Latest news with #AdamSchwab
7NEWS
4 days ago
- Business
- 7NEWS
Adam Schwab: Aussie CEO says working from home is the ‘worst thing ever'
The CEO of a luxury travel company has hit out against employees who want to work from home, telling them to move to 'somewhere that does that'. Adam Schwab, Luxury Escapes chief executive, said his workers are expected to be in office for the entire five day working week. He told the Herald Sun that working from home is 'the worst thing ever', and that it is hard to 'progress your career if you can't learn from other people'. Mr Schwab went on to claim that work promotions are often based on 'who's in your proximity'. 'It's hard to progress your career if you can't learn from other people. If people can't see you. Unfortunately, getting promoted is often based on just who's in your proximity,' he said. He says flexible working arrangements can be available when needed, but that employees must always provide a reason. 'Obviously, if someone has a real need we'll work around that.' Luxury Escapes was founded in 2013 by both Mr Schwab and his friend from school, Jeremy Sane. The company has grown from a small Australian based team, to a now global company with more than 600 employees. Mr Schwab said Luxury Escapes' employee retention rate is very high, with less than 10 per cent leaving the company each year. The CEO said this is a good number and that percentage of people leaving represents those who get a different job or are retiring. He said he believes in collaboration, and told employees that would rather work from home to instead find another job, claiming Luxury Escapes is 'not for (them)'. Luxury Escapes now has offices in Melbourne, Sydney, London, Barcelona and Singapore. Mr Schwab began his professional career as a lawyer. 'I thought I really wanted to be a lawyer. And then you do it and you realise it's really not good. It's pretty boring. It's really long hours. I was an okay lawyer … but (there were) people who were really, really good lawyers. I wasn't ever going to be that.' Both Mr Schawb and Mr Sane decided to leave their corporate jobs behind and started a short term accommodation business in Melbourne. They then created Luxury Escapes after deciding to work in the travel business, and the company now has more than eight million members.
Perth Now
5 days ago
- Business
- Perth Now
Aussie CEO says working from home is the ‘worst thing ever'
The CEO of a luxury travel company has hit out against employees who want to work from home, telling them to move to 'somewhere that does that'. Adam Schwab, Luxury Escapes chief executive, said his workers are expected to be in office for the entire five day working week. He told the Herald Sun that working from home is 'the worst thing ever', and that it is hard to 'progress your career if you can't learn from other people'. Mr Schwab went on to claim that work promotions are often based on 'who's in your proximity'. 'It's hard to progress your career if you can't learn from other people. If people can't see you. Unfortunately, getting promoted is often based on just who's in your proximity,' he said. He says flexible working arrangements can be available when needed, but that employees must always provide a reason. 'Obviously, if someone has a real need we'll work around that.' Luxury Escapes was founded in 2013 by both Mr Schwab and his friend from school, Jeremy Sane. The company has grown from a small Australian based team, to a now global company with more than 600 employees. Mr Schwab said Luxury Escapes' employee retention rate is very high, with less than 10 per cent leaving the company each year. The CEO said this is a good number and that percentage of people leaving represents those who get a different job or are retiring. He said he believes in collaboration, and told employees that would rather work from home to instead find another job, claiming Luxury Escapes is 'not for (them)'. Luxury Escapes now has offices in Melbourne, Sydney, London, Barcelona and Singapore. Mr Schwab began his professional career as a lawyer. 'I thought I really wanted to be a lawyer. And then you do it and you realise it's really not good. It's pretty boring. It's really long hours. I was an okay lawyer … but (there were) people who were really, really good lawyers. I wasn't ever going to be that.' Both Mr Schawb and Mr Sane decided to leave their corporate jobs behind and started a short term accommodation business in Melbourne. They then created Luxury Escapes after deciding to work in the travel business, and the company now has more than eight million members.
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
I run a successful company and this is my brutal response to anyone who asks to work-from-home
The CEO of a luxury travel company has issued a brutal warning to employees who want to work from home, saying they should move 'somewhere that does that'. Adam Schwab, co-founder and chief executive of Luxury Escapes, expects his workers to be in the office five days a week. While many companies around Australia are embracing flexible work conditions as a perk that improves employee retention, Mr Schwab believes working from home is 'the worst thing ever'. 'It's hard to progress your career if you can't learn from other people. If people can't see you,' he told the Herald Sun. 'Unfortunately, getting promoted is often based on just who's in your proximity.' Luxury Escapes has offices in Sydney, Melbourne, London and Singapore and has rapidly grown its team in the last six years. Mr Schwab started the company in 2013 alongside his best friend from school, Jeremy Same. The pair had run an accommodation business before and knew they wanted to focus on travel despite knowing next to nothing about the sector. While Luxury Escapes did take a hit during the Covid lockdowns, Mr Schwab now has a team three times its pre-pandemic size. His tech team alone grew from 30 in 2019 to 130 in 2025, while his total team went from 200 workers to 600. The CEO claims his employee retention rate is exceptionally high, with less than 10 per cent of workers leaving annually. This is in spite of the company not offering flexible working conditions. 'We are massive believers in working collaboratively with other people,' Mr Schwab said. 'If you'd rather work from home, maybe just work somewhere that does that. We're not for you.' Instead of the ability to work from home, Mr Schwab has focused on building other employee perks at Luxury Escapes. Those include a free breakfast and lunch in the office every day, onsite table tennis, a 20 per cent company discount, and referral and baby bonuses. Australian Bureau of Statistics data found 36 per cent of Australians usually worked from home in August 2024. The main reasons for remote working were to work more flexibly, followed by having a home-based job and lastly, to catch up on work after hours. However, Mr Schwab wants his company to retain the ethic of a start-up with workers collaborating in person. So, despite the company being 12 years old, he prefers to act as though it's still on 'day one'. 'We want our team to be super entrepreneurial. We love when people try something and make a mistake and get it wrong, but then learn from it,' Mr Schwab said. 'You miss 100 per cent of the shots you don't take.'
News.com.au
27-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Aussie company's wild $30k luxe Euro trip
An Aussie travel company has just launched a 'once in a lifetime' experience set to shake up the industry. When you think of travelling around the world in a private jet the first thing that comes to mind is the price tag, which understandably is a lot, costing upwards of about $100,000 for a few weeks, according to Luxury Escapes founder Adam Schwab. But the man behind the online booking company known for its luxe holiday packages, has managed to compress the hefty price tag by teaming up with six different tour companies to charter a private plane around nine European countries for 25 days, in April 2026. He's described the experience as a game-changing move in luxury travel. 'The private plane experience around the world is really for the top 1 per cent – it's so out of reach for Aussies,' Mr Schwab told '[But] we were able to charter a plane for 25 days at a super wholesale rate which is inaccessible for the normal person. 'We have got six tour companies sharing one plane, with around 140 passengers. 'It's not as luxurious as eight people on a plane, but 90 per cent of the benefits are the same – you're getting almost all the perks but at a lot less cost.' The price is $1200 per person, per day – over 25 days that's $30,000 and includes twin share, minimum 4 and 5 star accommodation and all the touring activities and most meals. While Mr Schwab said it still may not be for everyone, when breaking down what's involved 'it's worth it'. 'This is not to say $30,000 isn't nothing, but it's targeted as a 'once in a lifetime' experience,' he explained. 'Many of the routes we will fly aren't offered as direct flights by commercial airlines so flying on [your] own exclusive plane between some of the most extraordinary places in Europe will allow [our] travellers to make the most of the amazing outings hosted by local experts in each destination.' The A320-200 aircraft will travel between Prague, Bergen, San Sebastian, Porto, Marrakesh, Champagne, Sicily, Dubrovnik, and Istanbul. He said it takes the hassle out of spending hours at an airport, checking in baggage, going through customs and security, as this process involves a private, smaller airport, with bags also dropped off at each hotel you stay. The private trip is limited to 140 people, with a fleet of small luxury coaches taking a maximum of 25 people at a time on their in-destination adventures. Passengers will have options for Michelin-starred dining on top of the all-inclusive local culinary experiences. Other experiences include a Flåm Railway journey through Norway's fjords, a Pintxo tour in San Sebastian to explore the city's famed bars and sample Basque tapas, Agafay Desert luxury camp in Morocco and beachfront hotel in Taormina, Sicily with a private beach surrounded by carved rock. Mr Schwab said at a time where people are concerned about the cost of living, he's also noticed people are happy to spend a bit more on something that is of great value – 'paying less and getting more'. Luxury Escapes created the private charter tour in direct response to the growing demand for 'unique, meaningful travel', with customer research showing more than 70 per cent of Australians are more likely to indulge in a luxury holiday if it goes 'beyond the ordinary'. Mr Schwab said the new tour the most ambitious trip they've created, adding it's a seamless collection of once-in-a-lifetime European moments 'with some serious bougieness'.
