, LE presented their vision for TravelShootTravel Shoot post-acquisition and their strategic thinking about what they could do with this experience and how quickly they could execute was the main reason I chose them and sold the company to Luxury Escapes.?

What can customers expect on a TravelShootTravel Shoot?

We use a customer’s brief to connect them with one of our trusted (and tested) photographers, and they provide samples of their portfolio before the shoot. Once connected, they choose from location options and select a time to meet. This can be in their hotel (for example a beach in front of their resort) or there are locations recommended by local photographers in each destination. TravelShootTravel Shoot sessions are designed to be fun, relaxed and family friendly – our photographers are passionate about their home cities and make the session interesting.

Being on holidays is the best time for candid, yet professional photos for a special occasions like birthdays, engagements, anniversaries and even weddings. Customers receive sample photos in 48 hours and full album in seven days.

?How can properties benefit from customers who book TravelShootTravel Shoot?

If the property lends itself to having a TravelShoot onsite, Travel Shoot on site – it’s an incredible opportunity for partners to access high-quality content as 70% of customers give TravelShootTravel Shoot media consent to share images. Even a property supporting or recommending this experience for in-house guests makes that property a permanent memory for the customers. As photos are shared with friends, family and beyond, its incredible exposure for the property.

How is Travel Shoot performing post-pandemic?

We are seeing strong sales both direct and in-purchase via Luxury Escapes across the 90+ cities within the Travel Shoot network. The most popular destinations are Bali, Fiji, Phuket, and the Gold Coast. Demand is increasing for other iconic cities like Paris, New York, and Santorini. We have also created a custom Travel Shoot package for the recent Sea World Resort package on Luxury Escapes. This has been well received and the hotel will sell the package ongoing to in house guests regardless of their booking source. We are looking at developing this custom and direct package with more properties.?

For more information on how to work with Travel Shoot email Sarah: [email protected]