Here's our roundup of the people, product and partner news from the global travel industry this week.Secret Escapes’ Alex Saint joins Holibob boardAlex Saint, the founder and CEO of Secret Escapes, has joined Holibob as its chair.Holibob, a PhocusWire Hot 25 Travel Startup for 2023, provides technology to help travel brands and tourism boards sell experiences online. “Having a Chairman with Alex’s track record of success in the industry alongside such a deep understanding of our business – as he has been an informal advisor to us for a couple of years now – will provide immense and immediate value as we look to move into our next phase of growth,” said Craig Everett, CEO of Holibob.And said Saint, “It’s rare at this point in the travel industry’s lifecycle to find a company that is delivering a unique, powerful solution that responds to such a clear industry need. The opportunity to be part of bringing that to market, as well as working with such driven and capable founders as Craig and Angus [Hardy], is also a rare one and made my decision to join Holibob as chairman and easy choice.”  Saint replaces as Holibob’s chairman Richard Sowerby, a longtime advertising industry veteran who had been at the helm of Holibob’s Board since its founding nearly five years ago. AirDNA appoints new CEO. AirDNA, a provider of data and analytics for the short-term rental industry, has announced the appointment of Rohit Bezewada as its new chief executive officer. Bezewada succeeds Demi Horvat, who will transition out of the company over the coming month

The short-term rental market has been booming in Europe.A record 44.5 million demand nights were reported in the European Union in June, an 18.6% increase year over year, according to a new report from AirDNA. Available listings were up as well, to 3.8 million, a 14.8% increase year over year. But the sector’s vibrancy isn’t all due to families looking for a home to stay in or travelers heading off the beaten track. In the United Kingdom, for example, urban (24%) and suburban (20%) markets saw demand growth that was significantly higher than that in rural, coastal and mountain destinations (ranging from 12-14%), according to the report.Contributing to that urban growth are companies like Bob W and Nestor that seek to combine hotel services or standards with the flexibility of home-like apartments or other accommodations for the modern travelers they see as mixing business with pleasure.Niko Karstikko, co-founder and group CEO at Bob W, and Fran Milsom, founder and CEO of Nestor, came together last month at Phocuswright Europe for an interview in the PhocusWire studio. They discussed growth opportunities for short-term rentals in general and the potential for companies like theirs to revitalize urban areas seeing a downturn in commercial office use.“There’s a lot of space in this sector, and you can do that within the confines of a city,” said Karstikko, whose Finland-based company operates in 10 countries and 17 cities in Europe. “London’s an endless opportunity almost

In June, Realtor.com, in collaboration with AirDNA, released their ranking of the top 10 places to buy a beach house in the U.S. to use as a short-term rental.