Just when Australians thought scrolling travel deals from the office was the closest they’d get to a five-star holiday on a Tuesday afternoon, Luxury Escapes has arrived with an offer that sounds suspiciously like somebody lost a bet in the marketing department.
The Melbourne-based travel giant is searching for what it calls a “Travel Tester”, a role that involves jetting across the globe, staying in luxury resorts, touring exotic destinations, and somehow convincing family and friends that this all qualifies as work.
It’s a position worth around $50,000 and comes with a simple brief: travel, experience and critique.
In an era where employers are demanding staff return to the office, Luxury Escapes appears to be taking a rather different approach.
The company wants one Australian and a travel companion to become its undercover holiday inspectors, road-testing some of its most popular premium experiences before reporting back with honest feedback.
The assignment reads like a travel wish list rather than a job description.
A week in the Maldives. A fully guided luxury tour through Sri Lanka. Boutique Australian escapes. Flights included. Accommodation included. Experiences included.
The only thing missing appears to be a timesheet.
Luxury Escapes Co-Founder Adam Schwab said the initiative was designed to ensure the company continues delivering exceptional travel experiences to its customers.
“We spend every day creating and curating the world’s best holidays and want to make sure we get it right. This isn’t just a holiday, it’s the ultimate insider’s role making sure thousands of Luxury Escapes customers have an astonishing trip.”
For a business that has built its reputation on packaging premium travel experiences at attractive prices, the competition is more than a publicity exercise.
It reflects a growing trend among travel brands that increasingly rely on authentic traveller feedback rather than traditional market research.
After all, no focus group can replicate the observations of somebody who has spent five days floating between an overwater villa, a sunset cocktail bar and a snorkelling excursion in the Indian Ocean.
That’s where the successful applicant comes in.
Their mission will begin in the Maldives, where they’ll spend five nights at one of Luxury Escapes’ top-rated resorts. Think turquoise lagoons, white sand beaches and the sort of scenery that regularly causes Instagram algorithms to work overtime.
From there, the adventure heads to Sri Lanka, one of the travel industry’s hottest destinations. The guided itinerary promises ancient temples, sprawling tea plantations, dramatic coastlines and rich cultural experiences, all wrapped in the comfort of five-star accommodation.
Back home, the winner won’t be hanging up their passport just yet.
A collection of luxury Australian weekend escapes is also included, ranging from wine-country retreats to coastal hideaways and sophisticated city stays.
It’s not a bad reward for filling out an application form.
The timing is interesting.
As Australia’s travel sector continues to enjoy strong demand despite cost-of-living pressures, travellers are proving remarkably willing to prioritise memorable experiences over material purchases.
The result has been sustained growth in premium and experiential travel, a sweet spot Luxury Escapes has occupied for years.
Competitions promising free holidays are hardly new.
Competitions that offer a holiday and then ask you to enjoy it professionally are a rarer breed.
Whether it’s the world’s best job may be open to debate. Somebody, somewhere, is probably getting paid to test luxury yachts in the Mediterranean.
But it would certainly rank highly on the shortlist.
Australians interested in applying can submit their entry through the Luxury Escapes Travel Tester portal before entries close at 11.59 pm AEST on 21 June 2026.
One lucky winner will soon discover whether spending weeks exploring the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Australia’s best holiday destinations can legitimately be considered professional development.
Most travellers would be prepared to conduct further research immediately.
HOW TO ENTER
Travel Tester Applications: https://www.luxuryescapes.com/traveltester.
Competition Terms & Conditions: https://luxuryescapes.com/au/promotions.
By Michelle Warner – © 2026.
Read Time: 4 Minutes.
About the Author.
Michelle Warner has always carried stories the way others carry passports lightly, faithfully, and with purpose. She learned her craft in newsrooms, shaping sentences with care, before swapping deadlines for departures as a flight attendant with some of the world’s great airlines. Years aloft sharpened her eye for character and deepened her fondness for the small, dignified rituals of travel, the quiet kindness of strangers, the poetry of arrival, the patience learned between time zones.
Now grounded by choice, Michelle has come home to writing with the same calm authority she once brought to turbulent cabins. Her prose blends an editor’s discipline with a traveller’s wonder, tinged with humour and reverence for the golden age of travel. Each piece feels like a handwritten boarding pass, gracious, observant, and unmistakably alive.
