Croat at the Helm of One of the Largest European Groups

The founder of the domestic luxury accommodation rental agency Croatia Luxury Rent, who earlier this year took over the operational management of AWAZE for the Croatian market, is becoming one of the globally highest positioned domestic tourism experts.

At the beginning of the year, the public was informed that three of the largest domestic luxury accommodation rental agencies, My Istria, Croatia Luxury Rent, and Istria Home, were acquired by the investment fund Platinum Equity. This made them part of AWAZE, the leading European group for private accommodation rentals, which operates in 36 countries worldwide and last year alone provided services for over eight million guests in more than 110,000 accommodation units. At that time, the former head of Croatia Luxury Rent, Josip Stulić, was appointed as the Chief Operating Officer of Awaze for the Croatian luxury accommodation rental sector.

The professional advancement of this expert from Zadar has not stopped there. Recently, he was appointed Chief Operating Officer for Business Development at Awaze for Southern Europe, where he will be responsible for operational management in the markets of Croatia, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, and Cyprus. With this appointment, Stulić will oversee the operations of agencies including James Villas, Fincallorca, Ecoibiza, Coinsecret, Sandyblue, and others.

In the context of Awaze’s operations in Croatia, Stulić will also take over the operational management of the Novasol agency, a member company of Awaze, which last year provided over 800,000 overnight stays to domestic tourism. According to available data, four entities operating under Awaze provided nearly 1.8 million overnight stays in Croatia during the past season.

By consolidating and regionally restructuring market management, Awaze plans to strengthen agency operations under a strong brand and further enhance developmental, promotional, and sales realization by multiplying annual budgets. As we learn from Stulić himself, significant funds will be channeled into improving sales and service quality, as well as raising the qualitative level of promotional aspects. Continuous implementation of detailed market research is also planned to identify user desires and needs, upcoming trends, and tourism movements at macro and micro levels.

– Taking on new responsibilities is a great honor, but also a great responsibility. The opportunity presented is a clear indicator of the significance and impact of the knowledge that domestic experts possess, as well as the results that domestic tourism achieves on a global level. The reputation of Croatia as a tourist destination and the operational achievements of the tourism sector have greatly influenced the provision of such an opportunity to me as a domestic expert, which brings significant challenges. The goal is to further enhance the strength of all involved business entities through Awaze’s operations in Southern Europe and elevate performance results to a higher level. In the context of operations in Croatia, the goal is clear. By consolidating some of the largest agencies in the private accommodation rental sector, we have become one of the key factors in domestic tourism. Through operations in the coming years, we will gradually increase achievements such as the number of overnight stays, total number of units, and service quality levels. The plan is to further strengthen Awaze’s position as one of the key factors and significant integrators of overall tourism results at the level of domestic tourism – emphasizes Stulić.