Penny Young

Penny Young is CEO for TakeABreak.com.au, a role she shares with Craig Davis.

Penny and Craig jointly drive the vision and direction for the company which is about to celebrate its fifth year in operation.

Penny also is responsible for the marketing of the site which includes visitor and operator communication, search engine marketing, public relations and promotions.

Penny has worked in various capacities in the field of international marketing for almost 20 years, specialising in service marketing including the telecommunications and information technology fields. 

She has held senior strategic marketing roles in a number of high profile companies both in Australia and overseas. Prior to starting TakeABreak.com.au, she managed her own marketing consultancy, which specialised in servicing small business clients in a range of fields.

Penny loves to travel and it was this that led to the idea of TakeABreak.com.au. With many travellers looking for more than just a standard hotel experience, her objective was to provide them with access to as many different accommodation types as possible.

When searching for boutique accommodation such as B&Bs or holiday homes she also found the only option was calling local real estate agents or accessing local newspapers and information centres. This process was not only time consuming but sometimes yielded no results at all.

She felt there needed to be a more comprehensive yet easier, streamlined and convenient search option.

So in 2003, with 300 properties, the seed for TakeABreak.com.au was sown.

At the click of a mouse visitors can check availability and book their preferred accommodation, then consult relevant links to flights, car hire, maps, local weather patterns, currency converters, destination information and even local restaurants.

TakeABreak.com.au is now the only independent online travel site specialising in boutique accommodation in Australia. Over 11,000 hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses are listed on the site, complete with in-depth information and guest reviews. The properties are easily searched via experience – pet, family, seniors, gay and lesbian-friendly and geography. The booking process is quick and simple with a “Best Deal” guarantee to ensure the cheapest price for that stay.

Well in advance of the company’s targets, the business began to break even in the first 12 months. In the last financial year it generated $15M in bookings.

Penny also attributes TakeABreak’s success to the strong support they give the operators who list their properties with the site. Penny’s experience in small business management has allowed her to provide this critical service including a monthly newsletter, Business Breaks which gives tips on growing their bookings and also marketing partnership opportunities.

TakeABreak.com.au has won the NSW Tourism Award in the Tourism Marketing/Media category in both 2006 and 2007.

Michelle Kothe

Michelle co-founded TakeABreak.com.au with Penny Young and Craig Davis in 2003.

As the Technical Director for the company, Michelle plays a significant role in the management of the IT operations of the business. She fully developed the site in-house using proprietary technology. She also functions as the Senior Programmer for TakeABreak.com.au and partner content site, HolidayInspirations.com.au. In addition, she supports, trains and manages the programming team.

Michelle has an impressive background as lead developer on a number of websites, and was the principal developer for Websites at Work. While she has worked in a range of fields, for the last eight years she has focused specifically on web development and associated technologies.

Michelle has led development teams for a wide range of websites, including major portal websites such as www.sail-world.com, association websites such as www.naccho.org.au and fully functional e-commerce sites such as www.richardbennet.com.au.

Michelle, who is Penny’s sister, and her husband Craig (Joint CEO), work out of the Canberra office, which houses the technical and support staff. Aside from her impressive technical qualifications, Michelle also holds a combined Commerce/Law degree from UNSW.

Craig Davis

Craig shares the role of CEO of TakeABreak.com.au with Penny Young.

When Craig and Michelle saw Penny's initial ideas for TakeABreak they immediately saw the potential. Many start-up websites at this time began on a semi-professional basis but the team recognised from Michelle's website development experience that this approach was not viable.

Craig is responsible for the operations of the company; which sees him managing activities as diverse as customer service, servers and networks, interface design and ease of use, search engine optimisation, and planning and testing new systems built by the development team.

Craig’s background is diverse and not one you would usually expect to find in a tourism-oriented company, as he holds a PhD in physics and prior to founding TakeABreak he held a senior position in the Defence Intelligence Organisation.  Craig believes that the general aptitudes and experience he gained working in these arenas have given him the ability to rapidly understand and work with new ideas and new technologies, which is critical in the fast-moving world of internet business.

Craig also brings a deep commitment to creating a business that is a great place to work, as well as sustainable and profitable. TakeABreak.com.au does this through regular in-house training programs, relaxed “lunch and learn” sessions, external training and personalised career path management. The company also provides genuinely flexible working arrangements. TakeABreak.com.au was recognised for these efforts with a “Highly Commended” at the 2007 National Work and Family Awards.

Matthew Elsley

Matthew Elsley has recently joined TakeABreak®  to take up a newly formed role as Operations Manager in the Canberra office.  As a family-owned business, TakeABreak.com.au recognises the need to bring in external skills to further grow and develop the business. Matthew joins as the first non-family member in the management team.

Matthew has considerable management experience in fast-moving consumer goods and information technology. He originally ventured from the northern beaches in Sydney to take up a national role with the department of Workplace Relations, where he worked as the National Workforce Manager. Prior to joining TakeABreak.com.au, Matthew was Team Manager with Unisys Australia on the Immigration Contract.

Matthew holds tertiary qualifications in business and people and process management.  He loves to travel and has a passion for coastal trips with no real destination in mind.  He brings a distinct passion and understanding of customer needs and will add further quality oversight to the operations area of TakeABreak.  In this new role he will oversee the operations team and help further develop TakeABreak's customer focus and strategy over the coming years