The team's vision

We want to  make high-quality, independent mini travel guides freely available to everyone, whatever their travel requirements - from a luxury beach holiday in the Caribbean, or a foodie weekend in Palma, to a romantic weekend in Paris for under £300. We want the guides to be written and rated by people who enjoy sharing information about their favourite places to visit, and where they like to stay and eat – and who can write about them with true passion.

We then want to help readers who have been inspired by the travel writing on our site to Make It Happen for them. As well as helping them to book the holidays, hotels and restaurants recommended on the site, we want to help you find the best prices on flights, hotels, car hire and other aspects of travel. 

The Simonseeks team

Simon Nixon, Founder

I have always believed in the power and the potential of the internet.  I founded the price comparison websites Moneysupermarket and Travelsupermarket and built them up to be the leaders in their field. They were floated on the stock market in 2007 for £850 million – still the largest internet flotation in Europe. I now want to focus my energies on achieving a similar level of success for Simonseeks. 

I am the type of person who loves to travel but finds researching the perfect trip laborious. There didn't seem to be a site which told me what I wanted to know. If I fancied a romantic weekend in Europe, where could I get inspiration? When I have decided on my destination where could I find out  about the best places to stay and get a real feel for what they are like? I also think that food is a really important part of travel - and it is very hard to find reliable recommendations for the best places to eat out. So I decided to try to create a site where travel enthusiasts, independent travel journalists and even celebrities could share their tips and advice, and write about their favourite places. In short, I’ve built the site for me – but I hope that many other people will also find it useful. I am ambitious for it too - I want to build it into the most successful quality travel guide website in the world.

Chris Nixon, Commercial Director

I’ve lived and breathed travel for over six years now, having spearheaded the launch and development of travelsupermarket.com, the leading travel price comparison site. No complaints there – it was fantastically satisfying to help millions of people save money on flights, hotels, holidays, car hire and insurance. But – big but – there was always something missing. And that, I realised, was being in on the earlier stages of the journey, the bit where people are dreaming about where to go.

That’s why I joined Simonseeks.com. I wanted to be part of the team that launched this site offering people thousands of passionate and exciting travel guides, written by hundreds of professional journalists, celebrities and travel enthusiasts. Whether people are looking for a straightforward sun, sea and sand holiday in the Med, or an extreme sports break in South Africa; whether they’ve got money to burn or a strict budget to stick to, they can come to us for real insight and inspiration – on where to go, what to do there, and even how to save money doing it. It’s a site I can confidently recommend to friends and family, knowing that it delivers both great ideas and great deals. How good is that?

Nick Trend, Editorial Director

It is 30 years since I first headed off around Europe on an InterRail ticket and got the travel bug. Before I finally settled down to a proper job, I had spent another month trekking in the Atlas Mountains, and a year working my way around the world - a trip which began with an overland journey from London to Hong Kong, through Communist East Europe, Siberia, Mongolia and China. Back in London I got a job with Holiday Which? where I became Assistant Editor and continued to travel widely, before joining the Travel Desk at the Daily Telegraph where I have worked for the last 13 years. I am also a contributing editor to Conde Nast Traveller.

I’ve joined Simon’s team because I think he has come up with a great and highly innovative concept, I’m convinced that it will be a big success, and I’m really looking forward to encouraging writers to make the most of the opportunities it offers. I think it will be good news for travel journalists and other experts in the field, and become a first port of call for travellers who are looking for high quality advice and inspiring ideas.

Robert Thompson, Financial Director

No matter whether they've just got back after a trip, are about to go away or are longing for a break, everybody daydreams about holidays, don't they? In my previous job I was a partner in a national accountancy firm and one of my favourite clients was a luxury holiday company. I'd get to hear first-hand about fabulous destinations all over the world, what to do when you're there, how great the restaurants are, when to go and when to stay away. Working with the Simonseeks team allows me to continue to learn about established as well as up-and-coming destinations and to gain a real insight from people who are passionate about their favourite places.

It's incredibly rewarding to work with our talented in-house team and our creative group of writers and together we're confident that we can provide visitors to the site with everything they need to plan their next trip and then to tell us all about it!

Simon Dawson, Technical Director

I did a lot of travelling early in my career, not necessarily by choice or to places I would necessarily have choosen, as part of my job with Big Blue. This opened my eyes to the fact that most places, given enough time, will reveal their own unique charm. This could apply to something very local or somewhere further afield, but as the majority of people only have limited time (whether it be on a well earned short break, holiday or a busines trip) finding out about these little gems of interest can be time consuming.

I now find myself working at Simonseeks which gives me the opportunity to work with a great team, which embraces innovation and is always willing to try something different. This in turn has created a site where people can fast-track their knowledge on a particular destination, or get inspired by people with similar interests and experiences - and as they say, this is only the start!

Paul Dickinson, Technical Director

Travel. Food. Drink. Despite the fact I can’t make them into an amusing acronym, these are my three favourite words. Whether it’s saying a little prayer and drinking homemade snake wine (complete with bits!) in the Mekong Delta, eating thick French onion soup al fresco in the Alps or munching on a perfect Bakewell tart during a gale in the Peak District, I’ve found most situations can be enhanced with the right comestibles! This is a general rule of thumb that occasionally doesn’t hold true; the fish heads in Sri Lanka being a case in point...

Whilst my years of being a ninja techie have been good to me, they haven’t quite allowed me to retire and live in Havana (yet). Finding myself with the opportunity to work at Simonseeks.com is something of a bonus: I get to think about travel all day, help build and shape a new travel community that has something for everyone, and plan my next trip whilst pretending to work.

Enough from me - go and have a look round the site, read a few guides and maybe learn about somewhere you’ve never heard of before but will be going to soon!