Travel tech company Rome2rio hires first global communications role

Travel tech company, Rome2rio, has today announced their first global communications hire. The company welcomes Kirsteene Phelan, former Australian PR and Communications Manager for online craft and design marketplace Etsy.com as Director of Communications, based in their global headquarters in Melbourne.

Rome2rio is a multi-modal travel search site founded by Michael Cameron and Bernhard Tschirren in 2010 that attracts 8 million global visitors each month, mainly from Europe. The company has raised 2.8 million in funding to date including a 1.2 million grant from Commercialisation Australia in 2014. The product has been widely praised across the travel technology industry; winning the People's Choice Award at Phocuswright 2012, the TRAVELtech GlobalCollect Website of the Year in 2013, and the Data Specialist Award at the 2015 WITovation Awards.

Rod Cuthbert, CEO of Rome2rio says, “Multimodal search is a new and unfamiliar topic to many people. We are essentially a complex, data-driven technology company operating in global consumer travel market. We have done a good job using SEO to become the market leader however we are now looking to tell our company stories in new and compelling ways. Kirsteene’s experience and understanding of our company and our objectives make her a perfect fit.”

Kirsteene Phelan says, ”I’m thrilled to be joining the Rome2rio team and to be combining my twin interests of storytelling and travel. Rome2rio has access to a deep repository of interesting data, ready to be crafted into compelling content and I’m looking forward to collaborating with such a talented team.”

Kirsteene, who was Etsy.com’s 1st hire in the southern hemisphere, spent 4 years with the company working on traditional and influencer media relations, grassroots marketing, and partnerships. Kirsteene has also taught business media relations and marketing skills for numerous clients including the Victorian State Government and RMIT University.

To contact Kirsteene, send an email to press@rome2rio.com or reach her by phone on  0411 107 611