The Escape List makes off with WTMFresh start-up cheque

Travel start-up The Escape List has won the WTMFresh pitch competition and with it £5,000 from sponsor Sabre Travel Network.

Travel start-up The Escape List has won the WTMFresh pitch competition and with it £5,000 from sponsor Sabre Travel Network.

The site, which offers a hand-picked selection of affordable luxury hotels in the UK, beat competition from four other shortlisted entries: LUXTripper, Snowresort, SugarCake and Sujester, the last of which came a close second.

Jaime Rose, co-founder of The Escape List who pitched in front of a live audience at World Travel Market, said the injection of funds would be a huge boost and represented more than has been spent marketing the site to date.

“It’s fantastic. We keep our costs low so this is a really significant injection of cash. This for us is really meaningful, and the mentorship from the judges will also be really valuable.

“We very much felt we were a long shot, but we have always embraced opportunities. Comparing us to competitors we are very small, but when people look at our website they think we are a far larger company than we are. This competition is great exposure.”

The WTMFresh competition was run for the first time this year in partnership with Sabre and Travel Perspective, a digital-focused travel consultancy.