Small, passionate, and deeply invested in what we're building. We believe the best companies are run by people who genuinely care.
This is the team you'd be talking to. Everyone here has a direct role in how Arcadia's brands operate - none of this is managed from a distance. When you reach out, you'll speak to Michiel directly.
Michiel co-founded Arcadia Travel Group in 2025. He spent 6 years at McKinsey & Company before leaving to build something he's genuinely passionate about. In year one at Arcadia he ran Hobo Reizen as General Manager - delivering 40% revenue growth, a restructured team, a redesigned product portfolio, and measurably higher customer satisfaction. Today he supports strategic and commercial priorities within the brands, drives cross-brand initiatives in digital, AI and finance, and leads Arcadia's strategy and brand partnerships.
Philip leads Hobo Reizen as General Manager, with full P&L responsibility and a mandate to transform the brand across strategy, product, team, and commercial engine. He is redesigning the product portfolio - adding 20+ new destinations and launching Hobo Active for the active 50+ - while building the marketing and digital infrastructure to scale. Before Hobo, 14 years in strategy consulting at Monitor Deloitte and PwC, then COO at Strarex, and four years coaching 50+ Belgian growth companies through Voka.
Having spent nearly a decade managing multi-brand travel portfolios across ViaVia World, Joker Reizen, and Nordic - overseeing 17 hospitality and travel venues and leading five specialist brands simultaneously - Toon joined Arcadia to build GrooveX into the absolute reference for youth winter travel in Belgium. Boots on the ground, obsessed with the details that make the difference.
Cleo knows Jongerentravel from both sides: as a teenager on those summer trips, and now as its General Manager. After three years at Estée Lauder and six building Furo & Flandria Heating, she ran her own ETA search before acquiring Jongerentravel with Green Park. Her agenda: sharpen the commercial engine and give many more young people the kind of summer that once inspired her.
When a founder is ready to transition, the brand doesn't miss a beat. For every brand where a founder has stepped back, Arcadia has appointed a General Manager with direct expertise in that specific niche - not a generalist, but someone who understands those particular customers, that culture, and that style of travel from the inside.
Philip leads Hobo Reizen as General Manager, bringing 14 years of strategy consulting at Monitor Deloitte and PwC, operational leadership at Strarex, and hands-on coaching of 50+ Belgian growth companies through Voka. Toon leads GrooveX, having spent nearly a decade managing multi-brand travel portfolios across ViaVia World, Joker Reizen, and Nordic - overseeing 17 hospitality and travel venues and five specialist brands simultaneously. Cleo leads Jongerentravel, combining brand-building expertise from the Estée Lauder Companies - including the Benelux launch of KILIAN - with six years of commercial and operational leadership at Furo & Flandria Heating.
If you stay in your business, this team works alongside you. If you're ready to step back, you'll know your brand is in hands that genuinely care.
No account managers, no intake forms. If you're curious about what Arcadia could mean for your brand - whether that's a full transition or a growth partnership - reach out directly.
Talk to MichielIf you want to help founder-led travel brands grow - in marketing, operations, or brand strategy - we'd love to hear from you.
Get in Touch
Hobo Reizen - General Manager & Co-owner (2026–present) Leading Hobo Reizen with full P&L responsibility, driving a comprehensive transformation across strategy, product, team and brand. Joining Hobo wasn't just a career move - it was a deliberate choice to work in a more entrepreneurial context he genuinely loves, with a brand he believes in, building something that lasts. At the heart of everything: a deep conviction that the client experience is never a detail, it's the product. Five priorities shape his agenda in H1 2026: building a high-performing team and growing the organisation's marketing maturity; embedding AI across workflows to move faster and smarter; sharpening the brand positioning and commercial engine to convert, retain and upsell more effectively; redesigning the product portfolio, including 20+ new destinations and the launch of Hobo Active as a standalone sub-brand for the active 50+; and growing a loyal Hobo Community that keeps customers coming back and brings new ones in. Thinks along on strategy and brand partnerships across the Arcadia group.
STRAREX - COO (2024–2025) Responsible for operations, culture, delivery and talent, working closely alongside the CEO. Immersed, day in day out, in what makes marketing agencies work, what clients actually need, and where growth strategies succeed or fail in practice. The marketing depth he built there is something he draws on directly in his work at Hobo today.
Voka Chamber of Commerce - Programme Lead & SME Coach (2020–2024) Coached 50+ ambitious SMEs (€1–50M turnover) through a one-year growth accelerator. Worked with founders and management teams on growth strategy, market positioning, business models and go-to-market across IT, marketing, industry, retail and construction. What he took from those years: a sharp instinct for where a business is stuck and what it actually needs to move forward. And a deep respect for entrepreneurs who build things from scratch.
Monitor Deloitte / PwC - Director (2010–2024) 14 years at the sharp end of strategy consulting, advising multinationals and mid-sized companies on growth, pricing, commercial excellence and organisational design. He worked across industries, geographies and boardrooms and learned that the best strategies are only as good as the people willing to execute them. It's where the analytical foundations were laid, but also where he discovered that real impact lives in the translation from slide to action.
A year backpacking across South and Central America - 40+ countries visited. He's seen enough of the world to know that travel at its best is less about the destination and more about what it does to you, how it shifts your thinking, sharpens your curiosity, and quietly changes what you consider possible. Read more in Our Story.
Master in International Business - IESEG School of Management (dean's list, Summa Cum Laude)
Master in Business Economics - KU Leuven (Magna Cum Laude)
(Trail) running, road, mountain and gravel cycling, wine, and his sons César & Auguste and his wife Ann-Catherine. A former Scout leader, he never quite lost the instinct for bringing people together around a shared experience. He reads, listens to podcasts, picks up new skills, and has a tendency to disappear down rabbit holes he didn't plan on finding. That appetite for new terrain - physical and otherwise - is what drew him to travel in the first place and what keeps him honest about what good travel should feel like.
Arcadia Travel Group - Co-founder & CEO (2025–present) Led Hobo Reizen as General Manager in year one - new marketing strategy, team restructure, redesigned product portfolio, and brand repositioning - delivering 40% revenue growth and a measurable rise in customer satisfaction. Now supports strategic and commercial priorities across the brands, drives cross-brand initiatives in digital, AI and finance, and leads Arcadia's strategy and brand partnerships.
McKinsey & Company - Engagement Manager (2018–2025) Specialised in value creation, growth strategy and operational excellence across diverse sectors - from healthy snacking and plant-based food to spare parts distribution, chemicals, building materials and steel. Known for rapidly assessing performance, unlocking growth levers, and leading cross-functional transformation with a hands-on, results-driven approach. Work ranged from international growth programmes and commercial excellence to 15+ private equity due diligences on deals from €100M to €10B.
3+ years backpacking across South America, Central America, Asia and Africa - 50+ countries visited. He knows from firsthand experience in the field what travel can do to a person. Leaving McKinsey wasn't just about backing great brands - it was about working in a sector that genuinely energises him, one he understands from the inside. Read more in Our Story.
Business Engineering - KU Leuven
MSc Finance - ESADE Barcelona
Ultra-trail running, high-altitude mountaineering, mountain biking, diving, kitesurfing. Always on the explore - pushing into unfamiliar terrain on foot, on water, at altitude. The same instinct that takes him to places most people don't go is what drives his belief that the best travel experiences are never ordinary.
GrooveX - General Manager (2026–present) Stepped into the lead at GrooveX following the brand's acquisition, taking over the reins after a transition period with the original founder. He is now spearheading the mission to establish GrooveX as the absolute reference for youth winter travel in Belgium. For him, it's about more than just organising trips; it's about capturing the specific energy of the mountains and translating it into a seamless, high-impact experience for a new generation of travellers.
Strategic Expertise & Tourism Operations (2016–2025) Before joining the Arcadia group, he spent nearly a decade at the intersection of tourism, operations, and commerce. His trajectory is defined by a deep, hands-on understanding of the travel industry's machinery - from the logistical complexities of large-scale movements to the commercial strategies required to scale a brand.
Throughout his career, he managed and professionalised a diverse portfolio of travel brands. This included overseeing a global network of 17 hospitality and travel venues for ViaVia World and Joker Reizen, as well as leading specialised niche brands such as Nordic, Galtic, Canada Travel Designers, My Himalaya, and Wild Alaska. Whether developing new group tour products or driving digital transformations, he developed a sharp eye for operational excellence and a "boots-on-the-ground" mentality. He knows that in travel, the difference between a good trip and an unforgettable one lies in the execution of the details that others might overlook.
While his winters were shaped by the annual family tradition of the Alps, his true obsession with travel was sparked by a formative trip to Thailand. Since then, he has spent a significant portion of his life on the move - whether travelling solo, with his fiancée, leading groups as a guide, or on professional assignments. With over 50 countries stamped in his passport, he has developed extensive expertise in the African continent, having explored more than 10 countries across the region. For him, travel is a constant recalibration; it's the shift in perspective that comes from being the outsider - a feeling he now channels into creating authentic and meaningful moments for GrooveX travellers.
Master of Science in Business Economics (International Business) - University of Leuven
Beyond the office, he is almost always active. A former volleyball player, he now spends his time cycling or running to stay sharp. His love for travel often extends into his free time as a licensed international travel guide, sharing his passion for discovery with others. At his core, he is driven by connection - whether that's through music at festivals and live performances, or quality time spent with his friends, his fiancée, and his godchild.
Jongerentravel - Co-owner & General Manager (2025–present) She knows Jongerentravel from both sides of the equation. As a teenager, she was one of the young people on those summer trips. Today, she runs the company. That personal connection is not a detail - it's the reason she cares so much about getting it right. After six years building her operational and commercial toolkit, she spent a year running her own ETA search: meeting companies, assessing opportunities, looking for the right match. When Jongerentravel came up, she didn't hesitate. Together with investment partner Green Park, she acquired the business and stepped in as General Manager, bringing fresh energy to a strong and trusted brand - and a clear agenda: continue what was started, sharpen the commercial engine, and give many more young people the kind of unforgettable summer that once inspired her.
Furo & Flandria Heating - Business Manager (2019–2025) Six years working alongside her parents at Furo, growing and rebranding the business, expanding internationally, and ultimately assisting with the acquisition of Flandria Heating and leading its full integration and merger. Where she learned what it actually takes to build and run a business across all its dimensions.
The Estée Lauder Companies - Project Lead & Corporate Sales Analyst (2016–2019) Three years inside one of the world's most brand-driven organisations. Led the Benelux roll-out of fragrance brand KILIAN, did commercial analysis for Estée Lauder and Clinique and brand coordination for Tom Ford and La Mer. Where she learned that the details of a brand experience are never accidental.
Suriname. That's the one that stays with her the most. Standing in the Amazon rainforest, far from anything familiar; it does something to your thinking. It quiets the noise and opens up space for ideas and perspectives. That's what travel does at its best - everyone is relaxed, open, genuinely happy. Barriers come down, new people come in, and somewhere along the way you find yourself thinking differently about what actually matters. She's taken that feeling to Cuba, South Africa, Bali, Borneo, Jamaica, Singapore, Shanghai, across the US... And it's exactly what she wants to offer others. And for the young JT travellers: above all, the joy of it - the friendships, the adventures, and the version of yourself you discover when you're somewhere new.
Master of Science in Business Economics (Marketing) - University of Ghent
She never really stops learning - business and psychology mostly, fed by books, podcasts and plain curiosity. Outside the office, she keeps moving: a healthy lifestyle matters to her. She likes to pick up new things - salsa dancing, tennis, Spanish lessons. And above all, time with friends and her own little family.