Club escapade the 2025 winner of the ATM start-up Pitch Battle
Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Club Escapade has won the 2025 edition of the ATM Start-up Pitch Battle, which was held in association with Intelak, overcoming stiff competition from some of the region's leading travel innovators and disruptors.
This year's competition received entries from 40 travel start-ups, including finalists ChatDMC, Penguinpass, SparkleHaze (Woohoo), TravStack, and WROXAI.
During the Pitch Battle, Soufiane Alimi, Founder and CEO, outlined how Club Escapade helps hoteliers optimise occupancy during quieter periods while preserving their prestige and brand image. The company offers private, time-limited rates on unoccupied rooms to its Club Members, helping to boost hotel revenues while delivering the ultimate luxury on-demand vacation experience.
Alimi said: 'Club Escapade targets luxury hotels looking to optimise occupancy without compromising their brand prestige, as well as UAE residents and locals who crave premium, on-demand staycations but lack the time to travel. We leverage an exclusive membership model and a weekly drop system, creating excitement around luxury staycations. By curating themed experiences and offering private, time-limited rates, we drive consistent, high-value bookings for hoteliers. Our commission-based model and last-minute filling of the empty rooms ensures hotels generate revenue with zero upfront costs.'
The competition forms an integral part of ATM's commitment to entrepreneurship and connectivity, by inviting start-ups with innovative products, services, and technologies. The competition was open to pre-seed and seed series start-ups.
Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME, Arabian Travel Market said: 'Congratulations to Club Escapade, this year's Start-Up Pitch Battle winner. Their success reflects the dynamic shift we're witnessing across the travel and tourism sector, where fresh thinking and agile innovation are increasingly driving industry transformation. The Pitch Battle is more than just a competition – it's a launchpad for ideas that can reshape the future of travel. The calibre of entries this year has been outstanding, and we're excited to see what the next generation of travel pioneers brings to the stage.'
As part of ATM's commitment to entrepreneurship and connectivity, the competition, presented by Sabre, hosted start-ups with innovative products, services, and technologies. The competition was open to pre-seed or seed series start-ups, enabling them to access the resources to take their businesses to the next level.
Entries were reviewed by Intelak, a Dubai-based technology and innovation hub dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship in the travel, tourism and aviation industries, and fellow judges Ismail Issa, Head of AI & Web3, Emirates, and Hassan Qannati, Head of Business Development, Sabre.
To further support entrepreneurial growth in travel, all shortlisted start-ups received complimentary pod space in the new Start-Up and Innovation Zone at ATM 2025, enabling them to showcase their solutions and network with industry leaders.
The largest edition of ATM to date will close today following four days of impactful industry discussions and unrivalled networking opportunities across the business events, leisure, luxury and corporate travel sectors.
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Now in its 32nd year, Arabian Travel Market (ATM) is the leading international travel and tourism event in the Middle East for inbound and outbound tourism professionals. Held annually at the Dubai World Trade Centre, ATM 2024 spanned 12 halls, making it the largest edition to date. With over 48,000 attendees and more than 35,000 visitors, including over 2,550 exhibitors and representatives from over 161 countries during last year's show, ATM remains a pivotal gathering for the global travel and tourism industry. Arabian Travel Market is part of Arabian Travel Week. #ATMDubai
ATM takes place from 28 April to 1 May 2025, Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai
Arabian Travel Week is a week-long festival of events from 28 April to 4 May, alongside Arabian Travel Market 2025. Providing a renewed focus for the Middle East's travel and tourism sector, it includes the all-New Business Events @ATM focusing on MICE, Start-Up Competition, influencers' events, GBTA Business Travel Forums, and ATM Travel Tech. It also features ATM Buyer Networking and a series of country forums.
About RX
RX is a global leader in events and exhibitions, leveraging industry expertise, data, and technology to build businesses for individuals, communities, and organisations. With a presence in 25 countries across 42 industry sectors, RX hosts approximately 350 events annually. RX is committed to creating an inclusive work environment for all our people. RX empowers businesses to thrive by leveraging data-driven insights and digital solutions. RX is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers.
About RELX
RELX is a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. RELX serves customers in more than 180 countries and has offices in about 40 countries. It employs more than 36,000 people over 40% of whom are in North America. The shares of RELX PLC, the parent company, are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York stock exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX. *Note: Current market capitalisation can be found at http://www.relx.com/investors
World Travel Market (WTM) portfolio comprises leading travel events and online portals across four continents. The events are:
WTM London is the world's most influential travel & tourism event for the global travel community. The show is the ultimate destination for those seeking a macro view of the travel industry and a deeper understanding of the forces shaping it. WTM London is where influential travel leaders, buyers and high-profile travel companies gather to exchange ideas, drive innovation, and accelerate business outcomes.
Next event: 5 to 7 November 2024 at ExCel London.
WTM Latin America takes place annually in the city of São Paulo and attracts around 20,000 tourism professionals during the three-day event. The event offers qualified content together with networking and business opportunities. In this its ninth edition – there have been eight face-to-face events along with a 100% virtual one, which was held in 2021 – WTM Latin America continued to focus on effective business generation, and achieved the advance booking of six thousand meetings that were held between buyers, travel agents and exhibitors in 2022.
Next event: 14 to 16 April 2025 – Expo Center Norte, SP, Brazil.
WTM Africa launched in 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa. In 2022, WTM Africa facilitated more than 7 thousand unique pre-scheduled appointments, an increase of more than 7% compared to 2019 and welcomed more than 6 thousand visitors (unaudited), the same number as in 2019.
Next event: 9 to 11 April 2025 – Cape Town International Convention Centre, Cape Town http://africa.wtm.com/
About ATW Connect: Africa Travel Week's digital arm, is a virtual hub packed to the seams with interesting content, industry news and insights, and the opportunity to hear from experts on a variety of topics in our new monthly webinar series. All with the aim to keep all of us in the travel and tourism industry connected. ATW Connect focuses on inbound and outbound markets for general leisure tourism, luxury travel and the MICE/business travel sector as well as travel technology.
WTM Global Hub, is the WTM Portfolio online portal created to connect and support travel industry professionals around the world. The resource hub offers the latest guidance and knowledge to help exhibitors, buyers and others in the travel industry face the challenges of the global coronavirus pandemic. WTM Portfolio is tapping into its global network of experts to create content for the hub. https://hub.wtm.com/
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