Troy Collins, commercial director of dealchecker.co.uk, is to leave his role in April 2011. Managing Director Alex Saint and Technical Director Andrew Bredon will remain at the helm to ensure a smooth transition since the purchase of dealchecker.co.uk by Easyvoyage in February this year. Collins took the decision to step down so he could focus his attentions on the launch and continued growth of digital travel companies Cruiselinefans.com and Secret Escapes.

At Cruiselinefans.com, Collins will take on the role of Managing Director. Cruiselinefans.com was taken on by Collins, Bredon and Saint in October 2009 as one of the world’s premier cruise forum sites. Since then the trio have been developing the functionality and content of the website to provide a platform from which to grow the membership base from its current level of 150,000. In addition to the forum, the site now enables members to rate and review past cruises, connect with fellow cruisers pre- and post-travel, share images and provides detailed content on over 400 ships worldwide. The forum contains well in excess of 1.5 million posts and continues to grow strongly. 

In addition, Collins will be taking up a Directorship and senior commercial role at Secret Escapes, headed up by Managing Director Tom Valentine, who came to the business from key roles at eBay and Seatwave. Secret Escapes is a flash sales site for the luxury travel industry, offering an exclusive members-only service providing savings of up to 70% on luxury hotels and holidays. 

Troy Collins said of his move: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with dealchecker.co.uk; it has been a very rewarding experience to take the company forward from inception to where we are today and I would like to thank all our commercial partners for their continued support. It is clear to see that the holiday comparison site will continue to flourish under the wing of Easyvoyage. I am looking forward to the new challenges that lie ahead with Cruiselinefans.com and Secret Escapes.”

Dealchecker CEO Alex Saint said of the move: “Of course we will miss Troy at dealchecker.co.uk; he was part of the founding team in 2005 and he has been a key influence in the successful growth of the brand, however he has put in place a fantastic commercial team who will ensure that dealchecker.co.uk continues on its exciting path.”

The purchase of dealchecker.co.uk by the French travel portal Easyvoyage makes it the fourth largest price comparison site in the UK. Easyvoyage took on the brand with ambitious growth plans and aim to achieve euro 1 billion worth of sales for travel partners in 2012. They also hope to grow the UK email database to seven million subscribers in 2013.