At Expedia Group, we’re fortunate to be surrounded by many people who have a fascination with, and powerful connection to, travel. One of these very Expedians is Pod Media Manager, Eleonora Sceusi, who joined us for an engaging conversation about this topic.

Eleonora’s journey to Expedia Group arguably started quite some time ago, when travel became a core part of her early family life. In our conversation, we got to understand how these life experiences made EG the perfect match for her career journey, and how the impact of living in multiple countries has manifested in her style of work, and the contributions Eleonora is making to her team.

Eleonora Sceusi, Pod Media Manager, Hotels.com and Media Solutions, London UK

A return to my own beginnings? Possibly. I only started working at Expedia Group a few months ago, but this new role somehow feels a bit like journeying back to my origins.

Let me explain: I am Italian, born in Tokyo, spent my formative years in Hong Kong, and went through the awkward teenage phase in Milan. I then entered adulthood and moved to Lancaster (northern UK) for university before finding a job in London after graduation, and I haven’t moved since. Next year I will have officially lived in Italy (allegedly my hometown) the same amount of time as I have in the UK, and I’m not even a citizen here yet! I’m what they call a third culture kid, and this article sums it up perfectly: home for me is both everywhere, and nowhere.

It goes without saying that travel is inextricably linked to my upbringing, and I have consciously strengthened that connection throughout my adult life. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that after almost 8 years in the wonderful world of media agency life I specifically wanted to venture out into the travel world. Enter: my Pod Media Manager role at Expedia Group which is allowing me to work on media and marketing strategy (a career I have been cultivating since graduating from university), as well get involved in daily discussions on getaway weekends, swanky hotels, and untapped destinations. Ideal.

My love for travel has only intensified given it is now deeply woven into both my work and personal life. At home, I meticulously plan my trips for the year based on the types of adventures, destinations, and foods I want to explore the most. For example, last year I went to Japan and planned a nationwide trip via the Shinkansen (Japan’s fastest rail network) to not only explore the breadth of the land of the rising sun, but also to experience their exquisite culture, notorious attention to detail and order, and of course world-famous food (slurping ramen everyday was a definite highlight). On the other hand, at work I get to dig into Hotels.com, Expedia, and Vrbo and help get these brands higher up on people’s lists of preferred OTAs.

Perhaps a trait I’ve never really parted with as a toddler is the “why” phase: I am that annoying person at the dinner table who will hear a saying and will have to Google it to learn about its origins (I recently googled “butter wouldn’t melt”, which means being overly coy or maintaining a very cool demeanour. This came from a proverb back in 1546 and alleges that one is literally so cool that butter inside the mouth would not melt. The more you know eh…) All of this to say, this trait serves me well when I work on strategies: why does a certain channel perform better than others in certain markets? Why do specific consumers choose other companies over Expedia? Where can we intercept travellers when they are dreaming of their next holiday? So, although my seemingly out-of-context “whys” may be annoying sometimes (I am fully aware), curiosity is something I hope never abandons me in life.

This role has also given me the opportunity to explore other ardent passions of mine, namely writing (cue: this blog), and sustainability. Travel and sustainability sound more like a juxtaposition than a dynamic duo, but we need to hold ourselves even more accountable given travel plays a key role in global carbon emissions. It’s a dichotomy I struggle with in my everyday life: I drink oat milk for the environment, and I take a plane to visit my family back home. I limit my meat intake and focus on whole foods that are as locally produced as possible, and I love home comforts like Nissin instant noodles that come all the way from Asia and remind me of my childhood (ifykyk). Finally, I work for a tech and travel company that incentivises flights and international journeys, and I work with the sustainability team here at Expedia Group to baseline our advertising carbon emissions so we can take steps to reduce these to reach our net zero targets by 2040 (50/60% of emissions at EG come from advertising alone).

If there is one thing this role has done for me it is broaden my horizons (travel pun intended), and that’s just in the 5 months I’ve been here. I can’t wait to see what else my future at this company holds!  

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