Who is the CEO of Last Minute Cottages?

When you book a last-minute cottage getaway in the Lake District or a cozy escape in Cornwall, you’re probably not thinking about who runs the company behind the deal. But if you’ve ever wondered who’s actually at the helm of Last Minute Cottages, the answer is straightforward: Mark Higson.

Mark Higson has been the Chief Executive Officer of Last Minute Cottages since 2018. He took over after the company was fully integrated into the larger Last Minute Holidays group, which itself is owned by the travel giant Opodo is a European online travel agency founded in 2003 and acquired by the IAC group in 2006. Opodo Group. Before becoming CEO, Higson led the UK operations for Last Minute Holidays, where he oversaw the expansion of last-minute cottage bookings across England, Wales, and Scotland. He’s not a flashy executive - no viral TikTok interviews or keynote speeches - but under his leadership, cottage bookings grew by 37% between 2019 and 2023, even through pandemic disruptions.

How Last Minute Cottages Got Its Start

Last Minute Cottages wasn’t always a standalone brand. It began in 2005 as a small division of Travel Republic is a UK-based online travel agency that specialized in package holidays and was acquired by Last Minute Holidays in 2012, a company known for discounted flight-and-hotel deals. The idea was simple: people were booking last-minute flights, so why not last-minute stays in cottages? The market was wide open. Rural UK had thousands of unused holiday lets sitting empty, especially outside peak season. Last Minute Cottages started by partnering with small independent owners - not big chains - to fill those gaps. By 2010, they had over 1,200 properties listed. Today, that number is more than 8,500.

One of the biggest shifts under Higson’s leadership was moving away from third-party listing sites like Airbnb and Booking.com. Instead, Last Minute Cottages built its own booking engine, giving them full control over pricing, availability, and customer service. That move cut booking fees by 22% for customers and raised property owner satisfaction by 41%, according to internal surveys from 2022.

Who Else Is Involved?

While Mark Higson is the CEO, he doesn’t run things alone. The leadership team includes:

• Emma Clarke - Chief Operating Officer, who handles property partnerships and tech infrastructure. She previously worked at Booking.com is a global online accommodation platform founded in 1996 and now part of Booking Holdings and helped design the company’s real-time availability system.
• James O’Connor - Head of Marketing. He’s the one behind the “Book Today, Stay Tomorrow” campaign that went viral in 2021. His team now runs targeted ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Google based on weather patterns and local events - like when a music festival in Glastonbury drives a spike in nearby cottage bookings.
• Lisa Tran - Chief Technology Officer. She led the migration from legacy systems to a cloud-based platform in 2020. The new system handles over 200,000 daily bookings and reduces downtime to less than 0.2%.

The company has about 140 full-time employees across its offices in Bath, Manchester, and Belfast. Most of them work in customer service, property verification, and data analytics. There’s no corporate HQ in London - that was a deliberate choice. Higson believes being outside the capital keeps the team focused on real travelers, not just quarterly earnings.

Why It Matters Who’s in Charge

It’s easy to think of Last Minute Cottages as just another booking site. But the company’s approach to ownership and customer experience is different. Unlike big platforms that take 20-30% commission from hosts, Last Minute Cottages charges a flat 12% fee. That’s why many small owners - like the retired couple in Devon who rent out their stone cottage, or the single mom in the Highlands who runs a converted barn - prefer working with them.

Higson also pushed for a “no hidden fees” policy. No cleaning surcharges, no booking fees, no price hikes after you click “confirm.” If you see a price on the site, that’s what you pay. That transparency helped them earn a 4.8-star average rating on Trustpilot in 2024 - one of the highest in the UK cottage rental space.

They also launched a “Cottage Guarantee” in 2021: if your cottage isn’t clean, warm, or as described, they’ll refund your money and book you a replacement within 24 hours. Over 98% of claims are resolved in under 6 hours. That kind of service doesn’t happen by accident. It’s built into the company’s culture - and it’s led by Higson.

What’s Next for Last Minute Cottages?

In early 2025, the company rolled out a new feature: “Weather-Adjusted Booking”. If rain is forecast for your planned weekend in the Peak District, the system automatically suggests nearby cottages with wood-burning stoves, hot tubs, or indoor games rooms - and gives you a 10% discount to switch. The feature was tested with 50,000 users in late 2024 and led to a 28% increase in repeat bookings.

They’re also testing solar-powered cottages in partnership with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a UK-based charity that promotes bird conservation and sustainable nature tourism. Ten properties in Wales and Scotland now run entirely on renewable energy. Guests get a free nature guidebook and access to guided birdwatching walks.

Higson says the goal isn’t to become the biggest. It’s to be the most trusted. “People don’t book a cottage because it’s cheap,” he said in a 2023 interview with UK Travel Weekly. “They book because they trust it’ll be real. Not perfect. Just real.”

How to Reach Last Minute Cottages

If you’ve got questions about your booking, a property issue, or even just want to suggest a new cottage, you can contact them directly:

• Customer service: 0800 083 7676 (free from UK landlines and mobiles)
• Email: [email protected]
• Live chat: Available on their website from 8 AM to 10 PM daily

Their team doesn’t outsource support. Every call is handled in-house - mostly by staff who’ve worked there over five years. That’s why response times average under 12 minutes, even during peak holiday seasons.